Total Thoughts - May 11, 2009 - When to Attach and When to Detach

• Attachments are all the same. It is the nature of the attachment that determines its quality.
• It is the nature of the mind, via ignorance, to seek attachment. The goal is to go beyond the mind to a state of mindlessness. It would then be possible to continue life as an experience, rather than as the experiencer.
• Attachments have a qualitative and quantitative aspect. Qualitative representing the good – bad spectrum, while quantitative reflected in time. Initially, the goal is to shift the qualitative balance to "good" attachments, and eventually the quantitative to less time.
• Attachment to people can be lessened by shifting the thought flow from "worrying" to being "concerned." A worried person is inefficient in the actions and performs out of anger, ignorance and lust. While a concerned person is more effective in their action as they work from single pointedness.
• Since the mind is a thought flow, we should focus our thoughts on nobler attachments.  Japa is the training of the mind in fixing itself to a single line of thinking.
• The more we think, the more we get attached. The attachments can be of a wide spectrum ranging from the tangible (objects) to intangible (knowledge).
• By living in the present we become more aware of our attachments by gauging the direction of our though flow. We begin to understand our obsessions, addictions and disillusionments.