Emotional attachment is a human trait common to all with conscience. There appears to be almost nothing to which such humans cannot become attached. Attachment is an emotional connection to anything that when taken causes grief. Form includes the visible and the invisible. Your body is a form. Democracy is a form of government. A book is a form containing thoughts. Family is a form. "My spouse should make me happy" and "Trust no one" are thought forms. Essence is formless. God is the ultimate formless essence. Good and Evil, and their offspring are essences that penetrate and show through form.
It is in the nature of form that no form lasts for very long. To become attached to a form is to suffer when the form changes. A person attached to the thought form, "The world should make me happy" will suffer greatly. Author and spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle says, "The world is meant to be frustrating. Frustration is built into the world to drive you deeper, to drive you away from attachment and toward essence."
Yet, most people believe they can arrange the forms of life in such a way as to achieve happiness. We can momentarily achieve happiness when the form of our finances, love life, health, job, family, house, church, automobiles, and other forms are all in alignment and functioning properly. But, it is in the nature of form that pretty soon something changes and when it does many people feel frustration and some even take it personally. This always causes suffering.
In my work of leading people to deeper connection with the Formless One, which in turn always leads people to deeper and richer connection to neighbor, I want to say, "Church cannot make you happy and is bound to frustrate anyone thinking otherwise. The worship will change, the people will move away or die or simply start acting differently, the priests will come and go, the roof will leak or the basement will flood, staff will come and go, and to think the church can make you happy is to suffer."
But, when we drop our demands that life, spouse, church, government, or children should make us happy we experience a great FREEDOM. Suddenly, that which had formerly been very heavy becomes light and very pleasant. This wisdom seems especially needful as the pace of change has itself changed.
Shalom, Greg
You hear about the search for happiness, as if it were something outside ourselves, something attainable, not yet achieved. Indeed, one person's pursuit of happiness may be another's source of suffering.
ReplyDeleteAs for suffering...Victor Frankl speaks about choosing one's attitude toward inevitable sufferings as the way to find meaning in them. "Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not." (Frankl 67)