Yeah this idea of non-attachment as being a POV or perspective through which experience is seen rather than an action of some kind is really interesting. Cyracuz has mentioned love, I'm not sure I've ever looked at it in the same way since I read what Krishnamurti said on the matter. The normal usage of the word seems to be loaded with conditions and attachments to the extent that I'm unsure of what "unconditional love" would even constitute. I've looked at love as somewhat synonymous with compassion for a little while now. In a relationship between people, no matter what happens, I think there's room for an unconditional compassion which isn't bound by individual relationships and "things" but is more of a general isness, like the emergent property of a state of mind or something, we naturally and effortlessly promote a positive environment for those around us and "want" peace for others. I remember reading about Tibetan buddhist torture victims whose biggest concern during captivity was that they'd lose their compassion for their torturers. I guess we can love another person like no other on the earth but seeing that affinity for what it is, taking that step back, illuminates the dynamic relationship it constitutes rather than the static elements that can win or lose others or that things happen
to etc.
I actually feel in some ways I've meditated for years while listening to music, I guess it's maybe more of a "working meditation" because it involves an activity but I rarely listen to music
while doing something else. Sometimes I don't consider the lyrics or ponder over problems or positives but just let the music, the sounds happen. The barrier between "me" and the "music" really breaks down, there really is just experience. It's just unbiased, passive experience of the moment. There is a certain wholeness to it that's tough to describe. You can think critically in another setting about people and what they represent, who they are, our similarities, what binds & drives us, our common causes and frailties but in comparison to the experience of the moment itself, it's all just subdivision after subdivision which I guess highlights something important.
Cello, I like your near death analogy. I'd suggest attachments are like thoughts in the mind or digestive juices in the stomach as JLN was talking about, they're natural in this reality. It's the same reason I take issue with repression. Meditation, direct experience, non-attachment, non-self, it all seems to revolve around central issues regarding the inter-connection between "things" and the grasping to a consistent self. I say positive and negative in terms of bias or change. For instance, attachment being a positive bias because we attempt to promote the relationship between ourselves and the thing in question, detachment, the opposite. Non-attachment on the other hand transcends, in the frame of mind sense, the constituent, static parts of a relationship, it exerts no influence because it neither wants nor pushes away the "thing" because we are no longer merely trapped inside a relationship if you like (the "body shell" of your example). I guess the future and the past are just more abstractions that are manifested with good and bad values assigned to them to create more relationships between ourselves and things which promote or demote our happiness. I was speaking to someone earlier about Bill Hicks, I really like this quote...
Quote:The world is like a ride in an amusement park.
And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real
because that's how powerful our minds are.
And the ride goes up and down and round and round.
It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured
and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while.
Some people have been on the ride for a long time
and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride?
And other people have remembered, and they come back to us,
they say, "hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever,
because, this is just a ride..."
...It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want.
It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money.
A choice, right now, between fear and love.
The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors,
buy guns, close yourself off.
The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.
Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride.
Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year
and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the
poor of the world, which it would many times over,
not one human being excluded, and we could explore space,
together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.
...I think I like it because seeing the performance itself when he tells the audience adds something extra (the reaction of the audience I always feel makes for a beautiful moment) but also because it just cuts to the chase fullstop.
Asherman, thanks for the book recommendation, I've noted it down, I was also looking at the Dhammapada online as I read your post. Also for the word of warning, I think truth be told, as to Cyracuz' question on the previous page, no I'm not yet brave enough for "unconditional love" but a big problem I see is not in how I treat others but in how I act generally because of some perceived threat
from others. So I'm not interested in attacking other people but truth be told, maybe still afraid of what others have to say about "me" etc.