What is Attachment?

Neuroscientists now believe that attachment is such a primal need that there are networks of neurons in the brain dedicated to it, and the process of forming lasting bonds is powered in part by the hormone oxytocin.

We are attached with so many things. Places, People, Ideas, Events, Music, Experiences to name a few. As long as we are having access to these we do not generally acknowledge its presence or the experience, but as soon as we are not able to access it, the mind begins to do all kinds of things. We miss these things, we crave to get back the access, we become desperate at times, and a continued denial of access results in frustration, anger and all the negative emotions that leads to an unstable mind.

Most often people get overwhelmed by Nostalgia. The Good Old times torment everyone from time to time. Loosing the thing that we are attached to hurt us very badly. Is there a way out of this? or are we doomed to suffer the loss? A little investigation of the process of attachment helps.

Attachment is essentially attaching or adding something to our Self. When we buy a new mobile phone, we are essentially adding it to the notion of our self. It essentially has become a part of us. This is attachment. when the mobile phone falls down , we feel hurt because we feel its a part of us and hence the injury is translated as one's own injury. The more something hangs around with us, the more tightly bound it becomes. The more attached it gets. The more integrated it becomes with our Self. This explains the hurt and suffering one experiences upon the loss of the things that we are attached with.

Essentially, the objects of attachment has become part of an extended Self. Similar to the hand of a person, it has become an integral part. The degree of attachment simply relates to how much  easily replaceable the object is. If its a throwaway pen, then the degree of attachment is less. If it is a special edition artifact of some sort, then its more tightly bound, since a loss of it cannot be revoked. Also, the things we don't have a liking never get attached to us, since we never consider them as part of ourselves.

A little contemplation will confirm this behavior in all cases of our attachment with anything. Even ideas and thoughts can become attachments. So, the problem seems to be this wrong identification of these objects as part of our own self. Instead of making the impossible attempt of staying steady upon loss, if one were to understand and correct this mistaken identity, a loss can be handled better.

A deeper investigation reveals that even the body, the mind, the thoughts and ideas are not the Self. The Self is not connected with any of these. This mere thought is known as Detachment! Detachment does not mean renouncing anything physically. A steady knowledge of this absolute truth enables one to see everything as part of the illusion, and not assume false identity with them. This clarity and steadiness of the Truth liberates one from the suffering of loss of any kind and enables Joyful life.

Minding it!

The Mind which is the conscious, experiencing, faculty present in us is made up of four components, namely the logical Intellect and the intuitive mind, similar to the Left and the Right brain, and the Memory which is a container of things and events of the past, and fourthly the intriguing aspect of the ego.

The mind with a lower case 'm', is the wavering, oscillating, trembling, worrying, suffering, anxious, euphoric tendency of the Mind. It is the one that jumps up into the sky upon something that rejoices it, and it is the same mind that gets you down in the doldrums when things do not go the right way. In a way it is the real experience-r. one can say it is the very experience. Experiences are interpreted through emotions, otherwise every event is a mere information bundle.

The ego aspect of our Mind is the false thought or identity of our self with this Mind and Body complex. The notion of I as the individual is ego. This aspect of the Mind is the root of all our experiences.

Most of the time the ego identifies our Self with this trembling mind aspect of the Mind. One can observe that when the mind trembles we tremble, as the mind rejoices we rejoice. A long sequence of events and the framework called life has several elements that evoke several emotions in the mind. With the aid of the reservoir of Memory the mind finds itself in several situations, and takes us in the journey of its emotions, each time convincing us that it is our own emotion.

In this equation of,  M = ego + mind + Memory + Intellect, our only hope is the Intellect. Intellect is the one that can control the mind, a controlled mind lets go of the ego, and will relieve us from the memory. The Intellect has the ability to discriminate, has the ability to analyse, has the ability to see. The primary tool to control the mind is Meditation. Meditation is the process of stopping the tremble of the mind, and the vibrations of thought that the mind is. A silent mind eventually is dissolved, and the intellect gains enough strength to understand that the ego and the memory, as well as the mind are unreal. Eventually it figures out the intellect is unreal as well, and hence in conclusion an unreal Mind!

With the realization of the falsehood of the Mind which is the experience-r, all experiences are negated. Both the good and bad, the likes and dislikes negated, and with nothing to experience, and knowing that all these apparent experiences are a mere play in an unreal mind, takes one to the real Self. This real Self which is essentially experience-less-ness  is also known as Bliss. 

Remember it all began with Meditation.

Sunday Night Blues

I have heard of the Monday Morning Blues, but have never really experienced one. But I have always had this depressive state of mind during the late Sunday afternoons and evenings. As the bright Sunday moves into the noon and past noon, a sense of sadness, an indescribable feeling of discomfort sets in. I have consciously felt it and wondered if it was some sort of a disorder. 

I recently came to know that its a well known phenomenon among 9 to 5 workers, and it seems it is due to the fact that one begins to feel that the weekend is getting to a close, and the anxiety of the week ahead sets in. They call it the Sunday Night Blues!

There are plenty of articles on the subject ranging from 6 signs of Sunday Night Blues, to 11 ways to beat it. Keeping busy and planning some fun stuff during the week are some common methods to deal with it. I found a solution to it, by actually beginning my week on Sunday evening. kind of cheating the system, but it worked, at the cost of a reduced weekend. I would start reading mail and get going on some work later on the Sunday and that took care of this.

I have also had a related problem of getting into a depressive mode at several situations when some fun activity came to an end. Be it a movie, or more often on the way back after a long drive, or while returning from a vacation. I wouldn't be able to put a finger on the exact pulse of the reason, but a definite state of sadness would kick in. perhaps there are some remedies to it too. 

Most often planning, keeping busy and a feeling of staying ahead takes care of these.

While this and depression in general have remedies of various kinds, including exercises and the effect of Endorphin, it also makes one wonder why all this in the first place?

Depression is the opposite of elation or Euphoria. The fact is Euphoria cannot be experienced except with an experience of the lack of it! One may never get elated and feel the full pleasure of it unless one gets depressed! Though appearing a little contradictory one can in fact reduce it to be a Tautology!

Simply knowing this liberates one from depression, and it is a mere choice where one can simply be and let the depression pass by, or try and fix it with whatever technique that works. 

Two In One

Our Mind as we conceive of the embodiment of our subtle being, where our thoughts, ideas, emotions and experience appear to happen, has two components.

One can verify this to be true by their own experiences. Intuitively we would feel the separation of these two. There are actions of decision, a clear sequence of logical reason, a weighing of pros and cons, analysis, categorizing, classifying etc. which is based on clarity. This aspect of our mind is termed the Intellect. The other aspect of our mind is the desires, oscillations, confusions, impulse, emotions, flutter etc. This is termed the mind with a lower case 'm'.

Mind = Intellect + mind

Most of us have the mind to be our master and the Intellect to be its slave. It is said that the mind is a container of never ending desires. Immediately after a desire is fulfilled, the next one sprouts. If the mind is the master, it drives the intellect to execute in order to fulfill its desires. Also depending on the various emotions it undergoes, the mind with a stranglehold on the intellect, gets things accomplished according to its needs. The mind as a master will make the intellect of a Diabetic justify its craving for chocolate, and the intellect will obey and get the sweet to the person. A Jealous mind will with the help of intellect will make the person do things that counter act the situation. An angry mind will with the help of the intellect justify its violent actions. The very same mind will get into a state of resentment making the intellect helpless.

We do not in general distinguish the two aspects of our Mind, and hence we are unaware as to the methods of management of the happenings of our life.

On the contrary, if we could make the intellect our friend and master, the actions that we perform will stay within the faculty of reason, and logic. The fluttering mind will slowly feel this, and the very same fluttering, oscillating aspects can become the source of creativity and freshness of events under the control of the intellect.

The process of empowering the intellect and making it the master is the result of obtaining the Knowledge of the Self. Upon knowing the Truth, the intellect becomes our friend and realizes is stature. Then its a process of managing the mind to lead a life of Joy.

Infinite Mind

Infinity is an interesting idea. It generally creates a sense of vastness, an unfathomable distance. Some thing far far away. Whether we are looking at it from a numerical perspective or intuitively, it seems daunting to think about it. A sense of overwhelming takes over us. The physical and material world is limited and finite. However large and vast it may be, it is still finite. It is bound by the physical faculties of observation.

The mind however is not material. Hence it is not bound by the physical constraints and hence is infinite. When we say that, it might appear as though the mind is vast and huge and might appear counter intuitive to accept that. The reason is, infinity is not something "out there". Its a mere idea. It is a concept. For example we can simplify the idea as "Whatever there is, there is one more". We can experiment with lots of interesting things.

For example, the mind's needs are infinite. Its true for everyone. no matter how little or how much more one has, the mind seems to need "one more". Similarly the mind can keep on learning. Irrespective of how little or how much more one knows, one can always know or learn about "one more" thing. 

Infinity is possible only in the subtle realm. The material realm is finite and bound. The body is limited but the mind is unlimited. Music, Arts, Literature, Philosophy, Religion, ideas and thoughts belong to this infinite subtle realm. They allow us to travel boundlessly and experience freedom. 

Once we realize that infinity is in itself is a mere idea, that there can always be one more thing, the mind's infinite needs can be let go. No matter how much it travels, and how much it experiences, it will seek for that "one more" thing :). This travel of the mind is cyclic like a circle, and a circle though apparently endless and provides infinite travel is indeed finite. Realizing this liberates one from the bindings of the mind's endless needs.

Space and Time, Zeno's Paradoxes and Permanaides' Way of the Truth

The ancient Greek philosopher Permanides of Elea, said to have lived around fifth BC, is credited with impacting the thoughts of Plato who in turn influenced the whole of Western Philosophy.

In his work On Nature, the first part called the Way of the Truth deals with the changeless and timeless nature of the world. His student Zeno created three paradoxes that supported these ideas.

• Achilles and the Tortoise divides space into infinite points and says it is impossible for Achilles to catch up with the Tortoise ever so infinitesimally.
• The Dichotomy paradox says it is impossible to move because you can keep on dividing the remaining distance by two and you can never complete the first part.
• Arrow Paradox says it is impossible for anything to move, since any object such as an arrow at any instance during its apparent movement is static.

These paradoxes points to the strange nature of the reality. Contrary to our intuitive experiences, these ideas point us to the true nature. While we  now have accepted a reality that can only be explained through probabilities and mathematics, this somehow seems to be delegated to the infinitesimally small world of particles.

While these ideas talk about the impossibility of motion , or change, we can relate it to the impossibility of action. Our actions can be classified into voluntary/conscious and involuntary. 

A muscle twitch, or scratching our skin, closing our eyelids at a dust particle are done without much conscious involvement. one can say it just happens.

On the other hand we act at times with intention, planning and fully conscious. while it appears we do act, one must take a step backward and look at the intention. If we look at how our thought of intention occurred to us, we can easily see that the though simply happened. we really do not have control over thoughts occurring to us. but we easily accept that the action that follows is ours. So it is clear that all actions which we falsely claim ownership are simply happening. 

Permanides followed in his second part The Way of the Opinion, how our senses leads us to falsely believe in a world that appears to be changing, and where there is space and time and there is movement.

A contemplation on who I am, by eliminating all the things that are not me, such as my possessions, name, body etc.. including the thoughts that I seem to get, I realize that I am not connected with this world. Eliminating this false notion of reality, I abide as my Silent , Inactive Joyful Self.

Matrix of time and space

To talk about anything, we need a context, or a frame of reference. Where you are is always relative to some other place, When is it, is relative to some other period in time. Tomorrow is relative to Today. Far is relative to Near.

The World we experience is a projection on a  beautiful fabric made up of crisscrossing threads of time and space. These magical threads form the framework, the matrix, or the canvas on which are laid all the events of the drama of life.

While space is a perceptual dimension, time provides the temporal aspect. At any point in time, one seems to have access to a series of events in space, stacked one over the other in time slices of the past. We refer to this as memory. 

One can access the childhood slice. days of school. or any other event in the past. there is a distinct boundary as to when these events occurred.And each time these are accessed they always appear in that exact order,and always the same events at same points in time. If we recollect the first time ever of going to school, we always recollect the same school irrespective of how many times or when we recollect. Also the order in which events have occurred seems to always be the same. This apparent persistence or permanence of the past gives credential to a reality of the past. A random recollection will appear a lot less real. The brain as a device that seems to capture the temporal stories is a fabrication for further authenticity. If all the pieces of information are in fact stored in the brain, who is it that accesses it?

Similarly one encounters space. It seems to be really fixed. we know where we are. We do know where other places are. The distances between places seem to be absolute. Both objectively as well as subjectively the spatial relationship of things and places don't seem to change. This continuity or persistence gives credibility to the reality of space and things in it. The distances between our home and the stores, distances between our city and others are absolutely fixed.They measure the same exact length.

A deeper examination of time shows that, only the moment or the Present is actually experience able. Past is only accessed through thoughts from memory. Similarly the place we are at now is the only place we can experience.Even the next room is only accessible in our thought. When we do move to the next room, then we may be experiencing it at that Present moment, and the experience of the previous room becomes a thought in the past.

Similarly a deeper study of materials show how immaterial they really are. From a physical as well as temporal point of view matter as we experience it is not as real as well think.

A clear understanding of how such a Matter without reality is placed in the matrix of Time and Space which are as much a fiction themselves, is a striking revelation that results in the true Knowledge of Who we are. If Time, Space and Matter are not real, then the one asking about it, talking about it and having an apparent experience is the only real Self. Knowing that I am that only Self is Knowledge.

Obtaining and staying in this Knowledge, one is able to experience life as a mere play of light and sound in the apparent matrix of Time and Space.