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.

Bundle of Stimuli

Interesting things keep happening all the time. Anything that captures attention is interesting. sometimes, when nothing happens for a long time, that too captures attention and becomes interesting.

Some events make me feel good, some ticks me off. Everyday is a bundle of stimuli, every moment a bundle of stimuli. sometimes a very trusted person betrays, or a totally unexpected thing happens, I might wonder why? Why not the good events all the time? Why not life go exactly the way I like it go? Sweet thought indeed. and with sweetness comes bitterness. When some crazy person interferes with my peace, I react. I get upset. I feel betrayed, cheated etc. depending on whatever that happened. Sometimes this feeling could be jealousy. How come that guy is so smart? Now.. these thoughts makes me feel miserable. When these thoughts overwhelm, then its these feelings that dominate, they engulf. It paralyses. Its like the venom of a deadly snake. It takes over. Anger, sadness, fear, helplessness, you name it, I got it.

These thoughts, or chain of thoughts, sets me in action. I counter these. I correct these. I want to feel the Opposite of these. So I chart my course in a reactionary manner. Things begin to get better sooner or later. I take a breath, relax. things really get good. I jump up and down. But.. not for long. before yet another event, yet another crazy guy. Sounds very normal, and familiar, and would fit in to the framework of life, if not for one significant difference.

I know that this world is an illusion. None of this is real. I am the only awareness. No other consciousness is there to interact. Its me.. and this illusion. All these people are part of the illusion. the ups and downs, the good old days, the nice and cozy, as well as the tough times..every single thing is an illusion. In this illusion, why such crazy experiences? why not the good ones all the time? More relevant than before.

Need to apply some common sense here. If one needs to stimulate the nose then its possible only with something that can produce smell. A color, a light, a music, or fire, none of these can stimulate the nose. A rose could, so could a fruit, so could fresh air. Same with the ears. a sweet apple cannot simulate it. a beautiful painting has no power to touch the ear. music could, so could a loud thud!

Life as it happens , is nothing but a bundle of stimuli. some hit the body, some hit the mind. Change is the essence of life. The Mind, is more than the physical devices, its infinitely more varied. It is capable of a multitude of experience. While the nose can smell and the ear can hear, the mind can do wonderful things, it can think, smile, worry, rejoice, loose the temper, laugh, cry, feel miserable, and much much more.

A nose cannot smell something by itself. It needs a stimuli. An ear cannot hear by its own, its needs the stimuli from a vibrating instrument, the air carries these compression and rarefaction to its drums. A fine piece of music is needed to touch the ears. 

So does the mind. 

A mind cannot feel rejoiced by itself. It needs stimuli. Events create such stimuli. And for the mind to feel rejoiced, it must feel the lack of it before. Else the experience will not be perceived. Now, that again needs a different stimuli. Another event provides it. Life is nothing but experience, and experience is possible only by being aware of change. Change if it happens randomly all by itself, would result in an uninteresting experience. Hence a stimuli and the lack of control over it.

Every person, every event, every thing, is part of the illusion. I exist, that is the absolute truth.The illusion, as the name suggests is an illusion. Is such a beautiful concoction. devilish at times, divine mostly, yet together they form the fabric of life.

I breathe easy. Now I know that crazy person, doing his or her crazy thing, is part of the stimulus package, to wake me up from a boring slumber. People are the most exciting and believable stimuli. They appear to have awareness, they appear to have a mind on their own. They appear very very real. They form a very important and powerful part of the illusion. Most of them behave in a manner that makes me believe this is all too real. I thank them for acting so well.  There now.. peace returns.. momentarily.

The Seasons of the Mind

If we introspect on what the mind is, we come to the conclusion that it is different from the body. We are tempted to believe that the mind is some sort of a function of the brain. But the brain is also completely a physiological organism, at the most it can do certain things that are "programmed".

Similar to the concept of Inverse Kinematics familiar to 3D animators, there are programs in the brain for all the functions of the body. It might also appear to create thoughts. or show certain activity associated with thoughts, emotions etc.

One can say, there are neurons, that keep firing all the time, and there is chemical, physical and physiological actions going on in the brain. One may even eventually "identify" through some sort of a scanning mechanism a single particular thought, or a unique configuration of the brain or part of it, while one has a certain thought. We may even be eventually map all thoughts by physical observation. So what does it mean? is the brain responsible for our thoughts?

The unique distinction between a programmable computer such as a Turing machine, and the human is that there is somebody "having", or "observing" the thoughts. In the case of the computer, there is none.

The true "I" does not belong to this place of physical reality at all. what we see in this world is a representation of the real I. Just like we observe our self as a character inside our dreams.

The most difficult part of handling our lives surround around how our mind functions. What it does, feels and how it emotes. If we realize that the mind belongs to the lower order of reality, and we are able to observe it, since we know what the mind thinks, we can ease a bit, saying I am not this suffering mind at all. I am simply an observer of it, just like I am the observer of my body.

However this is easier said than done. Just like the body has characteristics, the Mind has its character. the mind, just like the body and like every other thing in the Universe, is made of three kinds of nature, Aura, Energy and Matter.

The composition of the mind based on these three components keeps changing all the time. It depends on the food we eat, the company we keep, the books we read, the news that we consume and so on. It also depends on the time of the day, the weather, the climate, the colors and what not. and all of this varies from individual to individual. as they say one man's meat is another man's poison.

Having known this, we can try to control the composition as much as we can. But this is similar to protecting the physical body from illness, or having a high fitness level. There will always be sickness, points of break down etc.

So, the real solution is simply the knowledge that the mind will always keep changing. sometimes it is very enlightened, sometimes it is agitated, sometimes is is dull, based on which nature is dominant at the moment.

Just realize this fact and simply observe when the mind is in what nature. When is Aura, enjoy and make the most of it. when in Energy get your things done, when in Matter(dullness) just laugh it out.

This knowledge, similar to the knowledge of the changing seasons, liberates and ends suffering.