Attachment is: adherence, faithful, loyal, devout, staunch, steadfast, constant, pious, adhesion, firmness, allegiance, love, affection, fondness, connected, stuck.
Attachment is the state of being firmly affixed to someone or something. Our culture has long celebrated attachments of various kinds: romantic love, family loyalty, even attachment to our faith and beliefs. In our present society we are super-glued to the apparition of youth. As a culture we are so firmly attached to physical beauty that many cannot see any value beyond it.
Meditation on attachment:
This is me. This is my life. This is what I love. What I need. What I breathe. It is how I define myself.
I need this to breathe, to be calm, to feel that I am me. I am connected to this, cannot be separated from it.
The thought of its loss fills me with fear and dread. I cannot breathe. I cannot think. I cannot be.
The idea, the object, the he, the she, the appearance, the belief, the touch, the place, the spirit, the god. I am dependent on it. I could not bear to lose it, to be separated from it.
What if I do? What if it disappears or vanishes or changes? What if I mess up and cause the rift? It would be cruel and unfair for the universe to make us part.
I dread the thought that it could happen. Maybe it won’t happen– maybe I will always have it. Always be able to define who I am by it. Maybe. There’s hope. After all, how do we navigate this world without these connections?