Iceberg

Nonattachment: Key to Happiness in Impermanence

Nonattachment is key to happiness in the constantly changing world and impermanent life. The way you live and act in the world can give rise to attachment and suffering. Hence, you should acknowledge impermanence and live in such a way that you do not get attached. Nonattachment is to be like water, not grasping the known or the unknown but letting go and move on in order to be harmonious with the changing cause and conditions.

Impermanence Reigns Supreme

Everything known, unknown or beyond are impermanent phenomena arising due to constituent cause and conditions, which ultimately change, die, disintegrate, disperse and gets endlessly recycled.

Since you are also an impermanent phenomenon, the idea of “God” or “The supreme power that create, control or judge” is also irrelevant. Even “supreme power” is one of the impermanent factors among the cause and conditions in the story of creation. Impermanence reigns supreme.

Since you are impermanent and everything known and unknown is impermanent on account of it’s changing constituent cause and conditions, there is no point in getting attached to anything. Non-attachment is harmonious with the supreme law of impermanence, whereas attachment is against the supreme law of impermanence. Hence attachment brings suffering whereas non-attachment avoids suffering.

Attachment is Due to Association

Attachment arises due to association. You associate with known and unknown by identifying yourself with the known or unknown or conflicting with the known or unknown.

You may have physical association, for example association with one’s clothes. You may have psychological association, for example association with one’s name. Due to association with clothes, you may feel physically uncomfortable in a dress that is not suitable, or you may feel elated in good clothes. Due to psychological association with your name, you may like or dislike your name.

Attachment arises due to association through which you identify with the known and unknown. You may get attached through association with known or unknown due to ignorance and lack of detached seamlessly clear awareness, the phenomenon of knowing correctly in the right context.

Lack of awareness can be due to different reasons for example, immaturity, hypnosis, chronic stress etc. Factors like immaturity, hypnosis, stress etc. can be due to different cause and conditions. Attachment through association with known and unknown gives rise to self and self-delineation and self-ignorance.

Self-ignorance arises through self-delineation by associating with self-ideation, self-image, self-conception, self-identification or feeling of being inner self independent of constituent cause and conditions. Inner self is due to stress and self-delineation is self-ignorance making you rigid and in conflict with life and the world.

During meditation you relax and dissociate step by step away from the known and unknown to become fully aware and detached without mind and without inner self. Fully aware and detached without inner self, you find the pleasure of nonattachment.

Happiness In Nonattachment

Since you and everything known, unknown or beyond is impermanent, there should be no fear of loss or jealousy of success. Everything good and bad that everyone has will be eventually lost. Life is impermanent and so it is to be enjoyed sustainably without regrets; however, nothing is worth regretting in the one and only ephemeral life.

Living without attachment, you will neither be saddened by loss nor fear loss. Without attachment, you will accept change and move on with the great natural flow of life.

Without attachment there is no association with known or unknown, without association there is no self. Without self, you will enjoy what you have without unnecessary personal desires.

Nonattachment Through Meditation

Meditation diverts, focuses and detached your attention. Through focused but detached attention, you dissociate from known and unknown.

Meditation relieves stress of association with known or unknown and brings clarity of awareness, the phenomenon of knowing correctly in the right context. Due to stress relief, inner-self dissolves and you disappear psychologically.

Without inner self, you do not associate with known or unknown and you remain as detached awareness. Through meditation you become aware and detached without inner self. Through detached seamlessly clear awareness without inner self, you know correctly in the right context without getting attached or controlled by known and unknown.

To know more about benefits of meditation click here.