Hi Patricia Anne,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post
To me it is not about controlling attachments but rather releasing them. In my truth, our destiny is to move towards the place of non-identified awareness - that experience of being the absolute - of being "God".

This experience of being the all of it and at the same time a unique part of it (the soul) is what many have termed "enlightenment". To know the infinite liberation of non-identified awareness we first have to know the constriction of separateness from God - because you cannot have an experience of one without the other, just like you can't know up without down or hot without cold etc etc.

So we "forget" that we are the infinite source from which all arises by loosing ourselves in the idea of being the opposite. ie we loose ourselves in a separate identity - the personality. We develop all manner of ideas about who and what we are - all kinds of dramas and beliefs which we loose ourselves in.

Each attachment forms from birth developing fixed neural pathways in the brain which in turn generate conditioned behaviour patterns. Since matter and consciousness (spirit) are inseparable, we create what we think we are.

The journey home again is one of continually confronting attachments to things, experiences, people etc and stripping them away.

No attachment in itself is evil because that implies it came from evil intent. They are instead conditioned in us by our upbringing and parents, friends, society etc. Most people find themselves doing things which they think come from a place of free will. However until you have confronted ALL your distortions (conditioned behaviours arising from attachments) then you choices are not really truly authentic and in line with who you really are.

The way to dissolve attachments and the conditioned behaviours they create is to become the observer of ourselves and question our motivations with absolute profound self honesty. When we do this, we learn that in each moment, we are presented a choice - either give in to the conditioned behaviour or alternatively pause and find that expression of higher truth which expresses a divine inner gift of beingness.

At Openhand, we offer a powerful process for breaking down these distortions and expressing just our gifts. We call it "Formless Form" and you can read about it here...Formless Form. Its something we teach on our courses.

Best wishes

Chris

How do you control yourself? If you try and control an attachment, then it will control you, because you are the attachment.

Recognize that an attachment does not exist. The thing that you are attached to does not exist. It is only in your mind. Let go of your mind.

Be like cherry blossoms falling in the sunlight.