Think of attachment as: I must ensure that X comes to pass. I want it so
badly.
Think of detachment as: I must not want so badly that X comes to pass. I
must stay detached.
Think of non-attachment as: I may participate in the process whereby X comes
to pass -- or doesn't come to pass. If I participate I may go all out in my
participation. I may care very much whether X comes to pass. It it does, I
may feel very happy. If it doesn't I may feel very sad. But whether or not
X comes to pass I still have my laundry to do.

*-- Russ *


On Mon, Oct 1, 2012 at 5:40 PM, glen <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> The only way I can imagine detachment being a form of attachment would
> be that both attachment and detachment are limited to _partial_
> [de|at]tachment.  I.e. non-attachment must be some sort of singularity
> approachable from either direction.
>
>    http://www.wuala.com/gepr/public/singularity.svg/?mode=list
>
> But if that's the case, then we're guilty of equivocating on the word
> "attachment".  Perhaps replacing "detachment" with "anti-attachment"
> might prevent the equivocation.
>
> Prof David West wrote at 10/01/2012 04:21 PM:
> > "duty has almost nothing to do with the philosophical lesson of the
> > story.  Arjuna's dilemma is not between kill and not kill, or deciding
> > between two contradictory laws - but between attached and non-attached
> > action.  Only the latter avoids the accrual of Karma (western spelling).
> > Non-attachment is definitively not detachment (detachment is an instance
> > of attachment). Non-attachment is acting with "perfect knowledge" that
> > the action is the "right" action in that context, with context being the
> > totality of the world. (A kind of omniscience, the possibility of which
> > is for another time and place.)
>
>
> --
> glen
>
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