Detach from detachment
Being obsessed with detaching oneself from the world is just as unproductive as being totally attached to the world. Both are traps that keep us fixated on the material, either through aversion or desire. If we must resist something intensely, then that thing is still defining our identity.
Saying 62 of the Gospel of Philip reads:
Do not fear the flesh, nor love it. If you fear it, it will become your master. If you love it, it will swallow and paralyse you.
In many religious traditions, the body is treated as an enemy, full of unruly desires that must be overcome. The Gospel of Philip, however, warns against becoming overly fearful of the flesh. If we constantly fret about the sinful nature of bodily urges, we are surrendering power to these very forces. In resistance, the drives remain in control.
There must be a middle way. True awareness lies in lightness, clarity, and non-judgement. If we are dedicated, for instance, to not slipping up in certain ways but something happens, the impulse to be frustrated with ourselves can be turned on its head. We can instead practise gratitude for a mishap, seeing it as a teacher that shows us something and reminds us of the freedom we gained by letting go of such things to begin with. If it were not there to teach us, we would not know. In this way we become grateful for our failings and stumbles, which, seen in this light, are not failings and stumbles at all, but the rising and falling patterns of progress.
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I really like the concept of conducting oneself according to “the rising and falling patterns of progress”. It’s a self-generous perspective. A nice turn of phrase as well. I try, with success somewhere in the middle range. How do you find it in practice?