Intentional awareness practices are so helpful because they both reveal our habitualness and give us healthy and effective ways of working with it. We slow down and cultivate ways of knowing ourselves better. We learn not just to bring attention to our 'problems' but wise, compassionate attention.
Here's the quote...
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Some of our habits inevitably become
choiceless. They turn into compulsions. Compulsions are not good for the soul.
Some, like racism or vengefulness, are clearly destructive. Others, like overwork or zealous self-sacrifice, may appear admirable on the surface, but devour us interiorly.
Regardless of how a compulsion appears externally, underneath it is always robbing us of our freedom. We act not because we have chosen to, but because we have to. We cling to things, people, beliefs, and behaviors not because we love them, but because we are terrified of losing them.
The classical spiritual term for this compulsive condition is attachment. The word comes from old European roots meaning “staked” or “nailed to.” All major spiritual traditions have long understood that attachment binds the energy of the human spirit to something other than love.
Each of us has countless attachments. We are attached to our daily routines, our environments, our relationships, and of course our possessions. We are also attached to our religious beliefs and to our images of ourselves, others, and God.
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In May's context here, the opposite of compulsion is choice. And the opposite of attachment is freedom. Freedom to choose what's healthier and what keeps opening us to joy. This is good news.
Some, like racism or vengefulness, are clearly destructive. Others, like overwork or zealous self-sacrifice, may appear admirable on the surface, but devour us interiorly.
Regardless of how a compulsion appears externally, underneath it is always robbing us of our freedom. We act not because we have chosen to, but because we have to. We cling to things, people, beliefs, and behaviors not because we love them, but because we are terrified of losing them.
The classical spiritual term for this compulsive condition is attachment. The word comes from old European roots meaning “staked” or “nailed to.” All major spiritual traditions have long understood that attachment binds the energy of the human spirit to something other than love.
Each of us has countless attachments. We are attached to our daily routines, our environments, our relationships, and of course our possessions. We are also attached to our religious beliefs and to our images of ourselves, others, and God.
---
In May's context here, the opposite of compulsion is choice. And the opposite of attachment is freedom. Freedom to choose what's healthier and what keeps opening us to joy. This is good news.
