Non-Attachment...
April 2025 Focus
Non-Attachment is a state of being where a person has overcome their emotional attachment, desires for material things, or the need of ownership over anyone or anything. Non-attachment is also a state where you can disconnect from worldly concerns and see the truth with a clearer awareness.
THE ISSUE
Our need for more, get more, achieve more, own more is leading to the destruction of the natural world and our own wellbeing in the process. In fact, we are brought up with this mentality and our education system also reinforces this mindset and behaviour.
Over time humanity’s need for dominance of the earth has not only led to wars amongst mankind but has also pushed all other life we share this earth with to the verge of extinction. Remember we are currently in a sixth mass extinction.
Our attachment to our own desires has also caused negative effects such as:
Food: the choice to consume dairy, meat, fish & poultry has led to industrialised mass scale of life being born and killed all for a meal (our choice). This very same industry also wipes out natural habitats, causes global warming and inflicts pain and suffering for any living being born into the “industry”, again our choice, but there are other kinder alternatives.
Fashion & Jewellery: Fast fashion and mining for jewellery (gold & gemstones) cause catastrophic effects to the natural habitats, which affect ecosystem services and wildlife. This same industry often exploits people in poverty or with low skill sets. Again, this is our choice – our want, our attachment.
Exotic Pets: The demand for exotic pets has pushed many wildlife species to the brink of extinction. For example, there are only around 6,500 cheetahs left in the wild, due to the demand for cheetahs to be kept as pets by people in the UAE – to many in this part of the world they use the cheetah as a status symbol to show wealth and power, again this is a choice, an attachment or ego demand. Our attachment/ego issues is what really fuels the illegal wildlife trade: the demand for exotic skins, pets or other body parts for medicinal use has pushed many animal species to the brink of extinction: pangolins, sharks, rhinos, tigers and many more. The demand for pedigrees or designer pets also causes issues and deformities or non-human animal suffering (French bulldogs or pugs and their breathing difficulties are just one example) all because of our wants, demands and attachments…
Culture: is no excuse to cause pain, suffering or cruelty to another living being or destruction of wild habitats for goods or historical culture. Many cultural activities such as non-human animal fighting, sacrifices, racing, riding and hunting are not even questioned and again this comes down to attachment, attachment to what has always been done, attachment to scripture, or attachment to time and no willingness to evolve.
Boundaries: The idea or borders or boundaries, this country against that country for land, this president against that prime minister for power, importance, or status. We all live on the same planet, the Earth is what we all have in common, and our attachment issues can clearly be seen in current world affairs, while the planet we live on is degenerating every single day before our very eyes because of the attachment to status, power and money.
Non-attachment can be applied to or related to all area's of our life.
THE SOLUTION
Through non-attachment we can literally transform the world and our own lives. When we understand the real currency in life is our own energy and time, that will help the individual find self-worth and pretty much becomes a short cut to shed away drama and unnecessary demands in life.
When we value our own energy and time, we begin to value the energy and time of others, or how much energy it takes to grow our food, or the realisation that cows for instance also have the same life energy (soul) as us.
This inner knowledge begins to change our own morals and ethics. We begin to have gratitude to be surround by all this energy and naturally begin to help and uplift other beings.
Non-attachment coupled with knowledge really is the greatest freedom of all. Start today, practice gratitude for what you have, learn to meditate, and listen to the wisdom inside of you.
The solution through self-work is so important, something we should all be doing, particularly as the human population grows, there’s only so many resources and so much space for all the life we share this wonderful planet with…
What we choose to own, gain, or attach ourselves to really says a lot about us as an individual. For instance, imagine owning a Tesla car in the current world situation, that is a statement of support and moral ethics for how that individual chose to spend their own energy and align their personal identity with, because money was exchanged at some point for your energy and time. We come into this world with nothing, and spend our entire lives trying to get everything, only to leave it all behind when we transcend… Through non-attachment we can not only liberate our own life energy but all life around us and the earth itself… Mark Lee Davies – founder of Haus of Conservation.
HAUS OF CONSERVATION