"Likewise throw away instantly..."

A meditation upon Attachment, Attunement and Detachment

Likewise throw away instantly

Whatever you`re attached to

That fuels the fires of anger and hatred, fearing

They will consume your merit

(Shanti Devi, Patience)

Vṛtti sārūpyam itaratra

Vṛtti = modification; sārūpyam = assumes form, identification; itaratra = at other times

At other times (the Self appears to) assume [identify with] the forms of the mental modifications

(The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)

The quotes above are lingering in my mind presently. I was left thinking about attachment when I wrote my previous post (The Physical Plane As A Bridge To The Spiritual Realm, 6 July 2025). There I spoke about shedding past lives that includes my present emotional - psychic skin. This was evocative of shredding and getting rid of doubt, fear, anxiety and worry. All the things that bring me pain I am now releasing. It was while I was thinking of this that the question of holding and containing this material is one of attachment. It served a point in the past as I wore it as a suit of protection - no one can harm me as much as I can harm myself. An identification with reductivity and loss. As I embrace my path of Spirituality I can now see this as an external object and one that requires healing. The healing process has already started as I have previously mentioned in other posts how these past lives are being removed. It is just a process of reaching the presentness in my writing to catch up with where I am now. And that is looking at the two quotes I have included at the beginning of this post for they contain the meditation upon the theme of this question on attachment, attunement or detachment.

Having no attachment is not an illusion or an illusory goal. It is a system of thinking about what belongs to us, what is me, you, us and what do we need to reach a sense of unity with the celestial? Clinging onto materiality - which is the physical realm and includes others - is a form of harbouring desire. Detachment, the act of non-attachment, is letting go of such things that generate strong feelings which ultimately cloud our senses. It means we do not see things for what they are as we are utterly devoted to their beingness. That beingness then is a belonging to something which grants us a sense of purpose. It animates within us and drives us to make certain decisions based upon it. Yet that is a narrative. It is encoded within our identity and that in turn is rooted in our imprints - social, familial, cultural, historical, sexual, racial etc. These are biases which we cling to unconsciously without question. This is something when I was training at the Tavistock that was regularly under focus to really drill down on. Jung wrote about our Individuation as a major process of bringing back into the Self all of our projections - those that the Ego does not want to see within itself and banishes outside of it, to then face it externalised and treat it with all the passion of dislike it can muster in that externalised object either through ridicule, cynicism, anger or hatred. The power of the dislike is equal to the level of dislike found within the Ego of its own Self. A fear or loathing then externalised onto objects outside of its own Self to attack.

This narrative is a clinging onto our biases and sense of belonging. It serves as a sense of safety in an otherwise chaotic world, and internal landscape. What can separate our drive from our Ego?

Chanting and meditation. These practices serve to bring us into alignment with our Self. Our higher consciousness is not and does not belong to the material Ego. By chanting and meditating we get closer to that sense of Self which is a mirror to the Universe. Attachment smudges the mirror and keeps hidden from us, our higher Self, our connection with the Universe. Chanting and meditation is nourishment that sustains the soul. It cleans this mirror so that we can see with clarity and compassion. Not blindly walking through the world, but with light guiding our way. Our internal light, the light of our Spirit, shining the path to tread.

For me, I have been relinquishing past lives as I have expressed in earlier posts. This is in alignment with this core tenet of non-attachment. Old narratives, old ways of being, of doing things, as well as literally past life material have arisen through my chanting and meditation like being perceived in the mirror in front of me now that it is being cleaned of all the grime.

It is a process of understanding. Honouring with kindness why they were existent in the first place, which is from a different time and based upon naivety, and with kindness letting them go. Only fear keeps them working in the present. Fear might be deflected from being recognised and anxiety might be the immediate pressing element. However, anxiety is rooted in fear. It is fear of the unknown, of what we cannot control, of change and growth. Fear builds a home around our narratives and anxiety shields us from looking out. That is why we need to look inside. By looking inside we return to source. We discover our Oneness, our collectivity, our kinship with each other and the Universe. We let go of what separates us and instead attune to our Self. Attunement is not the same as Attachment.

Then one of the greatest moments of non-attachment was going abroad on holiday. Saying goodbye to my writing, my posting, and my reading of publications I am interested in was significant. Being away felt a release from my ego, my sense of purpose in a way that is a cage. A self-imposed constriction I had not been aware of until I had decided to let it go. My phone network is atrocious - I have no roaming. My partner's supplier is fantastic. I have to take off mobile data and put it on airplane mode and then rely on WiFi so that I can be free from any unexpected hidden charges because I have unwittingly clicked on something. It makes it really difficult. Therefore I decided that this time that I was not going to do any work while on holiday. And at first it felt tricky but then after a couple of days I felt the release. And it was bliss. I didn't miss it at all. There were times when I had the impulse to write and I would jot things down - which makes up the most of this post and how it can feel like it is jumping around a lot - but not in a sense of being at work. Jotting things down and then releasing it. Not contemplating it or sitting with it.

What was amazing was my yoga. When I thought about being on holiday I had a deep feeling of regret that I wouldn't be able to practice yoga while away and wondered what I would do about it, if anything. I knew I couldn't be attached to my practice and may have to release it while abroad. However when I talked to reception when checking in about perhaps if there was the off chance to be leant a yoga mat from the gym so I could continue my yoga they said they couldn't promise but they would look into it for me. Then while unpacking in our room there was a knock on the door. The receptionist was very pleased to hand me a yoga mat saying I could keep it in the room during my full stay at the hotel. It was amazing! The universe really does provide if you only ask. My relief was that I could continue with my journey rather than pausing it. This is important and the universe recognised it I think too.

Also, before going away I also wondered about what to do about my chanting. Should I take my Mala beads, or not? If I took them would I be able to get them through customs or security? I did some divination and asked what I should do? It came back that I could take them and pack them in my bag. And it was another big tick! It was so lovely to be able to practice my yoga while also being able to include my chanting and meditation with my Mala beads. Though this is about a meditation on non-attachment here I am talking about my attunement to my Mala beads, yoga, having a mat and my regular practice which I felt anxious about needing to stop for a period and requiring to prevent that if possible. I could feel the anxiety, and I could name it. I was open to the reality of having to pause my practice though that wasn't my preferred choice, but I would if need be. Through my awareness and openness to what I was not wanting, another thing opened up for me. Another way and one that was more aligned with what I needed. That is the difference between pushing a want (Ego based ideation) and asking for a need (otherness based). The difference between attachment and attunement.

I didn't take my tarot cards for I had to make critical decisions based upon what I could actually achieve versus what was practical. So I kept them at home. The building up to the Aquarius Full Moon and 8/8 Lion's Gate Portal were important aspects which I meditated upon but I was otherwise unable to read the tarot for. I don't hold any regrets about this choice. For one thing I was able to follow my yoga and meditate which was a bonus and it was a practice of yielding to what was before me - the unknown, the opportunity of something else of which was uncertain that I needed to embrace and laying before me. The holiday and experiencing another place, time and present moment.

Having returned I can feel the loss of what I was doing before. I feel there is a lot of catching up to do and thinking of whether I will ever catch up. There is a sense of abandonment and needing to rebuild everything again. However I know that is rooted in attachment which I can release. Everything is where it should be and as it needs to be. Time is discontinuous rather than stretching out before us and behind like a thread we can follow for that is a man-made construct. This is understood in Buddhist philosophy and has recently been discovered to be truthful. Time is a concept of mental appropriation which externally does not obey laws we once wanted to believe. In Buddhism, time is viewed as an illusion, with the past, present, and future coexisting in a continuous flow of moments. This perspective emphasizes that our experience of time is constructed and that true understanding comes from realizing the timeless nature of existence beyond the cycles of birth and death.

Recent research from the University of Surrey (Thomas Guff, Chintalpati Umashankar Shastry, Andrea Rocco. Emergence of opposing arrows of time in open quantum systems. Scientific Reports, 2025; 15 (1)) suggests that time may not flow in just one direction, as certain quantum systems can theoretically exhibit two arrows of time, thus allowing for time to move both forward and backward. This challenges the traditional view of time's irreversibility and indicates that the underlying laws of physics do not inherently favour a single direction of time.

This sense of and experience with past life matter inhabiting the present is a manifestation of this material. This discontinuous overlay of time is one born from Spirituality as well as science. I feel there is a special activation happening right now where we are on the threshold between what was once dismissed as being something from the imaginations of our ancestors and what is now being assimilated into scientific fact. This brings us to the question of what is next? The answer to that lies in another post. But what I will consider here is how we are beginning to open up a true look at what is the stuff of the Universe rather than seeing it through our own bias or ego constructed lenses. And that is really exciting. We are at the forefront of a new reality. It is by no coincidence that this is happening during Pluto in Aquarius.

How does all of this relate to my present practice? As I continue to work through my Yoga Journey it is becoming increasingly clear how there is a massive change that is manifesting. That change is born from letting go of the past - those links to my injury, to other areas that were in effect shackles keeping me stuck, locked in a doom loop of not feeling creative enough, not physically strong enough, and therefore acting in ways that confirmed it. That is being undone and washed away by my consistent approach.

There are times where, as I sit in meditation or in Legs Up The Wall, that images float into my mind. The feelings surface and I can see those particular elements clearly for what they are. They belong to my identification, my attachment, to those narrative structures. Now that I can see them in this new light I can see them and not feel the same emotion that once clung to me, and I clung onto. Now I can see them and feel sadness that they once held such power. I do cry as I release it for it is a cathartic release. Shedding such material is such sweet sorrow, to merge a phrase together. The sweetness is not bittersweet, it is relief. And as it ebbs and flows away my physical, emotional and spiritual Selves combine to feel a stronger sense of purpose. No longer feeling like there is a hole in my Self, but that I am now made whole.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If there has been anything that has resonated with you I would really love to hear it. This publication, Mahnatoth, is, as I see it anyway, a collective one where we can all come together to share our stories working with this energy. For it is in the community that we garner strength and understand our Selves better.

Wishing you all many Blessings,

Namaste 🙏✨🕉️🔥🦋🌼