Exploring freedom from attachment →
“He who binds to himself a joy
Does the wingèd life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.”
- William Blake: Eternity
Image credits: zik “Tây”
I see William Blake’s poem as a simple story about attachment: as long as you’re attached to something there is a high chance that you’ll become unhappy.
Everything around us is dynamic: love, desire, pleasure, joy, sadness, technology, nature, they’re all dynamic. When we attach to them we create expectations. We expect that the element that we’re attached to, should not change with the passage of time. When it changes, the sense of attachment is lost - and when it’s lost, we feel disappointed, we suffer, we feel hurt, disoriented: “He who binds himself a joy / Does the winged life destroy”
I personally find it very hard not to be attached to the world around me. That’s why, I’d like to be “awake” whenever I create attachment. With attachment come expectations, ownership and selfishness. Giving up attachment brings freedom, generosity and authenticity: “But he who kisses the joy as it flies / Lives in eternity’s sunrise.”
What’s your perspective on attachment?
