Detaching
Tom Soma
Lately I’ve longed to be unencumbered. While the feeling makes my imminent journey that much more enticing, it also provides impetus for getting rid of stuff I’ve been carting around for far too long. But actually deciding what to keep, what to store, what to give away, and what to discard is no small task.
On Saturday I started going through books. After filling five large bags with some 70 titles, the shelves still appear untouched.
In The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh observes that a monk “lives detached, and clings to naught in the world.” Of course, he’s addressing ascetics—and in so doing, he emphasizes that detachment demands great discipline.
John O’Donohue pleads the case to a wider audience, and in softer terms. “To come deeper into the divine presence within you,” he writes in Anam Cara,
you need to practice detachment. When you begin to let go, it is amazing how enriched your life becomes. False things, which you have desperately held on to, move away very quickly from you. Then what is real, what you love deeply, and what really belongs to you comes deeper into you.
While not aiming for a monk’s life, I can live comfortably with less. And I sense that letting go of the extraneous creates room for more of the essential—especially in a search for God.
At this point, I realize the required shedding can’t be limited simply to stuff; I need to detach from outcomes as well. But the thought of becoming more cognizant of what’s real, and being able to savor that which I love even more deeply, has profound appeal. The payoff will, no doubt, exceed the price.
One thing is certain—I have my work cut out for me!