November/December 2001

Final Edition

The topic for this edition was chosen because this is the last edition of the Starfire Newsletter. A new effort by the "younger" generation will begin around the first of the new year and will be available at the Starfire Servers website:

  We wish to thank all our readers for their support during the past 14 years.

Nancy M. Davison

 Inclusive detachment sounds positively oxymoronic to the personality firmly attached to its own agendas, desires, and relationships. In his comments on the rune Eihwaz, Ralph Blum advises, "Nothing hectic, no acting needy or lusting after a desired outcome...This Rune speaks to the difficulties that arise at the beginning of new life..." When one begins a new life, in whatever sense, one must, by definition, be free of outmoded ways of thinking, being and doing. Christ talked of the inadvisability of putting "new wine in old skins..." and a book titled The Impersonal Life is a classic primer on the theme.  Detachment is not some archaic and unworkable technique. As it turns out, it is one of the most important qualities to be developed in the lives of those who choose to walk the spiritual Path.

 Detachment, as a goal in any human life, can be misunderstood, especially in this society where possession, self-referral and labeling are considered important facets of the "game." Popular music tells part of the story: "You Belong To Me", "You're My Everything", "Mine Alone", while labels from past decades, such as Yuppies and the "Me Generation" fill in the blanks. Moreover, detachment is seen as dangerously unemotional, going against the "natural" grain. We have been inundated with advice along these lines, to "if it feels good, do it", while the media lament that we are "out of touch" with our emotional natures, that we need to have "emotional intelligence" Everything relates to life in the form, and if we attempt to be "in the world but not of it", we engender fear and resentment in those who define themselves as the bodies in which they live.

 I once attempted to explain the meaning of the technique of detachment to a group of friends. One woman remarked, "If you want to be a cold fish, that's up to you!" Another said, "But how would you respond if I said I loved you?", while a third worried, "How would you explain to your children that you are walking away from them?" The common misunderstanding is that detachment is isolating, removing one from hearth and home, like the hermit who goes into the forest, never to be seen or heard from again.  Detachment is characterized as selfish withdrawal due to lack of commitment. This description may be true when applied to personality withdrawal, to the "deadbeat dad" and the me-myself-and-I attitude, but esoterically it is exactly the opposite.

 True detachment, not only does not isolate, but results in a closer identification with everyone and everything with whom we share the planet. It enables us to fulfill our dharma with joy and enthusiasm, and clears away the suffocating need to own and control. Moreover, true detachment, with its clear vision of responsibility, can eliminate worry and guilt, two of the most stultifying problems of the human personality. One who practices the technique of detachment emerges from the cocoon of self-centered need into a joyful sense of identification and inclusiveness, fully conscious of the at-one-ment with All that IS. Commitment to family and community deepens, because such detachment removes one's point of view from the separated self and allows it to circulate universally. Detached from personality considerations, one's point-of-view becomes inclusive, while without true detachment there is the danger of exclusivity, considering the good only of the groups with which one may be involved. Exclusivity is expressed in jingoistic patriotism and adherence to narrow ideals. Detachment conversely can lead to a sort of joyful iconoclasm, destroying the veils that have kept us enthralled and be-glamoured for so many lifetimes.

 A keen sense of humor is one of the qualities honed and refined by detachment. We learn to laugh at ourselves and with humanity. This is not the cruel and separative, "polack" or "blonde joke" kind of humor used by the personality to demean others and elevate itself; this kind of humor is close companion to true humility, through which recognition of our real Being brings us closer together, delighting in the ironies of our human condition. When we remember that we are all in this together we can cooperate in love and compassion, rolling up our collective sleeves to construct the human habitat that will most benefit the Whole.

 As a mother I was very attached to my children's welfare, but I also wanted them to "like" me, so I found it hard to say no to them, even when I knew that "no" was a much better answer than "yes". I vividly remember the first time I told one of my teen-age daughters that she couldn't use the family car.  Calling me the world's worst mother, she hung up on me, and for half an hour I was certainly the world's most miserable mother. Thirty minutes after her outburst she called back, told me she loved me, that I was a great mother, and she'd see me later! As mundane as it may seem, that was the beginning of a process of detachment that has been ongoing for a quarter of a century. No, it's not a quick or easy thing to do, but it works, and the reward is definitely commensurate with the effort.

 One of the most powerful mantras for the unfoldment of this important quality of detachment is:

 May the energy of the divine Self
inspire me
And the Light of the soul direct.
May I be led from darkness to Light,
From the unreal to the Real
And from death to Immortality.

 When we build into our lives the twin techniques of detachment and impersonality, we invariably discover that we have constructed the very inclusive Gateway to Joy.

Detachment

Lisa M. Payne

 I sat solemnly across from one of my spiritual teachers. As I sat there listening to the outpouring confession, perhaps the disbelief showed on my face. He could not see spirit, understand matter much less believe in god. In fact, the "denouement" of his monologue was that he didn't believe in anything.  At the brink of tears, he looked longingly into my eyes for an answer; my response came hard and fast.  I said, "Good!"

 It resounded through him throwing him back in his chair. "I profess to believe in nothing and all you can say is, "Good." "Better than good, it is great and about time," I replied. "To realize that you finally arrived at the point where you ought to be; detached."

 No path or practice can satisfy a soul wallowing in illusion. Surrounded by the tenets of others dictating this or that belief system, discernment becomes increasingly difficult if not downright impossible.  But where is it written that one has to believe in anything? All could be figments of men's imagination. Why not choose to believe in nothing; NO THING.

 The Sanskrit prayer of "Nothingness" sums it up. The desired state of nothingness. Detachment occurs when this can be achieved on various levels; physical, astral (emotional), mental, etc. that is true detachment from attachment. It is the ideal not the fault of the aspirant.

 The teacher said, "I am not enlightened. I am not the Buddhist I thought I was. All I know is that I can breathe and be conscious of that . That is all I can do as a human being breathe in and out and I have practiced that art for many years. I can't even pray. Have I lost at the game of being human?"

 "No," I said, "of course not." Cognito ergo sum but that's another story of detachment or is it vice versa?

Lotus

Charlotte Schmid

 Even the rain drops, transformed,
must let go
when the ice-shell thaws
and the crystal shrinks,
detaching all the drops
one by one.

So, why should not we
give welcome and transform
this matter into spirit
as laws declare
beyond the sky.

We hold these laws
inside,
not able to detach
words from this womb
yet Mind is there and
Knowing
lest the world would fall apart

which it often seems to do
-be on the verge of doing-
fragile, like the ice-cone.
A slight disturbance
a new breath--
detached

and this may serve us best
when stuck to one,
and only one
belief.

The rain drop knows,
accepts the change
then drops, lets go
like nothing ever mattered.

Just like the shoes,
my blue ones,
which gathered dust
from many walks,
rough roads left marks,
the blue subdued from all the dust,
so, does it matter they no longer shine?

Does not the dust that
gathered on its leather,
cured like the hide,
does not this dust speak volumes
imprinted in the sand?

Is it important
that little turns the way
the brain considered absolute,
glued happiness on its fringes,
when all that matters, is,

the water dropping to the center
where the precious jewel sits.

Loving Detachment

Ford Boyer

 Because the spiritual path is an on-going process, we are taught to look not for resultd but we are to focus on the action. In psychological terms, we are told that we can love a person but dislike the behavior he or she exhibits. While spiritual practice teaches us to detach, psychological therapy is another method of letting go of the past, of detaching from those mental, emotional and physical habits we have formed, those thought forms which continue to cause conflict in our lives.

 Detachment is the imposing of a new rhythm or habit reaction upon the cells of the brain. Through the detachment process, the conscious state of awareness within the brain is withdrawn from the recognition of the inner cause allowing for new thought forms to replace those no longer serving a positive purpose. This is especially true in connection with the emotions. We can become addicted to our emotional reactions just as we can become addicted to a physical substance; that is, we actually receive satisfaction from our emotional "highs". This is one of the reasons that some eastern teachings provide meditations and exercises that allow one to detach from highly emotional practices and states. These practices are not quick fixes because there are phases in the detachment process. Some practices go so far as to require a temporary detachment from the outer world such as going to a retreat or other forms of isolation. However, this type of isolation should be only temporary and not a long term habit. To live our everyday life in the world of the living teaches detached responsibility as well as the ability to detach from the reactions of others.

 We can not control the reactions of others, but we can learn to control our own reactions just as we can learn to handle our own responsibilities and let others handle theirs. By so doing, we can learn to cultivate that loving detachment which responds to human pain; that great human capacity known as compassion, without being burried in a sea of mental/emotional sorrow.

 Detachment brings joy; not a joy that says you are suffering and I am not, but a joy in the ability to share in the ails of humanity while maintaining the loving detachment of the spirit. In the writings of Alice A. Bailey, we are told to "ponder on joy, happiness, gaiety and bliss" because these "release the channels of the inner life and reach in a wide circle many kinds of men." Further, these characteristics "heal and cleanse the physical body" and help us do our work with detachment and a proper sense of values.

 A life spent learning and practicing detachment prepares us for that final detachment we call death.  The words "I die daily" from the Bible could well be aimed at the process of detachment; a process leading to the positive loving detachment during the final days, hours, minutes of life in the phsyical body.

 Until that time, may your detachment from receiving Starfire be joyful just as is ours from the years of producing it.

 Finally, learn to detach from that which you superficially love but love that from which you detach.

The great spiritual paradox remains:

 Love the divine Self yet detach from it.

 May there be joy and peace in your lives this Holiday Season.