Attachment to the Material - Evolving Spirit

[Celtaur]

Can we evolve by being attached to the physical?

Lately I've been considering aspects of my life and wondering where my ideals fit into reality and how I'm changing over time. Recently I've been feeling a bit more attached to the physical rather than I normally have been.

Many spiritual beliefs about purpose and evolution of the self discusses transcendance over the attachments to the physical, and to be attached is to innevitably lead to disappointment, suffering, etc. But can attachment lead to liberation?

I've been going through some personal transformation, finding my place and within that I'm feeling that I am becoming more attached to different aspects of the material world than I was only a few months ago. It seems that my attachments are changing from attachments that caused me suffering, to attachments that are more satisfying. This attachment seems to hold a powerful place in my personal evolution and somewhat leading to personal confusion as my ideals are transforming. As a friend has pointed out, it could be as well that the full moon as well as the summer solstice -changing seasons - is playing a role in my emotional changes. I'm also considering the chakra meditations could be playing a role in my internal shifts.

Considering we are born into the physical world, most likely for an important purpose, how can it be that denying all our attachments is a significant goal in spiritual evolution? Should we not be embracing our attachments and allowing ourselves to learn the great lessons that are held within, or is it that the evolved spirit does not need to become attached to learn? If we do not attach ourselves to the material world, do we not miss out in important experiences?

I'm considering my totality here. Because I have lived with the belief of detachment for some time, I sometimes feel very "detached" and this does not always feel liberating, but feels like I'm missing out on experiences that are potentially meaningful, powerful and liberating. I do understand the power of detachment as well, in which we do not get caught up in harmful egoic tendencies. Lately I feel that I am balancing the detachment with attachment. I'm also realizing more of the other attachments I have had before that I didn't realize were causing me suffering. But I'm feeling there are healthy attachments lately - things I had considered superficial and unimportant before, I'm now considering enjoyable. By attaching to the physical, does it stall personal evolution, or does it open up worlds of experience that are just as important?

[Haruth]

I've been comtemplating this question for some time (Oops, 6 months since you originally posted... I must confess that the contemplation probably ended a week after, and I forgot to reply... )

I suppose there are two distinct components to the idea of being attached to the physical: the physical 'stuff' we acquire during our life, and the physical body which we inhabit.

In our western societies, where the acquisition of 'stuff' is the expection we must meet in order to keep the economy bouyant, it is all too easy to get lost. Are we really the gadgets we crave, or are we more than the sum of the physical objects with which we surround ourselves?

I feel that there is a balance somewhere. The little wooden shack, sufficient food to feed ourselves, sufficient fuel to keep ourselves warm. Surely that is all that we really need to maintain the physical aspect of our being. The TV, the new car, the latest i-pod... they add very little to any sense of inner wellbeing: and yet there is an entire generation defined by how many of the latest gadgets that they own.

Being physical, in all its possible meanings: being connected with one's own presence, indulging the processes that maintain and nurture it, revelling in the connection of the body with the natural world in which it finds itself. I see no issue in this 'attachment' to the physical: after all, we are, in experiencing this level of reality, here to experience all there is at this physical level.

Again, there is a danger in losing balance. Addictions, dysmorphophobia, spiritual practices which involve some form of physical deprivation: all result from over (or under) emphasis on the importance of the physical form.

So: enjoy both the body you are in and the 'stuff' that you have surrounded yourself with (and give you pleasure). Just remember, that you are neither of these things: they do not, and can not define you, your level of happiness, nor your 'success' in life.

When we leave the world, we leave behind everything. I suppose it is how we feel regarding these physical objects, when we reach this crossroads, that is the guage of how far we may have come spiritually. Do we still yearn the body, and it's sensations; is our last thought "what of my things?"; or do we embrace with joy the new adventure which awaits beyond the veil?