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Attachment is the energetic bond between a material object and an
element within one of our designs. The material object can be a physical
possession, a person, an opinion, or belief. The energy that sustains attachment
is the same energy that sustains desire. This energy surrounds all designs and
draws complimentary designs together, eg. male and female as in desire, and
holds the two together as an attachment.
How attachments are formed.
Attachments are created when we have a design whose elements, thoughts,
images, and energy tones, interfere with the free exchange of energy during our
interaction with a material object. An attachment to a person is created via the
following process:
 | We encounter a person for whom we have a desire, in that we sense an
energy charge that draws us to that person for the purpose of satisfying our
need for the type of energy and information that is available from that
person. |
| During the interaction, we attempt to exchange whatever specific energy
and information is meant to be exchanged. The exchange occurs through
conversation, physical contact, eye contact, and other means. Intuitively,
we perform a matching process, matching what we need with whatever they can
give, and vice versa. We sense what is to be said, and what is to be done.
If we allow this matching process to occur intuitively, there is an
appropriate exchange of particular energy and information. When the exchange
is completed, we part company. |
| We may fail to use our intuition as a guide. Instead of responding
intuitively to the unique dynamics of this situation, we default to mere
decision making on the basis of logic, past experience, and the residual
elements in our designs. The encounter is now polluted by these alien
thoughts, images, energy tones and actions. They disrupt the exchange of
energy and information and create an energy blockage. |
| As a result of these energy blockages, two events occur: 1) the energy
that was meant to be exchanged was not exchanged, and 2) we inserted those
polluting elements into our designs. We are now attached to this design
because of those two conditions. The unresolved energy in the design will
continue to bond us, or attach us, via the same magnetism like dynamic of
desire by which we were originally drawn to the person. We are relating to
designs and not to the person, therefore our attachment exists only
incidentally to this particular person. If we do not respond appropriately,
intuitively, with that person we leave residual energy in our designs. This
residual energy, if not dispersed will perpetuate similar relationships in
the future. |
Techniques for managing our attachments.
| We can accept the existence of attachments when we admit that we
really are attached or addicted to a person, object, or activity. Even though we
have a natural distaste for the restrictions and discomfort that are inflicted
by attachments, we know that they are an essential part of the process through
which we try to come to terms with our designs. |
| We can become more aware of our attachments. We recognize attachments by
noticing the persistent recurrence of similar circumstances, and our obsessive
thoughts and compulsive actions in response to these circumstances. After
recognizing the attachment, we try to discern:
 | Which designs are dominant in this situation? |
| Which thoughts, images, energy tones, and actions are we repeating from
previous encounters with the design? |
| The possibility that we are creating new attachments in this situation
due to our inability or unwillingness to be guided by our intuition. |
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| We can change the designs upon which our attachments are based. As we
struggle with a dilemma in our life, the true struggle is not with the
material circumstance itself, It is with the design dynamics. In every
situation, we are coming to terms with designs by developing new designs,
whose contents allow a free flow of energy and information between them. If we
have appropriate elements in our designs, the contents grant an objectivity
and vitality that guide our problem solving efforts toward a resolution and
the completed exchange of energy and information. When the cycle ends there is
no unresolved energy to bond us, and we can move on to something else. |
| We can allow attachments to play themselves out. We realize that they
must run their cycle regardless of our resistance to them or our dislike of
them. We are attentive to the cycle itself, so that we know when to release the
object. We detect the end of a cycle through various means such as a message
from our intuition, a general sense that we are finished with the object, an
awareness that something new has come into our life such that the old object no
longer has a place, or the detection that the object is no longer charged with
vitality. We feel boredom, or lack of interest, or the degeneration of our
interaction into meaningless habits. |
| We can transcend our attachments so that we can study them objectively.
Our true identity lies in our true self. Our circumstances and material goods
are here only for our education. We have adopted them solely because they
facilitate our life at this moment. We can apply this to all areas of our life:
| Our physical possessions. The pleasure that we feel in ownership is
due to the pleasurable flow of life energy toward an object. It is not due
to the object itself except to the extent to which it elicits this flow. If
we direct our attention toward this flow rather than to the object, we find
no reason to cling to any particular object. We attend to the energy itself,
and we notice only incidentally the object that is currently holding the
charge that attracts our attention and energy flow. In the acquisition of
new objects, our intuition can tell us which objects to seek. Intuition
selects objects on the basis of two criteria: the necessities of human life
such as a home or a car, and the need to resolve residual energy of design
elements from previous design encounters. |
| Our opinions. Viewpoints are not the same as opinions. Viewpoints are
our temporary perspectives from our position in life at this moment, they
are like the changing scenery as we drive along a mountain road. Opinions
are created when we impose a personal attachment onto an otherwise
impersonal thought. This is now my opinion, and it is a permanent opinion.
In relating to other people's viewpoints, we can consider these
alternatives:
 | We can acknowledge the enjoyment and arousal that we find in the
variety and spice that are presented in the potpourri of viewpoints. |
| We can consider the value of every person's viewpoint as a thought
that we can adopt and implant into our own designs to make them more
effective. |
| We can respect the right of people to experiment with their own lives
as long as they are not hurting us. |
| We observe the ways in which our own freedom of expression is
squelched whenever we try to limit that freedom in other people:
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We are restricting our own life energy by the distracting attempt to
control the other people. |
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We restrict ourselves by condemning other people because we
endeavor not
to do what we have condemned.
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| Our self image. As we move from one design situation to another, we
need to adopt a different set of thoughts, images, and energy tones in order
to maintain the flow. We obviously have to change hats when we come home from
our job. We may change from employee to parent, spouse, child, or room mate.
As we constantly change from one circumstance to another, we are more
effective if we are flexible in our self concepts. Instead of labeling ourselves as a particular type of person, and responding mechanically as that
type of person, we can remain aware that all of our traits are temporary and
conditional. In one sense, they are who we are. In another sense, they are
merely design elements that we have created in our attempt to manage design
situations. This distancing or detachment allows us to be more creative in our
experiments with designs. We become a chameleon, changing our colors to
respond to our changing environment, not in a valueless manner, but instead in
compliance with intuitions'
guidance. |
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We can develop self discipline. Self discipline is simply the use of our
will to direct our attention and life energy toward a particular charged object
with such intensity that we are not distracted by other charged objects that we
will need to confront later.
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We can savor that to which we are attached because
savoring allows the
exchange of energy and information for which this material object came into our
life. We savor the liveliness of the object, even if we do not like the object
itself.
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We accept change and variety in our environment. Some people thrive on
change, adventure, stimulation, and challenge in the ever fluctuating world
around them. To an extent, change is frightening or otherwise unpleasant. Other
people prefer to live in a rut of habitual behavior. Long after the attraction
is gone from an object, they perpetuate their involvement with it because they
fear change.
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We allow passion. Passion is the flow of life energy in its full
expression of physical activity, emotions, energy, imagination and creativity.
Our passion for life guides us to that which is highly charged, that which
allows us to give and receive the greatest amount of this flow. We spontaneously
create the design elements that facilitate this flow because of this craving for
life itself. We are here for the flow rather than for the object itself. We
easily release or detach from objects that are reaching the end of their flow
cycle, and we eagerly seek new objects. Passion is not founded on materialism
although it expresses itself toward material objects. It is founded on the flow
of energy that we experience when we are engaged with the particular objects.
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We develop resilience. When life strips away that which has reached the
end of its cycle we accept a period of grief. This is the shutting down of the
energy flow toward an object that has been removed from our life. We can then
rebound and begin a search for whatever will be our next object of interaction
and learning.
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Next topic: Design Work |
