In class, we have been talking a lot about the practice of detachment. I feel this is so relevant in America because we talk about the good old days and this town is like this and like that. Our attachment to how things used to be or how we think things should be is such a harmful way of looking at things. Can we contain a span of time into a capsule and keep everything the same?
I recently watched a documentary series called Wild Wild Country. Basically, a guru from Pune, Maharashtra, India came to the US to promote a place of peace and transformation. They found a place in Oregon and the town, neighbors and then the media treated these people horribly. While watching it makes me cringe because I know people that speak the way they do of change, people of color and anything different or outside of their box.
I don’t believe these people are wrong so I have compassion for both. However, the peaceful side I tend to gravitate towards. Ignorance is hard to correct but realize that it has to be there for intelligence to exist. Most people react the way that the people of Oregon towards the sinyasins out of fear. They were fearful of them changing their small, little quiet town. They were so fearful that they eventually a man set off an explosion trying to kill them and damage their property. This was in the 70’s and we haven’t come far from this way of thinking. It’s very sad but proof that change takes a lot of time.
This ties into my post yesterday regarding the student at Missouri Western State University. The Muslims are not what the west paints them to be. Of course, all groups of people have bad apples just as Americans but that should paint the broad picture of all people. Having travelled many places in this world, Muslims are not the people to be feared. The people who are to be feared are the people that combine money and power. In this age, fear the fact that money can buy you influence, humans and anything else you could dream of.
When we look at this in regards to detachment, you don’t own even the memories that you have attach to a place or emotion. Detachment is a power all on its own. If you can detach from your routines and celebrate change there would be less mass shootings and war. You have people expanding their minds rather than closing them. Until then, we are stuck reading about how fear got someone shot and killed. Detach from what you fear, first. Then, try to detach from what you love. In some cases, both are equally hard to let go of.