n 1: avoiding emotional involvement 2: the act of releasing from an attachment or connection

Not to suffer because of the actions or reactions of other people;

• Not to allow ourselves to be used or abused by others in the interest of another’’s recovery;

• Not to do for others what they could do for themselves;

• Not to manipulate situations so others will eat, go to bed, get up, pay bills, not drink;

• Not to cover up for anyone’’s mistakes or misdeeds;

• Not to create a crisis;

• Not to prevent a crisis if it is in the natural course of events.

Detachment is neither kind nor unkind. It does not imply judgment or condemnation of the person or situation from which we are detaching. It is simply a means that allows us to separate ourselves from the adverse effects that another person’’s alcoholism can have upon our lives.

Detachment helps families look at their situations realistically and objectively, thereby making intelligent decisions possible.

Learning the Art of Detachment

"Be in it but not of it"... so the great spiritual masters of our past have repeated to us throughout history. In a world such as the one we live in today, where polarization has reached its zenith, these words hold a valuable lesson for all of us, but only few understand or have the spiritual capacity to take action.

As noted in earlier editorials, we are spiritual beings having human experiences, not human beings have spiritual experiences. This makes us unique in that the world is only a school where we learn valuable lessons about the limitations we place on ourselves while living in the physical and material world. Yet we tend to get so caught up in the physical and material that we forget who we are and why we’re here. We are here to observe, take note, and learn to understand the lesson of compassion.

This is certainly not an easy task in a world that divides everything into black and white,

pitting one side against the other, without paying credence to the possibilities that exist in between.

So in the polarized world of George W. Bush, "you’re either with us or against us"; that is,

you’re either right or wrong. Yet, when we look at the rest of the world, their observations about the events unfolding are far different than ours. Does that make us right and them wrong, or vice-versa?

In truth, we cannot measure right or wrong because it is all relative and depends on our

point of perspective. Additionally, in the overall scheme of things there is only one creator whom we are all part of, and the key to reunification is learning to detach ourselves from the drama and outcome, and understand that polarization is a lesson in humility and total consciousness. Detachment means rising above the status quo, without passing judgment, and watching the drama unfold without becoming physically or emotionally involved.

Yet you ask, how is this possible when there is so much evil in the world right now and it is affecting me? The answer to the first question is yet another question: who is to say what is good and what is evil? Evil and good are subjective observations depending on whose side you’re on, what your life experience has been, and the cultural and religious dogma that you’ve been fed. It is this subjectivity that is being played out now on the world stage, particularly in Israel and Palestine.

And yet we are all effected by this drama. All of us are being sucked into it, in one way or

another. We are physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and otherwise, experiencing real-life repercussions as our governments, religions, cultures, and even our own personal belief systems pressure us to take sides and draw the line in the sand. But this is all part of the old paradigm that will no longer work if we are to move into a higher consciousness and reunite with the one spirit for peace and prosperity. We may not be able to control what happens on the outside, but we can certainly control what happens on the inside.

Detachment doesn’t mean burying your head in the sand so that you need not watch the action as it unfolds; it means, being there, observing from an objective space, and remembering who you are-- a spiritual being watching the drama of polarization reach its climax and fail so that a new paradigm of victory can be birthed by those of us who refuse to buy into a perpetual game of winners and losers. Detachment addresses the need of the spiritually inclined to remove oneself from the chaos while observing and learning valuable lessons about this temporary physical existence. Life on Earth takes its form as very primitive energy that maintains its existence, and gains its sustenance, through polarization and brutal competition. This physical, emotional, and mental manifestation is uniquely human. But remember, we are spiritual beings having a human experience and not the other way around. So we can remove ourselves from the drama when we’ve learned all we

need to know about polarization and separation. When we finally realize who we really are, and how we are all equally part of the same creative manifestation, we will finally learn the fine art of detachment and the truth behind our cosmic ancestry and oneness.

Right attachment is to attach to being. Right detachment is to detach from both knowing and doing.

Right attachment requires right being, i.e., that you attach to self as being a container and not attach as the contents of that container.

Right detachment from knowing and doing requires that you accept knowing and doing from God instead of from self.

The Keepers Notes: No Author Listed