Just Thinking about Attatchment And Guilt

For the past two days I have been working out something in my mind. Formulating what my thoughts are on the new way of thinking....well, its not new really, but its an aspect of popular thought right now.

One of the teachings that is going around is to ignore the negative self talk, which is not a bad thing at all. No one needs to be telling themselves they are worthless etc, but at the same time, we can't be throwing out that small still voice that tells us we are doing something morally and or ethically wrong. We can't always hear just the nice fluffy self talk, sometimes we need a reminder to not do a certain thing or say something unkind. That "you shouldn't do that" sort of talk in our heads is not always a bad thing. I happen to think its our conscience. But we have come into an era where we only like the positive, the happy things. We don't go to a certain church because they don't make us feel all happy each week. Well, sometimes we need to hear about how we SHOULD be living. There is, as in all of life, a balance. One cannot measure "wonderful" without something on the other end of the scale to weigh it against. That voice in our head, that small still voice, can't always be ignored because it might tell us to do something that isn't all fun and roses. Or to not do something that we want to, when it might not be best for us in the long run. In other words, we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater ! I wish I could explain this better. It just seems to me we are in danger of getting rid of something that keeps us in balance because we don't always like what this small still voice is telling us. A guilty conscience can be a good thing, when it is deserved. All you need to do is spend a couple weeks with someone with Reactive Attachment Disorder and you will find that having a conscience is part of behaving normally. Guilt takes us to the place of being remorseful for our wrongs. It takes us to the place of being sorry for doing something wrong and working on not making that same mistake again. Hopefully anyway.

I am not an advocate of long faces, all seriousness, but I think this constant search for an emotional high, the feel good society is a bit like living in la la land. We are probably chasing a pipe dream if we want only feel good moments in our life.

Another thing that worries me a bit, and I have come very close to buying into this one, is the philosophy of not being attached. I believe in not being attached to things. I believe Jesus taught that to us in a powerful message with the rich young man that he asked to give all he had away. The man was too attached to his money and goods. And life is about so much more than things, but the philosophy of not being attached that we are all hearing so much about, goes much deeper. It reaches into our relationships. But God, wants, demands really that we love him with all our heart and soul and that requires a deep attachment ! Again, meet a child or adult that suffers from Reactive Attachment Disorder and you find out that not being bonded to another, not being ATTACHED, causes some serious mental health issues, so why would we ever want to be NOT ATTACHED to people we love. Yes, there is the risk of being hurt beyond words when something severs that attachment, but the risk is worth it.

I suspect that the biggest dangers in our life are not the far off wild extremes, but the "so close to the truth" things. The philosophies that have so many elements of truth in them, but under that there is a drawing away that undermines the very foundation of complete truth.