
“Attachment to views is the greatest impediment to the spiritual path.”
Source: Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
Thomas Merton, in New Seeds of Contemplation (1961)
Misattributed
“Attachment to views is the greatest impediment to the spiritual path.”
Source: Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
The Keys to Well-being in Students, Presentation to the X NIS International Conference, Astana, Kazakhstan, 26 October 2017 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8hG_p7sujU)
[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 9, 978-1-93659700-0]
God, Reverential fear and love
“Love is the only freedom from attachment. When you love everything, you are attached to nothing.”
The Book of Mirdad (1948)
“To enjoy anything, we cannot be attached to it.”
Context: To enjoy anything, we cannot be attached to it. William Blake understood this beautifully: He who binds to himself a Joy, Doth the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the Joy as it flies / Lives in Eternity's sunrise. What we usually try to do is capture any joy that comes our way before it can escape. We have our butterfly net and go after the joy like a hunter stalking his prey. We hide and wait, pounce on it, catch it, and take it home to put on our wall. When our friends come to visit, we say, "Hey, Stu, would you like to see my joy?" There it is on the wall - dead. We try to cling to pleasure, but all we succeed in doing is making ourselves frustrated because, whatever it promises, pleasure simply cannot last. But if I am willing to kiss the joy as it flies, I say, 'Yes, this moment is beautiful. I won't grab it. I'll let it go.'
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life (2011)