Clinging

I think this relates to love in a sort of way so I will continue my "however-many-long" segment on love.

As a forewarning. This whole post is going to make you think I'm a heartless monster. Maybe I am.

Clinging is something we all do in general. We cling to our car, our jobs, our puppies, our food, and our loved ones. A question I commonly ask myself is "what good does all this clinging bring us?" The obvious answer is comfort and joy when we are with whatever we cling to. Ya know how it goes when you're in your car with your dog eating a burger and just everything is great. Lets assume you crash and lose your puppy, your car, and god forbid your burger and you are unscathed. Of course losing the puppy is a bad thing I mean this is the loss of a life! What a horrible thing. However, we're oh so often used to clinging to things far to much and do not allow us to get over the loss as quickly as we should (more on this down below). Furthermore, your car is gone too! You've had this car for so long and you absolutely loved it and now its gone! PLUS THE BURGER IS SPLATTERED ON THE WINDSHIELD!!! Now you're left with sorrow for your puppy, regret for your car, and absolute starvation for your burger.

Some of my clever readers (all three of you ha-ha) already know what I am getting at. The result of clinging is loss and suffering. Suffering is no good at all. the reduction of clinging directly is attributed to the reduction of suffering at loss. I think the best way to do this is sort of through reverse-clinging - a sort of pre-understanding that everything will go and pass us by. I think to myself now; perhaps morbidly, that someday my dog is going to die and that I'm okay with that (Hypothetical dog, I don't have a dog). This is where I can see your face a gasp at me saying that. Of course I don't want my hypothetical dog to hypothetically die and certainly there is grief and mourning to be done for the passing of such a furry beast. Thats besides the point. The point truly is that coming to terms with the passing a way to reduce clinging and thus suffering.

That subject I find to be quite difficult. We all lose people and animals. It is hard - I guess I don't have much of an answer for that. Lets move on for now. What about the car. Your first car that got you through your late high school years, through college, and through many years in your career. This car has seen a lot and spent many good and bad nights with you. You have slept in your car and camped out of the back of your car. The car kept you safe through the coldness and the hotness - and now it is gone. What good is it to have all this clinging to a material object? What if the object weren't a car but something else; perhaps a necklace? The necklace gets stolen and you then feel victimized and feel loss for something of sentiment. Ah-hah! There is the word that is entirely clinging, sentiment!

Something with a sort of sentiment is an object that holds a value beyond its intrinsic existence. This band of gold on my left ring finger is more than a band of gold because it was given to me with a certain oath. If I lose it I will certainly get flak from my betrothed and also feel guilty and regret for losing it. Lets say I don't lose it, then what? Well I live constantly with fear that maybe I will lose it. Even if I am not thinking about it there is always the nagging thought somewhere rattling around. Symbols are fine, sure, but when such a sentiment is placed on an object than it creates suffering both during loss and while the object is around. I think this circles around to developing a pre-understanding that an object will be departed. My car is someday going to reside in a junk heap and then reincarnate as an entirely different structure. This gold ring is nothing more than a band of metal. If I lose it than it is gone.

Now, to the most important aspect, the burger. There you are on the side of the road. Weeping for your puppy, struck with awe from your car and with a rumbling belly. Well... this is a biological occurrence. You'll always be hungry. I'm not saving you from this! Take what I've said and apply it to your mortal food gratification!