Does our need to attach ourselves to mental activity, material objects and relationships etc. stem from.......

Does our need to attach ourselves to mental activity, material objects and relationships etc.


come from our need to have security on all levels of life, to avoid the feeling of uneasiness/fear, inorder to find firm ground, which stems from our ignornance of the movement/impermanency and uniquness of existence?





or





Is the need for security, a fear of loss, which is bred by attachment. The root of attachment being ignorance?





English is not my mother tongue.Does our need to attach ourselves to mental activity, material objects and relationships etc. stem from.......
Hi Louis,


Yes, I agree with the young lady. This is a very good philosophical question. It's my belief that people who are truly in harmony with themselves and their surroundings don't need all these things. Tibetan monks and others who are more highly evolved spiritually don't need the outer trappings. It's the highly materialistic societies who go to the mall where shopping is their form of worship, and must always been in contact with others, via a cell phone etc. that appear frenetic and out of control. We in N.A. are a long way from true wisdom and understanding.Does our need to attach ourselves to mental activity, material objects and relationships etc. stem from.......
Attachment to objects or material possessions would surely imply a lack of good emotional attachments, or at least that those have been jettisoned in favour of something that cannot talk back!


Attachment to mental activity.... well without that I would be terribly bored, so I find it OK to have that kind of attachment.


Attachment to relationships is expected - we are social animals, and if we look at a babies need to bond we can see that it is absolutely essential for good mental health.


The root of attachment is only ignorance in the sense that it is a primal need, and not an intellectual one.


It is 'natural' to want to feel secure. What is debateable of course is the methods that people use to achieve that feeling of security - usually finding that material possessions are a poor substitute for human interaction.
I like your question. :-)





I do think our need to attach ourselves to mental activity and material objects stems from our need to possess security and certainty (but I do not think that security and certainty actually exist.)





I think that a fear of loss is really the same as a fear of insecurity, because loss makes one feel insecure and breeds the same feelings, and I also think that attachment is the same as mental activity and material objects, all of which appear to be mere distractions keeping us from the ';moment'; and the fear we hold of dying, of losing ourselves, of losing our idea of some sort of security.





If we could only let go of all of that and let ourselves die to ourselves, wouldn't that really be living, without all the fear, the associations, the memories, the ambitions, the insanity? Wouldn't we really be ';one with everything'; then, in the moment? I don't know; I'm too scared! ;-)
It is not a need. It is part of your growing up, experience. From the day you were born, your ego, was/is fed with all this garbage, which you carry around as baggage. Buddhist are a good example of what you state, is not true. They are still human and fail every now and then, but only when they are alone. The moment someone enters their 'space', they immediately think: ';What message is he/she bringing? What can I learn, and what must I teach?'; (not preach!)


Peace.