What Aquila ka Hecate said. Somewhere in my library, I have a discussion that concludes that the notion that everything is an illusion to be "gotten past" is a notion of patriarchy. Women, who give birth, are less likely to pretend that bodies, blood, things of the Earth, are illusion.
I've always found offensive the notion that this Earth -- bursting with life, and process, and meaning -- doesn't matter. It's "matter" -- by definition, it "matters."
religious or philosophical doctrines that preach mistrust for what our senses tell us, that instruct us to hate and fear sensuality, have made us literally senseless. which is another word for clueless.
ReplyDeletei think mystical precepts such as the famous zen aphorism "no matter, never mind" are mistranslated and misunderstood by westerners. i think that the concept of maya, that we are living in a constructed reality, does not mean that our senses lie, but rather, our interpretation of what our senses tell us is a lie - having eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge, we have shifted from being creatures of the garden to being gardeners.
a traumatized person and a whole person may have the same sensations yet interpret them differently. what may be the touch of friendship and comfort to you may be the touch of invasion, coercion and manipulation to me. and it's the exact same sensation. all that is different is the emotional reality we associate with it. i guess that's what they mean by "attachment".