“Luck is nothing but the union of readiness with favorable opportunity.” – Deepak Chopra
The Law of Detachment
The sixth spiritual law of success is the law of detachment. The Law of detachment states that in order to achieve anything in the physical world, you will have to give up your attachment to it. This does not mean that you give up the intention to make your wish come true. You do not give up either your intention or your desire. You give up your commitment to the outcome.
This is a very strong step. The moment you give up your attachment to the outcome, uniting at the same time one-pointed intention with non-attachment, you will get what you desire. Anything you want can be achieved through non-attachment, because it is based on unconditional belief in the power of your true self.
Attachment, on the other hand, is based on fear and doubt, and the need for security stems from not knowing one’s true nature. The source of wealth, of abundance, of everything in the physical world is the spirit; he is the consciousness that knows how to fulfill every need. Everything else is a symbol: cars, houses, bills, clothes, airplanes. Symbols are transient; they come and go. Chasing the symbols is like conquering the map instead of the territory. This creates anxiety and ultimately makes you feel hollow and empty inside because you have traded your essence for symbols.
Attachment comes from a consciousness surrounded by poverty, because only symbols attach. Detachment is synonymous with wealth consciousness, because with it there is freedom of creation. One gets joy only from unattached participation. Symbols of wealth are created spontaneously and with ease. Without detachment, we are prisoners of helplessness, hopelessness, worldly needs, daily worries, quiet despair and seriousness – hallmarks of mediocrity and poverty consciousness.
True wealth consciousness is the ability to get whatever you want, whenever you want, and with the least amount of effort. To acquire it, you must learn the wisdom of doubt. In doubt you will find the freedom to create anything you desire.
People are constantly striving for security, but you will find that the pursuit of security is actually something too ephemeral. Even attachment to money is a sign of insecurity. You might say, “If I had so-and-so millions of dollars, I would feel secure. Then I would be financially independent and no longer work. I would be doing all the things I’ve always dreamed of doing.” But it never happens that way, ever. Those who seek security chase it all their lives without ever finding it. It remains elusive and ephemeral because it cannot come solely from money. Being tied to money will always create uncertainty, no matter what capital you have in the bank. In reality, some of the people with the most money feel the most insecure.
Seeking security is an illusion. The ancient sages saw the solution to this whole dilemma in the wisdom of uncertainty, or the wisdom of doubt. This means that the search for security and certainty is actually an attachment to the known. And what is known? What is known is our past. The known is nothing but the prison of our old ideas. There is no evolution there, absolutely none. And when there is no evolution, there is stagnation, entropy, disorder and decay.
Doubt, on the contrary, is fertile ground for pure creativity and freedom. Doubt means stepping into the unknown in every moment of our existence. The unknown is the field of all possibilities, ever fresh, ever new, ever open to the creation of new manifestations in the material realm. Without the doubt and the unknown, life is just an uninteresting repetition of worn-out memories. We become victims of the past and our tormentor today is our own self inherited from yesterday.
Let go of your attachment to the known, step into the unknown, and you will enter the field of all possibilities. In your willingness to step into the unknown, you will receive the added wisdom of doubt. This means that in every moment of your life there will be strong sensations, adventures, mysteries. You will know the joy of life – the magic, celebration, rapture and exultation of your own spirit.
Each day will be filled with the excitement of what can happen to you in the field of all possibilities. When in doubt, you’re on the right track, so don’t abandon it. You don’t need to have a complete and firm idea of what you’re going to do next week or next year, because if you have a very clear idea of what’s going to happen and commit to it firmly, you’ll rule out a whole series of possibilities.
One of the hallmarks of the field of all possibilities is infinite interconnectedness. The field is able to orchestrate an infinity of spatio-temporal events to bring about the intended outcome. But when you are attached, your intention locks into an unwavering thought-attunement, and you lose the creativity and spontaneity inherent in the field. When you commit, you freeze your desire and turn it from being infinitely flexible into an unyielding framework that stifles the creative process as a whole.
The law of detachment does not contradict the law of intention and desire, of setting the goal. You still have the intention to go in a certain direction, you still have a goal. But between point A and point B there is an infinity of possibilities. With doubt gained, you can change direction at any moment if you discover a higher ideal or something more exciting. You are also less likely to force solutions to problems, so your mind remains open to favorable opportunities.
The Law of detachment accelerates the process of evolution as a whole. When you understand this law, you don’t feel obligated to force decisions. By forcing solutions on problems, you only create new problems. But when you turn your attention to the doubt and experience the doubt as you wait for the solution to emerge from the chaos and confusion, then something truly fabulous and exciting will emerge.
This state of alertness (your readiness in the present, in the field of doubt) unites with your purpose and your intention and allows you to take advantage of the favorable opportunity. What is a favorable opportunity? It is contained in every problem you encounter in your life. Every single problem contains the seed of a favorable opportunity to achieve even greater benefit. Once you begin to perceive things in this way, you open yourself up to a whole series of possibilities, and in doing so you breathe life into mysteries, wonders, thrills, and adventures.
You can look at every problem in your life as a favorable opportunity to achieve a greater good. You can keep your attention alert for favorable opportunities by learning the wisdom of the doubt. When your readiness meets the favorable opportunity, the solution will appear spontaneously.
What happens in the end is often called “luck”. Luck is nothing but the union of readiness with favorable opportunity. When the two are combined with a solution will emerge that will be of evolutionary benefit to you and all those you interact with. This is the perfect recipe for success and it is based on the law of detachment.
Application of the law of detachment
I will take advantage of the law of detachment by promising myself the following:
Today I’m going to focus on detachment. I will allow myself and those around me the freedom to be who we are. I will not inexorably impose my idea of how things should be. I will not impose solutions to problems and thereby create new problems. I will participate in everything without being tied to the result.
I will include doubt as the most important component of my experiences. Thanks to my willingness to embrace doubt, solutions will emerge spontaneously from the problem, from the confusion, from the chaos. The more doubtful things seem, the safer I will feel, because doubt is my path to freedom. Through the wisdom of doubt I will achieve my certainty.
I will enter the field of all possibilities and expect what might happen to me if I remain open to the infinity of choices. In the field of all possibilities, I will experience all the joys, adventures, magic and mysteries of life.
