Detachment, Sin and Imperfections

[clarkest]

How does attachment relate to sin?

I understand the state of being perfectly detached to be seeing God in everything and using things as if I didn’t use them. It is loving EVERYONE (family, friends, enemy, stranger) for the sake of Christ and not because I have a natural affection for or aversion to them. It is being dead to my will and doing everything that Jesus wants me to do without even considering the cost at all. It is basically being on fire with love for God, and this fire becomes an all consuming raging movement of love in my being.

So, then, I can see how being attached to things could cause us to sin. For example, at one time in my life I really struggled with anger. At one little annoyance my temper would just go through the roof and suddenly I was yelling or whatever. My attachment to myself and my attachment to my anger kept this going for a long time, until finally thanks be to God, God gave me the grace to overcome this and now while I still have to guard against a naturally intense temper, I don’t throw tantrums anymore. Thank you Jesus!

But then I read some of the saints writings and they talk about how we must be detached from all things. I understand that, of course, we can’t put anything before God. But they say that if we have even a tiny little attachment to a book, or a room, or a certain type of food, then we cannot soar to the heights of union with God. I believe this specific reference is to St John of the Cross. He says that though an attachment like that is very small, it is still a thread tied to the foot of a bird that must be cut or the bird cannot fly away.

My question is, why is an attachment to something like a specific type of food considered an imperfection? Obviously this is not even a sin. So let’s say a person really likes butter tarts. Why is it an imperfection for a person to really want one and so go buy one and enjoy it very much (assuming this person is not a glutton, but is simply enjoying a treat for no reason but to enjoy it). How is this imperfection?

And also, how does a person know what she is attached to? It is obvious when the attachment causes sin, like an attachment to anger, or an attachment to a person that causes fornication. But when it is to something very small, how do you even know?

I hope that makes sense…

 

[rasbat]

I have often wondered a bit about this too. where is the line between I like something because I am using it while in this life during my days and a hindering attatchment? I know the text you are talking about. St.John of the cross is an intense mystic in his spirituality. He is talking about not simply living a clean life and avoiding sin but taking radical steps to ascend to mind blowing heights of union with God. This might have something to do with it. It is not that those tiny attatchments are necessarily sinful, but that they are just not the absolute best and must be cast off in a sort of purgative stage on the road to divine union to reach the illuminative higher up. hope this is at least somewhat correct.

 

[GaudentAngeli]

There isn’t anything wrong with enjoying a food you like, and it isn’t even an imperfection so long as you are doing it for the glory of God. That is where the line is between perfection and imperfection as far as detachment from small things goes. There is no sin in enjoying something for the sake of enjoying it and with no reason to celebrate, but it isn’t perfect because you’re enjoying something to satiate your desires instead of God’s. Though it is a trivial matter, in that moment you are doing something purely for yourself instead of in God, through God or for God. It is a selfish moment, where you do something according to your own will for your own immediate gratification. In that moment you have not totally forgotten yourself.

But there are still times to enjoy things. If it is a Sunday or some other feast day, or your family has something to celebrate, it is only fitting to really relax and celebrate. Even austere religious take time to enjoy themselves on these special days. The idea, though, is to orient this enjoyment to the glory of God instead of purely for our own gratification.

 

[Beryllos]

The Catechism mentions attachment several times, but usually together with one of the following words: disordered, perverse, immoderate, inordinate, or unhealthy. That would suggest that attachment is not necessarily associated with sin. Perhaps there are morally acceptable degrees of attachment to certain good things.

The Catechism also has this interesting statement (excerpt from #1472):
“… every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory.”
This puts it the other way around: Not all attachments are sinful, but all sins involve attachment to things of this world.

I will have to think further on that. Perhaps one way to avoid a particular type of sin is to recognize the underlying attachment and work towards its detachment.

 

[Beryllos]

The Catechism also has this (in a section on poverty, humility, blessed are the poor):
2545 All Christ’s faithful are to “direct their affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their pursuit of perfect charity by the use of worldly things and by an adherence to riches which is contrary to the spirit of evangelical poverty.”

 

[rasbat]

I do not want to hijack this thread or anything, but What in practical terms constitutes a real attachment? I have wondered about coffee. I really really like to have one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I would feel tired and headachey without it, but I never exceed two standard cups a day, and if I had to do without to attend mass at an off time or something like that I would do without and tough it out. Is this an attatchment? what about the same if I said cigarettes used in this same moderate never increasing way? Neither is strictly necessary for survival but they are here and people make use of them in a habitual way similar to food. What is the status of these if used moderately yet habitually? I ask namely because they are two things which I know of very few people who only consume either of these things only sometimes.

 

[GaudentAngeli]

I do not want to hijack this thread or anything, but What in practical terms constitutes a real attachment? I have wondered about coffee. I really really like to have one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I would feel tired and headachey without it, but I never exceed two standard cups a day, and if I had to do without to attend mass at an off time or something like that I would do without and tough it out. Is this an attatchment? what about the same if I said cigarettes used in this same moderate never increasing way? Neither is strictly necessary for survival but they are here and people make use of them in a habitual way similar to food. What is the status of these if used moderately yet habitually? I ask namely because they are two things which I know of very few people who only consume either of these things only sometimes.

The Modern Catholic Dictionary (by Fr John A. Hardon, S.J.) says: “ATTACHMENT. An emotional dependence, either of one person on another, or of a person on some real or illusory object. Attachments play an important role in spiritual development, since the first condition for progress in sanctity is some mastery over one’s inordinate attachments.”

We’re not puritans, everything that is not sinful is okay in moderation. Sometimes an attachment is a good thing, like our attachment to Jesus. When we detach from some inordinate desire, we fill that hole with Jesus. The more space we open in our hearts, the more he comes in and fills us with himself. Or perhaps it’s the other way around, we become more attached to God (through prayer and the Sacraments) and so become less attached to the world. I’m not really sure which way it is. But anyways, sometimes our attachments aren’t good or are very strong and so cause us to sin, and sometimes an attachment might not cause even venial sin but are imperfection. When you are considering a certain thing or person you believe you may be inordinately attached to, just think “well, why do I need this thing? What is my purpose in using it this very moment? Does this honour God and His purposes or is it for myself?”.

But before struggling with imperfections, a person has to tackle his attachments that cause mortal sin. Then he must purge himself as best he can of deliberate venial sin. And THEN, when he is living a very holy life he can work on those little attachments. None of us will ever be totally free from our imperfections though. God permits them partly to keep us humble.

If you want to know about particular things in your life then it would be good to talk to a priest.

 

[Mystical_Seeker]

The OP had good insight IMO by talking about attachment to anger and not just to physical objects or money or whatever. We can be attached to our judgments as well.

Once we cast a human opinion on something and feel like we have some justification for that opinion, we have some ego invested in it and that means that automagically pride will become involved especially if it comes into question.

For example we like to say, “judge the sin not the sinner,” but who can truly discern whether an act we consider destructive or otherwise “bad,” is just an accident, an act of ignorance, or a truly pre-meditated sin? If we hold that a sin has been committed, then we are bound to that judgment of the past.

This is not a popular view as far as I can tell, because it seems most of us don’t take our Savior at His word about judging – not only do we feel it’s OK to judge (the sin not the sinner of course – never mind that without somebody being a sinner there cannot be a sin) but we feel it’s our God Given Duty. Not only do we judge this and that as evil, we must defend our judgments.

Jesus says to judge what is in ourselves. Our judgmental nature is part of it, and is brainwashed into even the best of us, by our society. I’ve been so raked over the coals with my “Dark Night” experiences, that I can even tell that what I’m writing now is preachy and judgy, and I ask the forgiveness of the Lord for the boldness to speak thus, in my earnest effort to share the blessings He has given me, with others.

During contemplative prayer, I seek detachment on behalf of my mind even for the seemingly idle thoughts it likes to keep itself busy with – busy to the degree that I cannot hear the inexpressible groanings of the spirit in my heart for the interference my thoughts and intellect are running.

MS

 

[Mystical_Seeker]

It is to the point where I can seriously hate the things I wrote or said or did just a few minutes before, even though with good intent.

My pride is maybe the hardest thing for me to see, because I have been an academic for most of my life, and lived in an illusory world where all the models of thought we use seem to take on a life of their own and become as TRVTH to me. Is there a problem? Well the answer must be to figure it out and if we don’t know we can say “oh but I’m humble enough to admit I don’t know” but am I humble enough to admit that “figuring it out” is not necessarily the right answer at all? So that no matter how much I knew and how smart I was, that I still can’t see that much of what I say is based on pride?

Often I start to post and then I think, “why does God need ME to tell THIS particular thread THIS particular fact?” Then I see that maybe I’m not really adding anything. Or maybe I’m just piling on to someone else’s opinion. Or maybe I’m just trying to get attention. It can be debilitating.

One conclusion I have tentatively formed, is that if I question my motives for doing things, I can come up with all sorts of noble reasons why I might be doing it, and I can come up with selfish reasons for doing the same thing. Like did I give a dollar to a homeless person because I was acting in persona Christi, or because I wanted everybody to see me give it and recognize how generous I am? Maybe I get a kick out of having homeless people see me as The Guy Who Helps Them. My only conclusion has been that if I honestly believe or are otherwise led (hopefully by the Spirit) that something is good to do, just do it without regard to motives or I would second guess everything to the point I would do nothing good, for fear that my perceive benefit to me – even to my feelings or ego – makes that act a sinful one. Ah, what a mixed tree I feel like!

These are all attachments to pride, afa I can tell. I even feel it now as I’m trying to conclude this post, that nobody, including God, needs to read this so am I posting out of my concern for others, or from my pride?

Whatever it is, here I go and “let the chips fall” where they may. I pray that if God does not want me posting this, that somehow it will not get posted. Other than that, I hope you all can forgive me for having spilled my innards all over this thread.

MS