As a brief note today, I’ve been reading the Bhagavad Gita (translated by Jack Hawley) lately, and he shares this good line that relates to desire, attachment, and even addiction:
“Realizing the truth of your True Self
is your principal weapon for eradicating desire.”
My short interpretation of that is that our True Self is not our physical body, but something else that you might call awareness, consciousness, the subtle body, the soul, or the Atma — depending on your background — AND, it is possible through yoga, mindfulness, and meditation practice to get in touch with (feel/experience) your True Self. And then, once you realize who “you” really are, your attachments to the physical world will go away.
I used to have a friend who was an addict, and I know she was always looking for anything that would help, so I hope this quote can be helpful for others.
UPDATE 1: As a followup to my original post, in the book, I Am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj basically says the same thing (many times) as the quote I shared above.
UPDATE 2: Ram Dass offered a quote that’s in the same ballpark: “One way to get free of attachment is to cultivate the witness consciousness, to become a neutral observer of your own life.”