Spiritual Realization
Lesson 6: Stepping out of the karmic system
1. The Karmic System
2. Karmic "Lessons"
3. It's All "Smoke and Mirrors"
4. The End of Karma
5. One Small Step
Exercise One
6. How to Be Here Now
7. Divine Presence
8. Detachment
9. Let Go, and Let God
1. The Karmic System
Karma means experiencing consequences from our actions. It implies that the process is fair, proper, and for our own good. This is not the case, however. Karma inevitably results in more karma, more negative consequences of our actions, in a very destructive cycle. The theory (or pretense) is that beings will learn and grow, and gain awareness and freedom. The reality is that beings are made to suffer more and more, lose awareness and become trapped, without any way out. Many good spiritual beings have been destroyed by the karmic system.
The various teachings and traditions we find in the spiritual arena are generally means of coping with the karmic system: duality, opposites, darkness and Light. We are asked to join in, in "co-creating" our reality, under the karmic system, to give the system our energy, our purpose, our will, our investment, ... our soul. And the system praises us for it, calling us "co-creators." In fact, we are building our own prison for the soul, working on the chain gang, and making our bonds and chains more aesthetically appealing to us. We are crafting chains of gold, which are even better than iron — gold is heavier, and because it shines we associate it with Light and freedom and riches. But, we are, nonetheless, bound by our participation in the karmic system, a system of rewards and punishments, which always includes suffering and death as part of the equation.
We have all lived many lives, in a system of incarnation and reincarnation known as the karmic system. The theory has been that in experiencing life and death repeatedly, a soul will learn all of the lessons it needs for its spiritual development, and eventually "graduate" from the system. This is, unfortunately, not true.
The karmic system gives us the illusion (or belief) that we are "free" to choose between a large variety of options. The fact that all of those options will bring us greater suffering is never provided to us, so that we make all of our choices in ignorance. As we said, the "freedom" to choose between a large variety of options that all lead to suffering, ultimately, is not true freedom.
The karmic system is a system of spiritual bondage, which is self-justifying, self-serving, exploitative, and very deceptive. While it perpetuates suffering, life after life, it claims to be teaching us how to make choices that lead us beyond suffering.
No one has ever gotten out of the karmic system. Beings have been rewarded by faithful participation in the system with greater authority and power, and periods of enjoyment on the astral level in various "heavens," but they have not gotten beyond this system. Often, they have taken their place in the system, on another level, to assist others in the system — to knowingly or unknowingly help to build a better prison for the soul. But no one has ever stepped out of the karmic system, or gotten free from karma.
Not until now.
Something different is happening now. There is a different option. Rather than an endless assortment of options to choose within the karmic system, there is now the option to step out of the karmic system, entirely.
This option has never been here before now.
It is possible to reject the entire karmic system, now, and get off the endless cycle of suffering, life after life. It is possible to just say, "No."
2. Karmic "Lessons"
There are forces that affect behavior; many of them are preset and cyclical in their influence, throughout "life" in virtual reality. The process of incarnating on this planet — time after time — has been controlled by evil, for the purpose of maximizing conflict, suffering, and energy extraction from True spiritual beings. The mechanism for ensuring suffering and loss of energy and awareness is called "karma." The results of a good spiritual being's past choices and actions (especially in past lives) were amplified, in a way that was designed to create confusion and less awareness. At the same time, the actions of many evil beings not only did not "come back" as increased suffering, but led to greater and greater rewards (and positions of power) in the evil system. Time itself has been manipulated to achieve this. The time "loops" that connect a consciousness with the consequences of its actions were stretched for evil beings and evil purposes, to push destructive consequences off into the future. But, now, those loops are being shortened; time is being shortened.
For eons, spiritual beings have tried to balance good and evil, darkness and Light, as a way of coping with the ever-encroaching darkness. We have even sought a way out of the karmic system, but there really hasn't been any. Karma says that for each of our actions there is a reaction; and from that there is another action and reaction, and the process is never-ending.
All of this is presented to us as a form of "learning" or lessons. Karmic lessons, we are told, may be harsh or, less often, gentle, but they are always "for our benefit." We are always learning. But, what have we learned, other than that we want out of this endless cycle of suffering? Yet, that is the one true solution which the karmic system disallows. It gives us a choice between karmic lessons within the system, but does not allow the choice out of the system. It refuses to allow divine Grace.
There is a karmic agreement which you make, when you come into this life. It is: you will not remember who you are, so that you will take on the role you play and think that that is who you are, and thereby learn "lessons." The karmic imperative is: do not remember or know who you really are.
This is why the common basis of true spiritual teachings is: Know thyself.
Your karmic agreements make it difficult to awaken to who you are, here, now. In a sense, you have agreed not to. It was a precondition of your incarnating here. The karmic system is designed to perpetuate suffering through not knowing who you really are.
You do not know more of who you are by forgetting who you are each time you incarnate here. That is only a lie, the big lie of the karmic system. The truth is, through repeatedly incarnating, and forgetting who you really are — the underlying consciousness, the spiritual being — you forget almost entirely who you truly are. You forget so thoroughly, that you identify yourself entirely with the role you are playing, which is not — never was, is not, and never will be — who you truly are.
It is not in your interest to continue to keep the karmic agreement to not know who you are. Breaking that unfair, oppressive, and self-defeating agreement is actually the only way to step out of the system of suffering which has kept you trapped for a very, very long time.
In the totally suppressed, denied, and hidden reality of life in this world, you have been taught, indoctrinated, programmed, misinformed, and conditioned to living in what can only be described as a fairy tale. You have lived, life after life, myriad lives of every kind, male, female, black, white, Muslim, Christian, pagan, poor, rich, sickly, oppressed, and so on. You have lived and died in this world countless times, and none of those lives has ever been the real you. They have all been a charade, as have the lives of everyone else on the worldly stage, including those who have acted as your parents, spouses, siblings, children, relatives, and so on.
There is a Greater Truth about life and hints of it are found in the most diverse cultures worldwide. Despite language differences, differences in social structure and customs, despite differing levels of external education, different people around the world have transcended the spirit-killing acceptance of "normalcy" of life in this world, to connect with the Truth, within.
The epitome of spiritual development or unfoldment is the realization that this world — this whole physical universe — is an illusion. It is a virtual reality. Those who spiritually go beyond the physical dimension may see the physical world as an artificial creation, a virtual reality to use the modern scientific language. Total adaptation to and acceptance of the world we live in is not the Way, it is more the definition of what is in the way of coming to or knowing the Greater Reality.
3. It's All "Smoke and Mirrors"
The karmic system is basically all "smoke and mirrors," not much more real than the stunts performed by an illusionist or stage magician. The smoke and mirrors obfuscate reality, hide the tricks and secrets, and cover up the sleight-of-hand. It works that way on the astral level, where illusion reigns supreme, and the karmic system is administered.
The administrators of the karmic system are like the wizard of Oz.
It's all theater. But, the consequences are real.
How could a Good, Higher Consciousness — God — design life for the purpose of suffering and death? How could those contrary qualities be parts of True Life? How could life on this planet be ruled by Good when it demonstrates every form of evil, perversion, abuse, and destruction of life? Surely this is not the work of a True God. In fact, there are other intermediary forces ("powers and principalities") that have reversed life in this world from its true, Divine meaning and worth. It is the force of darkness and evil which rules this world.
Reincarnation has been a fact of life on this planet. It is not scientifically provable, but few of the deeper truths in life are. When you understand the endless repetition of the same beings incarnating again and again, you begin to realize why we have the same problems, over and over, throughout time. The "new" people who are added to the population each year (about 90 million) add nothing to a solution to the problems of life on this planet — they are here to perpetuate them.
The forces that govern this world have kept the charade going: living and dying, living and dying. What was the goal? The New Age interpretation of karma and reincarnation is that these things are "good" for us, that we keep learning more and more, so we just keep doing it over and over. Baloney. The real goal of the evil system of karma and reincarnation was the eventual assimilation or destruction of true spiritual beings. This is why life here is a spiritual battle. You are stripped of your memory, so that you come into this life with no past, no sense of who you truly are. And then you are set upon by the dominant forces in your society — which are invariably destructive and spiritually oppressive. Time after time, you are exploited and abused, to wear you down and wear you out, to try to put out your Light, so that you eventually accept things as they are as the way they are supposed to be.
There are even complicated systems of understanding how things work, within the karmic system, such as astrology and numerology, and various forms of divining. They have nothing whatsoever to do with Divine Grace, but rather are there to trap us into conforming to the world we are in, and finding "our place" in it — in an illusion.
We are going to step out of the systems of astrology and numerology, which are linchpins of the karmic system. We understand how these systems can be used to tell us "who we are" in this life. We understand the remarkable extent to which these systems can define or explain the intricacies of the role we play in this life. They can describe the make and model of the "vehicle" we came in with. They can describe the color, tell us if the tires are bald, if the transmission was working properly, how tuned the vehicle was, if the wheels are properly aligned, how many passengers we want to have, what maps were in the glove compartment, where we intended to travel, maybe even how long we wanted to stay, who we wanted to meet or be with, what we wanted to see, what we wanted to accomplish, and what lessons we wanted to learn.
We are going to step out of all of that.
And, here is the basic reason why: you are not the vehicle you drive. You are not the vehicle you took when you came here any more than you are your car. It would be absurd to identify with and think of your car as you (although many people do); it is even more absurd to think of the role you are playing, or the body you have, as the real you.
There are many teachings, traditions, philosophies and systems, which are for the specific purpose of helping you to adjust to the illusion that you are the role you have taken on in life. They help you to adjust yourself to and adapt to the karmic system.
We are going to step out of all of that.
This is a new paradigm. It is a whole new thing. And, whatever you think you know, you don't know this. Not yet. But you will.
What if you could choose out of the karmic system?
4. The End of Karma
We have been trapped within endless cycles of karmic suffering, life after life after life, for so long, that it may almost be inconceivable that we no longer have to choose to participate in that self-destructive process. We have been trained, programmed, conditioned by our experience, life after life after life, that the only choice available to us was what was the next role we would take on. We were never given or allowed the choice to no longer continue in that endless cycle. And the more we lived, the more we forgot who we were, the more karmic debts and negativity we accumulated, the more we suffered. The cycle seemed endless. And there did not seem to be any way to get out of it.
Prior "paths" to end one's karma have been little more than dead ends. They have never freed anyone from the karmic system; they may have, perhaps, merely taken on a different role in perpetuating the system of suffering which passes from generation to generation, endlessly.
The way things have been set up, there is no end to karma.
There is no "eightfold" path that ends one's karma.
There is no way to give up "expectations" or "attachment to the fruits of actions" and thereby end karma.
There is no way to end your karma by reading uplifting spiritual passages, or by engaging in rituals.
There is no way to resolve all of your karmic relationships with everyone. Even if you do good to someone, there is karma whereby the good you have done is supposed to come back to you. Good or bad karma, your presence is required, without end.
Karma is action, and as long as you exist in this universe, you must act and you generate karmic consequences.
You cannot "use up" your karma.
And, there is no way to end your karma by magically "disappearing" yourself, so that you are not "here" and do not "show up again."
None of that works.
There is, however, a way to step out of your karmic agreement.
It is a choice you can make. A choice which was not available in the past, but which is available to you now. It is not a choice that we are offering to you. It is a choice that you can make entirely within you, simply by realizing that you have a better choice available to you, now. The choice is yours. The power to choose is yours. The ability to be free now, is yours. You choose.
You may once have believed that the karmic system was "godly" or divinely inspired or right or good or true. It was none of these. It was an illusion, not a divine or good thing. No one — and that means no one — ever got beyond the karmic system of suffering, learned their "lessons" and got free from karmic debt. Those who "succeeded" in the system, who believed totally in its illusion, got to become a part of its administration — being given the illusion that they were free of the karmic system they became administrators of the karmic system, ensuring the suffering of everyone else, ad infinitum. So, "freedom" from the karmic system was only an illusion, an illusion designed to perpetuate the system of suffering all the more.
5. One Small Step
What if you no longer needed to accept the suffering which you are convinced is somehow justified, life after life after life? What if you could step out of that suffering, and no longer accept it?
You can.
Maybe you weren't able to do so, before. But you can do it now. Here. Now.
We are not saying that all suffering will leave you or your life. But, the choice to no longer accept karmic suffering — knowing within yourself that this is the choice you make, and you no longer agree to accept further karmic suffering — has enormous impact on your future. It releases you from the past. It breaks agreement with the past, so that past suffering that might once have come your way may no longer do so. It means suffering from the past which has yet to manifest need not. All of the limiting, painful, hurtful influences of the past are no longer given a pathway into your life, so that they do not determine your future. Your future will not be determined by the things that would otherwise have brought you suffering, from your past.
This is an extraordinary opportunity to step out of the whole system of suffering, for good.
All you need to know is that you can. It is an opportunity that is available to you, now.
There is a way out. It is the way of grace, True grace, Divine grace.
Here, now, today, there is a different choice available. It is a real choice to choose out of the karmic system, for good. With no negative repercussions on anyone. It is truly getting free. This is the choice that was never offered within the karmic system. It is the choice to choose out of it. And it is the only truly divinely inspired choice to be free from an unjust, ungodly system of punishment and suffering, which none of us ever needed to experience or be trapped within.
Part of stepping out of the karmic system involves realizing that you do not — and never did and never will — learn anything by suffering. It involves the realization that a True God would not want any of His/Her children to suffer, or to be endlessly trapped in a system designed for suffering. It involves the realization that it would be God's will and most loving intent for you to be freed from suffering, from whatever has held you in a place of suffering for such a very long time. And, if it really is God's will that you be free, and whole, and reunited with the divine, then why would you continue to choose otherwise? Why would you choose to remain imprisoned in an unjust and unnecessary and ungodly system of punishment? Do you imagine your suffering is deserved or justified or necessary? God does not.
Do you have a fear of rejecting corrupt authority, corrupt power? Then realize that making a choice to honor and align with and accept something higher — true divine authority, power, and freedom — is a far better choice. Choosing God is the ultimate "better choice." Letting go of something far less is always a better choice. Freeing yourself from wrong is always a better choice. Accepting the most loving, compassionate, and healing choice for yourself is always the better choice. If fear is all that is in your way, then realize fear is a programmed reaction of the karmic system. It is designed to keep you locked into a pattern of accepting suffering, and being afraid to go beyond that. Fear has no power to keep you trapped; its only power lies in your accepting its illusion that it is an unsurmountable obstacle. It is not. Nothing — and that means nothing — can prevent you from making a choice, the choice to be free.
Exercise One: Please read through this exercise, and then
close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, relax, and begin.
Picture yourself, sitting where you are. Picture the various
things in your immediate area, computer, floor, and so on.
See the room you are in, the life you are in.
Notice that there is a flow to your life, even though you
may be sitting quietly with your eyes closed, in the present
moment. There is where you have been, where you are now, and
where you are going. Notice how your life extends farther
back into the past, and farther ahead into the future. Allow
your consciousness to simply be aware of the continuity of your
life, extending beyond where you may be in the present
moment. Realize that you are not stuck in time, but who you
are flows through and extends beyond time.
When you have a sense of this, allow your focus to move
further out, spatially. Imagine yourself rising above the
room, above the house, above the block, the city, the state,
the country, and finally the whole world. Picture the earth
from space, a glowing spherical shape of blues and white and
browns, with light and shadow.
Picture the earth spinning beneath you, spinning and
weaving the lives of all those who may live on earth, people,
animals, plant life, and so on.
From this vantage point, looking down upon the earth, the
world seems like a stage. It is a place where innumerable
people play their roles, interacting with each other, changing
the decoration of the stage to suit them. It is the scene of
countless wars, drama, problems, and suffering.
Now, stand back from all of this.
Notice the choice you make to be in the world, the choice
you have made and continue to make. Understand, you can
choose to be in the world yet not be
of the world. You can be who you are, free in
spirit, free from the role you play. You do not need to be
shaped by the world, or take the role you play as who you
really are. You can be a witness to all you see, all you
experience. See yourself as a pure consciousness. Realize
that you can take one small step and step out of the karmic
system, the incessant rush of the past into the predictable
future. You can be free of having your past determine your
future. You can be free right now. All you need to do is
to choose it, and mentally say that you reject the karmic
system of living. Affirm that you will instead live from
Grace, moving closer to who you truly are: free, awake, alive,
and whole.
Realize that you can know who you are, better, by choosing to reject the karmic system, by simply moving closer to who you already are — and the spiritual qualities you already have within you. Look for and welcome the true inner qualities of peace, freedom, joy, love, and wisdom.
And, simply be you. This is the Way to live, from Grace, now and forever.
6. How to Be Here, Now
Live from grace. That is sufficient.
- Be aware.
- Listen to your heart.
- Refuse to accept karma.
- Remember, know, realize, unfold who you truly are.
- Live in the light, listen to conscience.
- See your conditioning, programming, or indoctrination for what it is.
- Learn to find what is right, good, and true for you.
- Learn to be calm and centered, and non-reactive.
- See ego and emotion for what they are; they are not you.
- Practice discerning; pay attention to what is before you.
- Practice connecting spiritually, pray, meditate, and so on.
- Clear and cleanse all negativity from you.
- Be in spiritual relationship.
- Be willing to receive.
- Be open to love.
- Be open to truth.
- Give of your self.
- Ask that your presence be healing for others.
- Have courage, and face your fear.
- Believe in yourself.
- Trust God.
- Be who you are.
- Reclaim your highest good, your dignity in living.
- See illusions for what they are; refuse to accept them or believe them.
- Serve others.
- Seek your true Source.
- Be a light unto the world.
7. Divine Presence
This is about connecting with divine presence, here, now.
"I am here now."
That is the very nature of the Divine; you may come to know that as your own nature, too.
The word "I" implies consciousness, existence. "I" further implies "am." It is about Beingness.
Another phrase for the Divine is the "I am."
"I am" implies Beingness. And, if there is consciousness and existence, where is it? It is here, now. It may not be limited to being only here, only now, but if it exists, it is here and now.
So, the presence and consciousness and existence and Beingness of God is here, now.
Descartes gave us the philosophical concept: "I think, therefor I am." This might be better phrased, "I am conscious, therefore I am." For, we are consciousness, more truly than we are a thinking process. Still, the idea is: "I am" is the most basic truth of our existence. If you know that God is the "I am," you may have a better sense of who God is in you, and who you are in God.
"I am that I am."
"Thou art that."
There is no separation from God, in Beingness. There is no separation from God, in consciousness. But, our individual consciousness, our individual being, is often not aware of the presence or existence of God, in this world. That is not a common experience. The world has so many layers of illusion, so many filters for our perception, understanding, and awareness, that we simply forget the presence of the divine.
At any time we might forget the presence of the Divine; at any time we might remember.
Remember the presence of God, here, now.
Think of what the Divine Being is, and affirm, "I am that, too."
I am of that peace; I am that peace.
I am of that joy; I am that joy.
I am of that love; I am that love.
I am of that goodness; I am that goodness.
I am of that spirit; I am that spirit.
I am of that light; I am that light.
I am of that knowingness; I am that
knowingness.
I am of that openness and acceptance; I am
that openness and acceptance.
I am of that healing, grace, and freedom; I
am that healing, grace, and freedom.
I am of that whose nature is wholeness; I
am that whose nature is wholeness.
I am of that which is free; I am free.
I. Am. Here. Now.
"I am" is not what you are becoming, a goal or destination. It is what you are already.
Know that. It is what the Divine is saying to you, here, now,
always.
Remember that. It will help you to re-integrate with your
True Source.
8. Detachment
For many people, life remains a mystery, a puzzle they never solve. And, if you do not know how to solve your problems, or how to truly detach from them, you may feel very oppressed by life. Could there be a simple solution to this problem, a way to give up problems?
Consider what it means to "be in the world but not of the world," as Jesus taught. Is it possible to be engaged in life, and detached; compassionate, and detached; involved, and detached; loving, and detached; wise, and detached? Yes. It is not only possible, it is necessary.
Detachment simply means finding a place to stand in our own self, in the ground of our own being, so that we are not reactive to everything and everyone around us. When we learn to stand in our own being, though we are in the world we are not a product of the world; we are more connected to Source or cause, than effect.
Being detached means learning to be more objective, find the truth, listen to your conscience, and honor your inner being. It is a Way of Being. In this true state of Being, living from your center, here, now, it is possible to let go of the incessant pull of opposites: wealth and poverty, power and helplessness, love and hate, expectation and disappointment, restraint and indulgence, ambition and contentment, dependence and independence, aversion and desire. What gets lost in all of this is you; all you feel is what is pulling on you, or driving you.
When we consider detachment, it is important to realize that we are not talking about denial. Detachment is a process of learning to let go of problems, learning to give them up, learning to not be controlled by them or unduly affected by them. This is essentially a spiritual skill, based upon greater clarity of awareness, insight into the true nature of things, and acknowledgment and acceptance of a Greater Reality — such that you no longer feel so trapped or oppressed by life in this world.
Denial, in contrast, is a process of reducing your awareness, limiting your perceptions, and minimizing your understanding of or ability to get past your problems. They are, in many ways, opposite approaches to solving problems. They are similar only to the extent that in either case you might feel a kind of separation from your problems. Denial is based in the attempt to remain ignorant of or unaware of what is so, in reality; detachment is based in a greater perspective, awareness, and understanding. True detachment is based upon the wisdom and perspective that there may be an answer we may not know, but we have faith that it will come to pass. With detachment we can see and say, "This too shall pass."
Letting go of what is ultimately useless, so that you may grasp what is of ultimate value, is the essence of detachment, and wisdom. Though widely misinterpreted, the concept of detachment forms part of True Gnosis, Buddhist, Hindu, and other philosophies and spiritual practices. Various doctrines in the Buddhist and Hindu philosophies (or religions) observe the nature of opposites such as wealth and poverty, pleasure and pain, hot and cold, etc. And, rather than having a person habitually react to one by seeking the other, they see them as two sides of the same coin, and let go of the attachment to one or the other.
Detachment is the mental attitude or process of perceiving the Maya (illusory nature of things), and forsaking the ego-based attraction/repulsion mechanism of behavior. Ego preferences are seen as a false means of discrimination; and all worldly desire is seen as an aberration, misunderstanding, spurious conditioning, or lack of awareness. It is a great fallacy that one needs "passion for living" to live life fully. That is merely ego, emotion, and acceptance of all of the popular programming.
Detachment is a way to get past problems by changing your relationship to them. It is a way to release the habitual ego-emotional investment in — or reaction to — problems. This is especially appropriate if there are problems you face, individually or in the world-at-large, that you cannot solve or fix. In that case, it may be best to just let go of it. This doesn't mean all of your problems will be solved via detachment, but they will no longer drain you, depress you, or run you. With detachment, you simply do not let things, especially problems, run your life. There is already a difference or separation between the problem (whatever it may be) and you, your self. You may or may not be able to change the situation, but you can change your relationship to it. You can change; you can let go.
9. Let Go, and Let God
There are many ways to go beyond our problems, to "let go and let God."
The concept of "simplifying your life" is gaining interest and appreciation these days, as life becomes ever more complicated, difficult to understand, and hard to manage. There is much we can let go of, give up, or get rid of, that does not truly serve us, that we do not truly need. Sometimes the best thing to do with the trash is to just throw it out — not to explore it, delve deeply in it, or try to understand it with the outer mind. It is enough to clearly see that it is garbage, to have sufficient reason to rid yourself of it. This is the basis of the spiritual practice of detachment.
Have you ever wondered, is "God" involved or detached? There is philosophical debate as to whether God is involved in the material world, or not. God is spirit, not matter, and is ultimately removed from or apart from the physical realm. Spirit is not "of the world," or a product of the world; it does not arise from matter. And if we are spirit, then we are not of the world either; to think otherwise is delusory. Matter does not create spirit; spirit expresses through matter (with great difficulty). And the world is not "God." Detachment brings us closer to God. In the Jewish tradition, there is the Sabbath, a day to detach completely from the outer world. In the Christian tradition, we are taught to be in the world but not of the world, at all times. All traditions recognize the value in stepping back from the world, to come closer to who we are, within us, as spirit, and to come closer to God.
Long ago, the Hindu sage Kapila taught a form of Vedanta in the oldest of the philosophical schools. He said that Spirit is trapped in matter "like a helpless animal"; spirit and matter are irreconcilable; and, the material world is not God. Later, the sage Gaudapada taught of the Cosmic Illusion — Maya. He studied the connection between the soul and what makes up this world, and declared that neither is of the Supreme God, so he declared them false. This teaching, seeking to find the True God by realizing what is not God, became distorted by the time it reached one of Gaudapada's student's student: Shankara. Though many Hindus still believe the world is an illusion, Shankara declared this world cannot be seen as anything but God (who is the ultimate Reality). Buddhists also believe the world is an illusion, and conclude that Good and Evil — and even God — must be an illusion in our minds. But, have we really accomplished anything if we imagine everything is God, or nothing is God? A True God is Creator, separate from what is created; the artist is not the clay pot on the wheel; the parent is not the child. We, too, can see ourselves as the artist not the clay, the spirit not physicality, in our own lives. This is accepting a Greater Reality. But, it does no good to simply deny any difference between right and wrong, truth and error, subject and object, Reality and illusion, Good and evil, darkness and Light, and then imagine everything is the same, and the world is God (or, conversely, there is no God), or we are "God."
The essence of every True spiritual teaching is to detach from and withdraw from this world's illusions, to reject evil, and to seek a Greater Reality, a Higher Good. At the present time, many false spiritual teachings promote the opposite. People like Barbara DeAngelis, Deepak Chopra, John Gray, Anthony Robbins, and others make a fortune by teaching the opposite of detachment: passion for "living" in this world's illusions. Their only problem with "life" in this world is that people do not adopt an ever-greater illusion that everything is great, that they are in control of everything, that everyone is "good," and everything here is just the way it should be — we only need to learn to enjoy it. What they don't tell you is the other side of the coin: the more you are invested in this world, in terms of your ego, emotions, ambitions, passions, lust, greed, and selfish sense of "deserving everything," the more you will suffer when you find that your illusions about life are just that, illusions. Does youth or beauty last forever? Do you have more security when you have more money, or does the fear of losing it or not making more haunt you? There is always the other side of the coin. The greater your desires and expectations, the greater your attachment, the greater your disappointment will be in the end. Because, no matter how much you try to deny it, you cannot take any of it with you when you leave this world. And, if you have forsaken this most basic spiritual understanding of life, you have sold a diamond for the price of spinach.
As we have observed, the Illusion (and evil) does not go away by merely ignoring it, or adopting greater personal illusions. Letting Illusion stand in the place of Truth is spiritual denial. Those who refuse to acknowledge evil, or the extent to which it governs life in this world, are merely setting you up to be ruined by it. All the while, you might imagine you are "succeeding" while you are failing. There is a saying: "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?"
Detachment is a means of giving up your problems to the Divine, not giving up.
So, what are you attached to? What do you feel you need to hold on to, before you are simply willing to let go of it? Do you have an attachment to the past? Many people are lost in the past, seeking to relive past glories or ruminating about past failures, disappointments, or losses. Some people feel that they cannot face the future, and therefore leave a (large or small) part of themselves in the past. The idea of detaching from something which is already past, is intolerable to them. The illusions of the past can have that strong a grip on people. But, if you wish to deal with life properly in the present, you have to withdraw (or reclaim) the part of you (or your consciousness) that is trapped or invested in the past. The past is past; it is only an illusion that you can keep it alive. This is not to say that we cannot have cherished memories, especially of dear departed friends, but rather that we need to be aware, focused, and clear, here and now, to properly deal with life, now. How well can you drive a car if you are fixated on the rear view mirror? Life is that way. It is necessary to detach from the past, to truly manage the present. Be. Here. Now.