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This is one of the best Christian/religion/philosophy posts I’ve seen posted here -> merely because of the very subject matter itself, but then the treatment is correct.

A few hundred years before Christ arrived (and, implicitly, and actually, since the dawn of the first amoeba, the ground was being prepared.) That is, there was religious thought developing which, had it not developed, Christ would have appeared to living beings as ‘just another living being who was born and died’ ... if even that.

St. Augustine was not just a monk with a few profound insights that are nice to remember. “Whatever is exposed to the light, itself becomes the light.”

The question, then, is, what exactly is this light, what is its nature. As a ‘word’ or ‘symbol’, to what does it point, whence arises it.

This light is ‘awareness in the moment.’ Another way to characterize it might be ‘a non-grasping (non-attached) effortless concentration in the moment, and only in the moment. (Another way to characterize ‘only in the moment’ is ‘having no time’ and therefore ‘eternal.’ ... because eternal doesn’t mean ‘infinity time’ ... it means ‘unbounded by time’ - or ‘no presence of time’ - better still - ‘there is no such thing as time - short or long.’

This goes to the core mistake (sin using the meaning “to miss the mark” - as opposed to the moral/ethical treatment of sin) of attachment.

In short, attachment, or the time bound (non-eternal) desire for a thought object, is, itself, suffering. It is not good or bad, strictly speaking. It is, itself, suffering. Attachment doesn’t cause suffering. It is itself suffering.

Therefore, there is no reason to feel guilty for being attached, nor to feel good for non-attachment. Attachment is already its own punishment (so don’t punish yourself twice - you are already suffering.)

Attachment, time-bound desire, clinging, attraction as lust, aversion as fear: nothing to feel guilty for. because ‘already suffering.’

The experience, itself, of attachment is already suffering.

This is why a joyous experience, if it is sought, is in itself suffering. However, the experience itself is devoid of suffering. (This is why all sin is forgiven ... except, of course, if one is attached via attraction or aversion to the memory of the sin.)

Attachment IS, ITSELF, a final gate to Heaven. Paradoxically, as are most of the gates, attachment is, itself, illusion. It is not that it isn’t real. It is. But its essence, its eternal nature, is not suffering. Paradoxically, its essence is light. Just, as it turns out, is everything else.

So it is very important to distinguish between experience and attachment. Anything longed for will lead to suffering. Anything avoided will lead to suffering. Longing and Avoidance are time-bound constructs. Anything with time-bound nature will lead to suffering - whether perceived as good (lust) or bad (fear.)

So what the heck, then, are you supposed to do? You can not long, nor can you avoid?

This is turning everything, “every thing” over to God, including space, time, and every thing that occurs bounded in space and time, and this is why no man can save himself. Attachment, even to salvation, is an uncrossable barrier to salvation.

In the meantime, if mind is any help at all in seeking God, mind should be put to the task of unravelling illusion. All desire and all fear is attachment.

(That is why the ‘apple’ was the apple of the knowledge of good and evil, or the attachment to good and evil. Desire for ‘good’ will lead to suffering. Desire for ‘bad’ will lead to suffering.)

The lily neither spins nor toils. (no attachment to good, no attachment to bad.) In this state, it manifests beauty, or light. Possessing no grasped nature, it is only what it is. Desire the lily, and you will suffer.

It is one of the most delicate paradoxes.

How can one experience God, but not desire God, cling to God, be attached to God? Any of these three will lead to suffering, is suffering, just as certainly as fear, avoidance, disgust with Satan, will cause suffering, is suffering.

What can you do? Anything you ‘do’ is suffering. Spinning is suffering. Toiling is suffering. This is ‘The World’ as Jesus called it, into which we are born, each moment. ‘The World’ is, itself, suffering. But the rejection of this ‘The World” is, itself, suffering.

What can you do?