What's Good about Attachment?

This one's straight out of my journal. Grateful for your ideas!

Genuine question: Why can't we let go of attachment?

What makes us cling to what's out of our control - when we know better?

I’ve been journaling about the downfalls of attachment for months now. Stoics, Buddhists and Goal Psychology agree that being driven by outcomes is unsustainable.

Which is obviously ludicrous - it’s impossible. Things can’t stay the same. They never do. And when it comes to projects, whatever outcome I aim for is subject to a million circumstances.

So why expect something I have no business expecting - knowing I don’t?

To put it on human nature seems overly simplistic. Carl Jung argued that any behaviour is congruent with current goals in some way. So enough of what's wrong with it. What’s good about it?

The illusion of certainty. If I become attached to an outcome, I can trick myself into thinking that if I only grasp hard enough, I can make it happen with certainty. But here’s the problem: precedent.

Trick yourself into certainty enough, and you train yourself to only get started when you’re guaranteed the outcome(or at least you are in your head, which is what matters for this argument).

But to only work in certainty? That's not where the valuable work happens. Or where growth happens, for that matter. So attachment to a certain outcome takes away a discomfort you actually want to embrace. But still, it’s discomfort - it’s natural to try avoiding it. So what’s the antidote here?

My best guess: evidence. Do uncertain things, without any guarantees. Fail and recover, or succeed and move on.

Provide yourself with ample evidence that uncertainty is not something to be avoided, and maybe your desire to avoid it might ease up.