To become unattached does not mean to give all your worldly goods away. What you have to give away is your attachment to worldly goods. Attachment is an idea. It is an idea that you have to hold on rather than let go. Give away allegiance to the idea of attachment, and you give yourself freedom. Attached, you are tied. Unattached, you are free.

What it is that you must not be attached to is ideas. It is all ideas, beloved. There may be a trinket that you can’t part with, but it is the idea of the trinket that you can’t part with. You have a piece of furniture. Perhaps it was your grandmother’s hope chest. You can’t part with it. But it is your idea of this chest that you can’t part with.