More Passion

Yesterday I rather indirectly compared eastern religious ideals of nonattachment and freedom from suffering to western religious concepts of the passion as necessary suffering and deep ties and commitments as a way of life.  Things are not that simple, certainly, but the difference in ideals can be striking. I still wonder if we can have the best of both worlds; being passionate about efforts and about the love we put into relationships while detaching from the results, the reactions of others, our need to be right.

Here's another quote on passion for your consideration, which separates passion from detached reason in a different manner:  "Man is to be found in reason, God in the passion."       -G.C. Lichtenberg.
This quote suggests that our passion comes from God and ties us to the spirit / creator energy. I struggle with this idea. If passion is from God then why does it lead to conflict, pain and suffering? Is there a pure essence of passion that comes from God that man corrupts and twists into darker forms? I find that when I calm my rational mind through meditation I emerge calm and passion-less, yet mystics say that we are closest to God at that time.

Just a few more ideas to struggle with; please post or email with your own thoughts!