Trinity and Attachment: some ideas

Originally written in November, 2005.

• God’s love is constant and unconditional and complete through the Trinitarian flow
• We are invited into flow through self-transcendence relationships
• Self-Transcendence form relationships: to the degree that a person is self-transcendent with an object (person) is to the degree that the person can form healthy relationships.
  The ability to form relationships (being self-transcendent) is correlated to how well a person can form attachments.
• Forming attachments is the basis for forming relationships
• The degree to which a person forms healthy attachments depends upon childhood relationships with primary care givers.
• Ages zero to three are critical the critical point between disorder and problems: If emotional bonding occurs between 0-3, then attachment occurs; if bonding does not occur, then the child does not attach.
• If attachment does occur between 0-3, but problems in relationship occur afterwards between child and PCG(s), attachment issues arise. Can lead to features of PD’s.
• If attachment does not occur between 0-3, child never learns attachment and therefore loses the ability to form relationships. This part of the brain dies (no firings of neurons); no connection between hemispheres’s of brain. Leads to Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) in child; leads to personality disorders (PD) especially borderline (BPD) as adult.
• God does not love the child less, but child’s ability to actively participate in Trinitarian flow does not exist because of inability to enter into relationships with anything.
• However, RAD child’s (adult’s) existence can cause others to enter/remain and participate in flow of Trinitian love (mystery) as others see “Jesus” in RAD child/adult.
• Therefore RAD child/ BPD adult can be “instruments” of God indirectly and are used by God to help care givers extend corporate works of mercy (7 of them) which work to “convert” the CG to the flow.