From the Daily Dharma, direct to my inbox (and often deleted without reading. Is that nonattachment? Or just rushing?)

Grasping Fire
The Buddha's teaching is all about understanding suffering--its
origin, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. When we
contemplate suffering, we find we are contemplating desire, because
suffering and desire are the same thing.

Desire can be compared to fire. If we grasp fire, what happens? Does
it lead to happiness? If we say: "Oh, look at that beautiful fire!
Look at the beautiful colors! I love red and orange; they're my
favorite colors," and then grasp it, we would find a certain amount of
suffering entering the body. And then if we were to contemplate the
cause of that suffering we would discover it was the result of having
grasped that fire. On that information, we would hopefully then let
the fire go. Once we let fire go then we know that it is not something
to be attached to. This does not mean we have to hate it, or put it
out. We can enjoy fire, can't we? It is nice having a fire, it keeps
the room warm, but we do not have to burn ourselves in it.

--Ajahn Sumedho, Teachings of a Buddhist Monk
From Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

On a related note, I was hanging out with some friends of friends on Saturday morning, and I mentioned my experience in this meditation "cave" in the basement of the SYDA Yoga Ashram in South Fallsburg, NY, years ago. There was a guy wearing black workboots and jeans and a plaid shirt, with a Patriots cap and a shaved head and a goatee. He looked at me and said, "I think I was in that same cave." Turns out we've had a lot of the same meditation teachers over the years, and both in that very I-don't-want-to-join-a-cult kind of way. Which just goes to know you can't judge a book by its cover. He reminded me of a boyfriend I had in college, actually. Ralph also shaved his head and wore combat boots, but like this guy was a sweet and gentle soul, not a skinhead.