Is Love Attachment, or Freedom from it?

A new friend on Zaadz, Todd, had an interesting blog up a few days ago about Attachment and the buddhist concept of Non-Attachment.  He asked a pretty good question in it about something that had been buggin' him: "...how can you not have it [attachment] and still love the world around you?"

Can find the blog here: 

http://sock.zaadz.com/blog/2006/6/attachment

Now, I thought that was a pretty fascinating question. Attachment and the lack of it is something that I've spent a bunch'a time thinkin' about, so I ventured to leave a comment  hoping it might help'im along.  Turns out that I really had no idea what to say on the topic though, so I kinda ended up with one of my muddled babblin' things that I tend to do. He said it was neat, but that he still didn't get it, so I had to wonder: do i?

I started thinking about attachment, and things we'd be attached to.  What about sunsets?  What about somebody that totally digs sunsets and never misses a one - does their attachment cause them suffering?  Well, what happens when the sunset's "over'"; what would they think?  They'd probably just look forward to the next night's, since it happens every day.  Okay, so what about that person getting a night job, and having to spend every evening inside a building with no windows and never getting to see a sunset again?  Would they be devastated?  Would they try and switch to sunrises?  Would they just end up loving the twilight and the extra sun they get during the day?

I had put a quote into Todd's comments that I thought might help him, because i felt that it had helped me in the past. It was something some mystic had said to a dear friend.  --Ack!  I just did some research, and turns out that I biffed up the quote in his comments :-/  Also turns out I got it from Dan Millman!  Go Dan!  Anyway, the REAL quote is:

I love you as much as I've ever loved anyone in my life—and I don't care if I ever see you again.

Turns out it was from Ram Dass.  Sorry for the confusion, Todd...  Anyway, this is even better, because it illustrates my new point quite conveniently ;-)

So, love doesn't necessarily mean attachment; that was the point I was going for.  And I started thinking about my poor person with the sunset problem, and Ram Dass with the love of his friend...  What is the relationship between love and attachment, and what does it mean?

As far as the sunset person, if his love of the twilight was as strong as his love of sunsets, he misses out on the suffering of having the sunsets "taken away" .  What about Dass and his friend?  What if he never Did see his friend again?  What would he have?  

If he never saw his friend again, he may have the feeling of loss, or at least feelings associated with a noticed absence of that friend in his life.  So what if he loved that feeling, too?  It's a very human emotion/experience - the loss of a friend. Actually, it's a very Life experience - I'm thinking of Where the Red Fern Grows, now haha.  Anyway, so it's a big part of being alive, and also a rare opportunity to experience.  What is more beautiful than the emotional feelings of missing a close friend?  

So, it keeps coming to this in my head - attachment through love, and the overcoming of it  through more lovin'.  Is this a part of the message that all them spiritual teachers try to convey?  And how does this help with Tom's question?

How can you have Non-Attachment, AND Love for the world?  Does "By literally having love for all of the world" count as an answer? 

That's really somethin' for me to think about, which is kinda cool.  Even prolly applicable to other things like quitting addictions and stuff...the absence of our desires can be a new unique feeling to appreciate as being a part of the whole life-enchilada?  Huh...I'll have to think about it s'more.  It definitely doesn't seem like an easy goal.

Anyway, so, maybe this'll help ya, Tom!  It may'a at least helped me. (thanks!)