During our mindfulness workshop at U of T today, entitled "Returning to a Gentle Pace", I learned about the idea of detaching from the outcome. What exactly is "detachment" and how does it apply to our real life? When we detach, does that mean we live without any real emotional investments whatsoever? The concept of detachment can be quite tricky to understand, since we sometimes associate it with a lack of emotion. But one thing I have realized is that detachment doesn't mean that we don't care about things. It means that we do our best to take care of things that we are able to, without attaching to the outcome of our care.
I think the point of detachment is that when we recognize that there are so many possible causes and conditions acting in different ways, we let go of perfection. With this recognition comes the realization of impermanence, knowing that things are subject to change all the time. This does not entail nihilism or a why bother kind of attitude, since nihilism is also a form of attachment! A person who is extremely nihilistic or cynical about life is attached to the idea of failure, to the point where they believe that nothing is worth embarking upon unless there is a guarantee of permanent success and achievement.
A middle path might be to say that even though things are impermanent, the flow of life connects us to other beings, and we should not stop that flow through a deluded attachment to static things.
We know nothing about other people's lives. All we know is what the other person is willing to reveal and show. I think this has nothing to do with facts or reality. I can’t see anything from it, and it will neither encourage nor inspire me. Now when I look at the world, I feel that it is shaky, like a mirage, and the reflections in the water are just illusions.
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