What’s Not to Like? Spirituality and Detachment

“When the mind is transparent and pure as if reflected on the mirror-like surface of the water, there is nothing in the world that you would dislike. When it is serene as the light breeze in the sunshine, there will be no one whom you would like to forget.”

Pa-ta Shan-jen 17th century painter
Translated by Chang Chung-yuan in his book Creativity and Taoism, A Study of Chinese Philosophy, Art, and Poetry.

I recently received this quotation in an email. I not only don’t dislike it; I like it, even though this post may make it sound like I don’t. I feel that I understand what it’s pointing to – at least I have my own perspective on this. However, I’ll save that for next post. Here I’ll look at how statements of this kind can present some problems.

Sciatica and Other Mystical Experiences

The idea that “there is nothing in the world that you would dislike” if you were sufficiently detached or enlightened certainly makes sense if we think about those moments when we’re actually in an altered state of consciousness – i.e., actively having a mystical or “non-dualistic” experience. In those moments one doesn’t dislike a thing.

However, you could say the same thing about any experience that completely consumes your attention. Twice I was literally floored by sciatica attacks. They were mind-eclipsing. I didn’t think at all about how much I disliked them until well afterward. Severe pain too is a non-judgmental condition…

"Brother John, Don't Forget Our Meeting After Vespers..."

Concepts like detachment and enlightenment seem to suggest not just that we can have brief experiences that are completely accepting and non judgmental, but that it’s possible to always or usually be in such a mental state.

It’s hard for me to imagine how this would be possible. Non-dualistic, judgment-free consciousness might well be experienced with greater frequency and purity if a person were to work intensively at this in a certain kind of setting– say lots of trees, little traffic, fresh air… for example, a monastery – but even here it would be surprising if the experience could go on in an uninterrupted manner for very long at an intense, “altered state of consciousness” level. And most of us not only live in environments less serene than monasteries but also have jobs (so do monks…) and other regular forms of human interaction requiring our attention to deviate from pure non-dualistic/non judgmental awareness frequently throughout the day.

The Wise Sage Avoids a Hot Stove

A pure state of mind in which "there’s nothing in the world that we dislike” as consisting of more than a transitorily recurring experience is also belied by the very undertaking of practices and a way of life for cultivating this form of consciousness. What basis for aspiring to realize this and not some other kind of mental state can there be other than strongly liking and positively evaluating detachment – and, conversely, having a distinct dislike and negative evaluation for states of mind that are antithetical to detachment?

Also, going by the things they try to avoid, mystics don’t like pebbles in their shoes, computer glitches, eating spoiled food, getting run over by motor vehicles... Their complete list of dislikes looks a lot like other people’s.

“Detach From One Another”

Many religiously and spiritually-minded people see love as the apex of spirituality and find it hard to reconcile the joy, affirmation and impassioned desire for the well being of others that they experience in love with a state of mind described in terms such as being free from all desire and aversion, likes and dislikes and completely accepting things as they are without judgment. I think the confusion here is a matter of language –how words are used and what they are taken to refer to.

The bottom line for me is that the way of increasing love and the way of increasing detachment, far from proceeding in different directions, is one and the same path. Maybe more next post…