There’s a misconception that to practice non-attachment, you have to literally live in a cave. There’s a very large part of Buddhism that is geared for people who are still fully engaged in life. In fact many think it’s the more spiritually challenging route because you’d have to live in the middle of all the temptations, turmoil and drama, without getting lost in it. The joke is that a family dinner is a good litmus test for how well one is doing. It’s a process of constantly letting issues arise, being with the response that arises in you, and if an action must come, learning how to take the action through compassion. That allows for even political activism - it’s just fueled by wishing people happiness, not by wanting to see the other side lose. The non-attachment is in not believing that the outcome one prefers is the outcome that should come about. But it’s fine to work towards a goal, as one would in a video game.
The chat is attachment. Too be free of suffering one must let the chat go.
There’s a misconception that to practice non-attachment, you have to literally live in a cave. There’s a very large part of Buddhism that is geared for people who are still fully engaged in life. In fact many think it’s the more spiritually challenging route because you’d have to live in the middle of all the temptations, turmoil and drama, without getting lost in it. The joke is that a family dinner is a good litmus test for how well one is doing. It’s a process of constantly letting issues arise, being with the response that arises in you, and if an action must come, learning how to take the action through compassion. That allows for even political activism - it’s just fueled by wishing people happiness, not by wanting to see the other side lose. The non-attachment is in not believing that the outcome one prefers is the outcome that should come about. But it’s fine to work towards a goal, as one would in a video game.
There was a good podcast on the political activism part recently: https://shows.acast.com/tantra-illuminated-with-dr-christopher-wallis/episodes/finding-freedom-in-troubled-times-with-tina-rasmussen
Oh yeah lol I was actually thinking about it when I wrote that but I forgot where I heard it.
The Tao is silent
https://archive.org/details/taoissilent0000smul