All of these things that can masquerade as non-attachment, but they're not really non-attachment. They’re a kind of avoidance, or suppression; an ignoring.

The non-attachment that we're going for, is one that is fully engaged and connected with all of the pain and all of the joy…Even just saying this, I pause because I feel most of us would say, “Oh yeah, that's really painful so I'd like to not be attached to that ‘painful’ thing. But wait a minute…I have to let go of the joy too? I don't want to let go of the pleasant stuff. I want to hold on to that. I want to cling to those moments of joy and passion. I want to continue to be passionate.”

There is a Pali word that is often translated as an encouragement to be dispassionate. I ******* hate that. Dispassionate? It sounds like disengaged, like avoidance or something, but it's not what is meant. What is meant by that description “dispassionate” is being connected without clinging.

This is so counter to our instinctual drives, to our survival instincts. Mindfulness is the intervention.

This is so counter to our instinctual drives, to our survival instincts. Mindfulness is the intervention. There's no certainty. There's no safety. There's no reliable external refuge. Whenever I say this I think of that title of Alan Watts book (which I still haven't read but I've been quoting it for decades because I like the title), “The Wisdom of Insecurity”.