Attachment and mental health

There's neither good nor bad about the presence and absence of worldly connection building and social interaction. The difference is about the presence or absence of attachment towards agreeable and disagreeable social connections and interactions, that is determining whether the mind (the state of the mind/mental health) is being determined or influenced by the presence and absence of agreeable and disagreeable connections and interactions, or not.

It's normal that the passionate egoistic minds that think and believe they love yoga very much and are practicing yoga regularly, might not like or agree with the teaching and practice of yoga and buddhism about non-attachment, or renunciation and dispassion. These minds, including many mental health professionals, think and believe that all minds can't live without social connections and interactions, where social connections and interactions are highly important for mental health, where lack of social connections and interactions is highly detrimental towards mental health, not knowing that, the main culprit is ATTACHMENT, and it's not really about whether there's sufficient social connections and interactions, or not.

Void of attachment, the presence and absence of all kinds of agreeable and disagreeable worldly connections and interactions don't determine the state of the mind, or mental health.

The presence of attachment towards the presence and absence of agreeable and disagreeable worldly connections and interactions is the reason why suffering/painful sorrow/disturb arise in the mind, upon the absence of, or the lack of, or losing the pleasant and agreeable connections and interactions, as well as upon coming in contact with, or the presence of unpleasant and disagreeable connections and interactions.

The minds that don't know what is non-attachment, or don't know how to remain unattached towards all kinds of connections and interactions, they would be spontaneously or autonomously attracted to, or admiring, or 'falling in love with' something or someone that appeared to be pleasant, agreeable, lovable, beautiful or meaningful to the mind, and being determined or influenced by the presence and absence of all kind of agreeable and disagreeable connections and interactions. These minds also have the desire to become physically and mentally attractive and admirable to other minds in the process of connections building and interactions, being determined by the presence and accumulation of pleasant and agreeable social connections and interactions for developing and empowering the sense of self-esteem, confidence, goodness, happiness, positiveness and meaningfulness towards itself and life existence, which determining, affecting and influencing the state of their mental health.

Even when the mind feels confident, good, happy, positive and meaningful about itself and life existence upon the presence of pleasant and agreeable connections and interactions in the present moment, this is impermanent. The mind will be in suffering, or the state of mental health will be 'bad' or 'disturbed', upon inevitable impermanent changes, upon the presence of unpleasant and disagreeable connections and interactions, and upon the absence of pleasant and agreeable connections and interactions, due to attachment. That is not freedom at all.

The minds that know what is non-attachment, where they can stay unattached towards all kinds of worldly connections and interactions, they can mix and mingle freely among the worldly community, if they want, but without being determined or influenced by the presence and absence of all kinds of agreeable and disagreeable connections and interactions. Such minds don't admire, or attracted to, or 'fall in love with' anything or anyone that appeared to be pleasant, agreeable, lovable, beautiful or meaningful to the mind, of what the mind perceived as 'goodness', 'kindness', 'righteousness', 'meaningfulness', 'positiveness', 'beautiful', 'cuteness', or 'attractiveness'. These minds don't need to rely on the presence and accumulation of agreeable social connections and interactions to be developing and empowering the sense of self-esteem, confidence, goodness, happiness, positiveness and meaningfulness towards itself and life existence, that don't need to be there at all. That's freedom.

Regardless of whether the minds like or dislike, agree or disagree, practice or don't practice, non-attachment is the core teaching and practice of yoga and buddhism. Without non-attachment, all kind of practice won't lead the mind towards liberation from ignorance and egoism, and the consequences of that. One can be practicing and/or teaching yoga to many other people for many years, preaching about awareness and mindfulness, while adopting a way of healthy living, clean eating and high thinking, but the mind might still be not free from functioning under the influence of ignorance and passionate egoism, being determined and influenced very much by the mind perception of a selfless impermanent worldly life existence of impermanent names and forms, worldly identities, activities, affairs, conditions, connections and interactions.

It's neither right nor wrong about the agreement and disagreement of the minds towards the teaching and practice of non-attachment. It's whether the minds are being endowed with the intense yearning for liberation, or not. The minds that are only interested in gaining some momentary physical and mental health and fitness benefits from performing the different type of yoga practice and exercises regularly, and developing the sense of goodness, happiness, positiveness and meaningfulness via the gratification of the desire of craving and aversion, through the presence and enjoyment of pleasant and agreeable names and forms, conditions, activities, connections and interactions, they don't need to agree with or practice non-attachment, as they wish. While the minds that have intense yearning towards liberation from the inevitable suffering of restlessness, of swaying between happiness and unhappiness, satisfaction and dissatisfaction, then non-attachment is the path.

The passionate minds advise the minds that suffered from low self-esteem, low confidence, dissatisfaction, unhappiness and meaninglessness to enlarge the circle of their social connections and interactions, empowering mental and emotional dependence, that give rise to momentary sense of accomplishment, acknowledgement, satisfaction, happiness and meaningfulness to the mind, while the teachings of yoga and buddhism advise such minds to renounce from the worldly connections and interactions for developing non-attachment and dispassion, developing mental and emotional independence, to free the mind from the root cause of low self-esteem, low confidence, dissatisfaction, unhappiness and meaninglessness, which is ignorance and passionate egoism.

Not that the mind will be free from suffering, or will be in a state of constant happiness or satisfaction upon the absence or cessation of selfless impermanent changes, but it is no longer being determined or influenced by the selfless impermanent changes within the impermanent modification of the selfless mind (the different states of the mind) and all kind of names and forms that it perceives through the senses, including this selfless physical body (the different conditions of the physical body).

A truly compassionate and wise teacher/parent/leader/senior/friend will allow the student/child/follower/junior/friend to become independent mentally and emotionally, where one knows how to love oneself, think for oneself, inquire the truth by oneself and look after oneself, and doesn't need to rely on connections and interactions with some others to be receiving love and support, agreement and acknowledgement, to feel good, happy, confident, positive or meaningful, regardless of the presence and absence of agreeable and disagreeable connections and interactions.

The mind that knows this, doesn't suffer from the sense of loneliness, even without any connections and interactions with anyone. The mind that doesn't know this, will be suffering from the sense of loneliness even when there is the presence of different kind of connections and interactions with some others, as it is always looking forward to be receiving ongoing attention, love, support, agreement and acknowledgement from some others. People might think that it's due to the lack of physical and mental companionship and interaction that is why someone is suffering from loneliness, not knowing that, it's the presence of attachment and craving towards receiving attention, love, support, agreement and acknowledgement from some others in order to feel love, good, happy, confident, positive and meaningful.

Inquire towards all kind of celebration day

There's neither right nor wrong, neither good nor bad about the existence of all kind of celebration day or event, where many people like as well as 'need' to be celebrating certain things at certain timing for specific reasons, where people 'need' the existence of certain celebration day or event that involve certain activities and interactions among human beings, to ignite and boost the sense of belonging, happiness, meaningfulness, achievement, connection and togetherness, while some people are not interested or don't need to be engaging in any kind of celebration day or event, with or without any specific reason.

Anyhow, the existence of funeral is something important for many people to be able to 'let go' those who are gone, not just physically, but more so, mentally and emotionally.

All kind of celebration day/event/ritual are being celebrated by human beings on different timing under different reasons, either hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, annually, and so on.

Although certain celebration day/event/ritual existed under certain ancient cultural and spiritual belief, values and practice along with the beginning of human existence long before the era of commercialism, most of the celebration day/event that have been continuously popping up here and there, are indeed the by-products of commercialism, to boost business or sales, a.k.a. profits, income, or wealth, for somebody.

The local/regional and international/global economy is very much being powered by all kinds of celebration day/event/ritual. The more type of celebration event existing in the world, the better it is for all kind of business/job/opportunity.

The mental and emotional health of many people, and the relationship/connection between human beings are also very much being influenced by the existence of the many different type of cultural and spiritual celebration event that generate the 'intention' or 'obligation' for people to come together, from time to time.

Some celebration day/event/ritual can be without the need of related 'objects', 'feasts', 'activities' or 'travelling' which require certain amount of 'inevitable expenses', where people don't necessarily have to be spending any money at all to be appreciating or celebrating something, however, most celebration day/event/ritual or funeral are associated with certain amount of 'inevitable expenses', where it can be 'financially difficult' or 'non-affordable' for some people, and even 'embarrassing', 'regretting' or 'guilty' for certain people.

In the event of funeral, some people cannot 'afford' to organize a so called 'funeral' for their loved ones. More money are being spent after death than while living for some people. Some people are depriving themselves while living in order to be saving enough money for arranging their own funeral the way that they prefer, if they think and believe that they need to have particular type of funeral for themselves after death under certain belief, values and practice. Just like many other things, funeral as well as after death's weekly, monthly and yearly ongoing ritual is a big money making business.

Certain 'crimes' also happened to be more frequent before and during certain celebration day/event or even funeral, due to different type of 'desperation' as well as 'golden opportunity for crime' that exist along with the existence of certain celebration day/event/ritual, or funeral, in certain cultures.

Meanwhile, certain cultural or spiritual celebration day/event/ritual involved with 'the sacrifice/offer of something in order to receive/attain something in return'.

Regardless of the different differences that all human beings identifying with as 'who they are' and 'where they belonged', where different communities under different cultural and spiritual belief celebrate different kind of celebration event on different day, everyone under all kind of diversities seemed to be celebrating the universal 'New Year' everywhere in the world, where the beginning of a year represents 'a new beginning', or 'a fresh start', or 'new hopes' for most people, that ignites certain 'spark' or 'motivation' to be performing certain actions, or to be achieving something, such as 'new year resolution' or 'setting intention'. That is something that all diversities could be sharing and celebrating in common, putting aside all kind of difference/competition/discrimination.

Some minds would feel bored, joyless, meaningless, or lack of motivation, if without certain kind of celebration day/event/ritual, to have something well-worth to be celebrating about or deserve to be remembering about, to be engaging in certain activities, connections and interactions among human beings, from time to time.

Some minds might even be disturbed and offended by certain behavior or happening that appeared to be offensive or inauspicious towards certain celebration day/event/ritual, or funeral.

For the minds that have transcended all kind of names and forms, time, space and causation, that have realized selflessness and unconditional peace, that are free from the influence of ignorance and egoism, that are free from being conditioned by worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice, that are free from attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation, would respect the existence of all kind of celebration day/event/ritual or funeral that have their own particular reason to be existing, however, these minds don't need to be engaging in or celebrating any specific celebration day/event/ritual to develop or boost the sense of belonging, happiness, meaningfulness, achievement, connection and togetherness, or to ignite the 'spark' or 'motivation' to be performing any kind of actions, or to 'sacrifice/offer something in order to receive/attain something in return', and they won't be disturbed or offended by any kind of behavior or happening that appeared to be offensive or inauspicious towards certain celebration day/event/ritual or funeral. They don't need 'funeral' to let go anyone physically, mentally and emotionally. They don't need 'togetherness' to appreciate all kind of relationship. They don't need 'specific timing', 'motivation', 'resolution' or 'setting intention' to be performing actions.

For these minds, every moment is nothing but the rise/beginning as well as the passing away/end of something. Every moment can be appreciated and/or celebrated yet there's nothing really need to be celebrated particularly on particular timing, transcending names and forms, time, space and causation, transcending the sense of goodness and badness, positiveness and negativeness, auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, deserving and undeserving, or meaningfulness and meaninglessness, void of boredom and loneliness.