29: Do you think apathy is the best way to be (generally speaking) in order to remain detached and free?

This is a difficult question because feelings too, are like tools. They can be used in different ways, at different times, and by different people. For example, two people are talking and one says that they are ten times faster than the other. The other person gets angry. They could use their anger to attack physically or verbally, they could use it to immediately challenge the former to a race, right then, or the anger may fuel them to train hard for the next year, for a later race.

When dealing with people, there are many times when we need to project an apathetic aura. Police are a good example of this. If they catch someone in the midst of a crime they can’t be overly empathetic of the criminal at that time (of course they should respect the suspects human rights). They should just apprehend, a doctor should just cut, and an adult should correct a child all in an outwardly apathetic fashion.

If you can use apathy as a tool for a positive end result, then that is good.

Now, the thing about nirvana is that it is a realization of connectedness within separateness, and separateness within connectedness. Detachment is only freedom of responsibility (when it comes to being detached from people). However, knowledge is responsibility. So then, detachment becomes freedom of knowledge. In tarot this would be aleph, the Fool. Again, this becomes difficult because symbolically knowledge can be considered bad in some contexts. For example, eating from the tree of knowledge was considered a bad move. You have to actively acquire correct knowledge! Through action, you will ‘become’ this knowledge and take it with you to your next incarnation. Much of the practice of meditation is the elimination of knowledge. That’s because the brain takes in information (and labels it “knowledge”) without discretion of source. Detachment from things can also be good, for instance you may have a family heirloom that you have feelings about, but if you loose it, you should ultimately detach from it. Same thing goes for people, there is nothing wrong with caring for them but if they are gone, you need to let them go. Some people may gain value by leading a life of detachment or by trying to lead such a life. When I tried to practice that way of life I felt like it started to lead me toward a state that didn’t need a body.

I believe in an empathetic, compassionate approach to life. The reality is that we are all interconnected. Not feeling emotional for someone, means not having someone feel emotional for you. If you want someone to care that your hungry, you have to care when someone else is. This is knowledge. In between our life times (which is an infinite amount of time since time doesn’t exist there) we don’t have the senses that we have now. We have them now in order to experience and create the beauty in the universe. Apathy in its purest sense is devoid of passion and affairs of the heart, again, this is denial of the female aspect of our nature.

Beauty is experienced with the body, understood by the mind and felt by the heart.