Skip to content
Unitive Knowledge Society
Search

Accents are optional; quotes find an exact phrase.

Detachment

Freedom from clinging to things, outcomes and self, so that one may love and act rightly.

Also: non-attachment, Abgeschiedenheit

Philosophy and the study of mysticism

Meister Eckhart praised detachment, Abgeschiedenheit, above love, because it compels God to come to the soul. The Gītā teaches action without attachment to fruits; the Buddha, letting go of craving; the Sufis, poverty of spirit. Detachment is not coldness: the traditions see it as the condition of a clear and generous heart.