Q: To choose to pursue Enlightenment is uncommon in our current society, with its emphasis on worldliness and the dominance of the media that in turn focus on the contentious or glamorize the superficial. What true value can be derived from worldly life?
A: The world can be seen as an optimal stimulus for inner growth as it is merely a projection of the ego in overt dramatic expression. It is best to learn from it rather than to be seduced by its illusions or entrapped by them via identification or attachment.
… Q: How can one simultaneously participate yet not get attached or involved? Does that not lead to avoidance?
A: It is the motive that determines the effects of participation. Activities are merely what one ‘does’, but not what one ‘is’. All seeming events present learning opportunities. One can participate and at the same time experience phenomena from the level of the witness/observer and watch what arises from within the psyche. It is important to differentiate detachment from nonattachment. Detachment can result in avoidance or withdrawal, whereas nonattachment allows for participation without taking a stake in the outcome.
Q: How then should one best relate to the world?
A: To be ‘in’ it but not ‘of’ it. The world is a means and not an end. Nonattached interaction reveals habitual styles and attitudes that are consequent to inner ego positionalities.