We are not wired for detachment.

Spiritual practices advocate for detachment from all things. The Bahá'í Faith, Buddhist practices, and others encourage us to come to a place where we are fulfilled by the divine alone. We should not be attached to people or things; they should come in and out of our lives freely.

We can hyperbolize this by veering toward rugged individualism — no need for others, look out only for ourselves. On the other hand, I believe we need each other to survive. Sure, we have systems in place where we can subsist, but strong social ties are a crucial part of being healthy and happy.

I struggle to reconcile the ideal of detachment from all things with this human need for one another. Detachment from expectations, sure. Detachment from egoic tendencies, fine. But ultimately from each other and those we love? I am not so sure.

I'll be the last one to claim enlightenment, so maybe I just haven't reached a point of understanding. Perhaps detachment from those we love is knowing that we are all one, and that their material separation from us is illusory in a spiritual sense. And yet, being all alone, for most of us, is particularly unhealthy.

So where's the balance? If we hold these spiritual advocations as valid, what could it look like to be healthily detached?