Detached indignation

There are situations and events in which we become, directly or indirectly, the target of other people's unconsciousness. Of course, being a target is also a choice, and it is a game that needs our participation in order to keep going. When we are the target of someone else's ignorance, it is because we are suffering from the same "illness". These situations may concern us personally, with acquaintances, or they may be events that involve us as participants in a society.

Ignorance and unconsciousness are part of existence, and all of us have at some point become their promoters. When we observe them, it is not right either to "not take it personally" and remain doggedly distant. In this case, detachment is not wisdom but coldness. So I suggest to myself and to my friends that we practise a detached indignation. Of course, sometimes a punch on the nose, real or metaphorical, is in order for whoever is being unconscious. But getting angry, hating them or giving in to recrimination makes no sense, because we end up feeding the very thing that bothers us in others.

Sometimes we take offence because we need the recognition and applause of others, but in these cases I would stress that being indifferent to the opinion others have of you gives a priceless sense of liberation and invulnerability.

I believe that the practice of detached indignation is equivalent to "action without action", that is, a sublime feeling.

m.m.