The detachment from emotions

[ThatMan]

It seems that meditation is somehow helping me to deatch from my own emotions, I am able, sometimes, to step aside from the flow of my emotions and be in a place of emptiness where there are no emotions, there's absolutely nothing there.. The thing is that I don't really like this, a life without emotions is like the food without taste or it's like the food without salt.I only want to deatch myself from the negative emotions that are not letting me to enjoy life, but to deatch from all... I do not want this.. How can I experience the human love if I detach myself from all emotions? Believe me, it's working, these recent days have been really strange, I can really step aside and feel nothing but this nothingness is pure emptiness, there's nothing there, absolutely nothing.I never truly experienced the human love, you know, the love between a husband and a wife, and now, with this detachment, I may never ever experience it.. This is a very pessimist view, I know, I know.

Might be related to Dark Night of the Soul?

My personal experience is detachment isn't from emotions themselves but reactivity. Not attaching extreme value-laden meaning to stimulus, external or internal. Not taking things personally.

How I experience it in action is through the practice I'm more aware of the first seed of a thought forming and I have the free will to follow it or not. Without awareness they run rampant below the surface until they build up so much pressure they burst through into consciousness as an emotional reaction, positive or negative.

So I can decide if I want to let it go or follow it consciously and introspectively. Ego takes a back seat to awareness. Doesn't mean I'm emotionless or non-reactive, just that I'm more measured, more stable, more true to my real self and they don't linger past the point of usefulness and aren't too extreme.

[FairyCrystal]

Could indeed be going through the so called dark night of the soul. If memory serves your posts are mostly negatively focused.
You can indeed not feel good emotions if you suppress the negative ones. I also don't know how you meditate as meditation should just quiet the mind -in other words; the yapping of the ego. It does not kill/suppress emotions, if nothing else it should make you feel joyful and in alignment with self.
Just read about the dark night of the soul and see if that resonates with what you're going through.
And do not steer clear from old negative feelings and happenings. Dare to face them. Only if you do so can you see light and by doing so you bring light into darkness.
It's also the challenge for men to get into their heartspace, to dare to feel, and express these feelings and so on.

[ThatMan]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Might be related to Dark Night of the Soul?

My personal experience is detachment isn't from emotions themselves but reactivity. Not attaching extreme value-laden meaning to stimulus, external or internal. Not taking things personally.

How I experience it in action is through the practice I'm more aware of the first seed of a thought forming and I have the free will to follow it or not. Without awareness they run rampant below the surface until they build up so much pressure they burst through into consciousness as an emotional reaction, positive or negative.

So I can decide if I want to let it go or follow it consciously and introspectively. Ego takes a back seat to awareness. Doesn't mean I'm emotionless or non-reactive, just that I'm more measured, more stable, more true to my real self and they don't linger past the point of usefulness and aren't too extreme.

I just read about this thing and I kinda find it similar with what I experience... I understand what you mean and I also experinced and experience the very same thing but this emptiness that is taking over me is deeper than anything I ever experienced before.

Have you experienced the dark night of the soul?

[ThatMan]

Originally Posted by FairyCrystal

Could indeed be going through the so called dark night of the soul. If memory serves your posts are mostly negatively focused.
You can indeed not feel good emotions if you suppress the negative ones. I also don't know how you meditate as meditation should just quiet the mind -in other words; the yapping of the ego. It does not kill/suppress emotions, if nothing else it should make you feel joyful and in alignment with self.
Just read about the dark night of the soul and see if that resonates with what you're going through.
And do not steer clear from old negative feelings and happenings. Dare to face them. Only if you do so can you see light and by doing so you bring light into darkness.
It's also the challenge for men to get into their heartspace, to dare to feel, and express these feelings and so on.

I experienced many negative things but this happens very rarely nowadays.. I've learn that it's better to fully experience pain, than to run from it and this is what I've done with all my negative emotions, I let them be.. That's how I meditate, the mind becomes silent and "I" stay in this silence, I often find myself experiencing the hypnagogic state.It may be that of a recent event, I must say that I supressed all the emotion of it, let's say you like someone and you don't have the courage to actually say it because you fear that the other person is already with someone or that simply does not like you, and because of this, you supress you emotions, you completely kill them and then you find yourself numb and empty like a stone.This is what I've done, I am just too sensible.... I suffered from depression but nothing like this, this is way too much..

I think this is what happens when you experience too much pain in life and then when you see a light, you can't even get close to it because of the fear of not be wanted, the fear of losing it and so on.

Originally Posted by ThatMan

Have you experienced the dark night of the soul?

If not exactly something very similar but before I took up meditation. It was the result of a disastrous 10 years and pushed me right to the edge of despair.

[ThatMan]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

If not exactly something very similar but before I took up meditation. It was the result of a disastrous 10 years and pushed me right to the edge of despair.

Well, I know how it feel to be on the edge of despair, slowly, it seems like my whole world is falling apart, the people that I used to work for ( I am a programmer ) decided to get someone else in the team because of my refuse to actually move in their city.

It's really amazing that you are still standing on your own feet after being on the edge of despair, you are really a strong person!

Originally Posted by ThatMan

It's really amazing that you are still standing on your own feet after being on the edge of despair, you are really a strong person!

Actually it was more about facing all my faults and weakness. Admitting to them and not placing blame elsewhere and then taking action to address them in a positive manner. A moment of clarity, if you will, and the other option was significantly less appealing.

[enaid]

Originally Posted by ThatMan

It seems that meditation is somehow helping me to deatch from my own emotions, I am able, sometimes, to step aside from the flow of my emotions and be in a place of emptiness where there are no emotions, there's absolutely nothing there.. The thing is that I don't really like this, a life without emotions is like the food without taste or it's like the food without salt. . .

Yes, I know that ‘place’ where emotions are detached from and it is the universal ground arrived at by a successful meditation.

If you don’t like it then you needn’t worry in my opinion because you will soon return to your ‘natural’ state when the meditation is over.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by ThatMan

It seems that meditation is somehow helping me to detach from my own emotions, I am able, sometimes, to step aside from the flow of my emotions and be in a place of emptiness where there are no emotions, there's absolutely nothing there.. The thing is that I don't really like this, a life without emotions is like the food without taste or it's like the food without salt.I only want to detach myself from the negative emotions that are not letting me to enjoy life, but to detach from all... I do not want this.. How can I experience the human love if I detach myself from all emotions?

Is it possible to detach ourselves from all negative emotions while still enjoying all the positive ones? I think not. That is just wanting one half of duality without the other half. If we want to engage with duality then we get both sides.

I do not consider qualities such as love, compassion, joy and gratitude as being emotions. For me, these are qualities of the Soul or consciousness. Yes, these qualities are reflected in the emotional body but such reflections are limited and often distorted. When the emotional body is still and serene then these qualities are more clearly reflected.

But some people may want to function on an emotional level - perhaps they are attached to the daily dramas of life. I prefer a life of detached serenity. Each to their own.

Peace