discernment, discrimination, and detachment -
Both Hinduism and Buddhism extol the importance of applying these three concepts to the experience of human life, and while this article explores these concepts through the lens of reincarnation, the basic definition and understanding of each remain the same in all applications ...
discernment – “to perceive differences, to make distinctions"
discrimination – “to make a clear distinction; distinguish; differentiate
detachment – “the state or condition of being separate or apart.”
For example, in past life work, it is integral to determine memory from imagination.
This is where discernment and discrimination serve well
as two very useful tools to master recognition and submission of one's ego,
to allow unbiased validation or rejection of a potential past life memory.
While discernment is about looking at something with a clear eye missing no detail,
discrimination is about making choices based not on emotions (an ego construct) but on only the information gained through the discernment process ...
Discernment is also about the exacting, sometimes deeply painful
process of self-evaluation.
It’s about brutal self-honesty and self-awareness regardless the price.
It’s about not flinching when the going gets difficult,
and about acknowledging and embracing one’s weaknesses,
thereby creating potential to transform those weakness into strength.
It’s about recognizing and identifying ego and then emotionally detaching from it.
It's about distinguishing one’s present life ego from one’s core self,
so that when ego becomes threatened by past life memories
that may not jive with self-expectations,
one’s determination can more readily liberate oneself
from ego’s dominant and paralyzing fear,
and move one's core self forward toward self-discovery.
Simplistically speaking, discernment is almost always about the most-resisted path
because probably that’s where one needs most to go.
Discrimination, on the other hand, is about letting go of preconceived ideas,
of self-serving desires and false hope.
It’s about seeing with unfaltering tolerance and non-judgement.
It’s about allowing what is without need of recompense or adjustment.
The challenge in past life work is that past life memories are blocked
by the force of one's own ego which is where emotion is based ...
the ego is the stop-gate between lives, lest we all go mad upon birth,
remembering all of our previous incarnations -
It is in the taming of this ego then where detachment comes in handy ...
Detachment is freedom from emotions as taskmaster and minion of ego.
Detachment is the sought after by-product of recognizing and subduing ego,
which is accomplished through the unwavering application
of discernment and discrimination.
Differentiated from repressing emotions, detachment is a clear-headedness achieved through meditation and mindfulness ,,,
its pracrtice teaches the mind to acknowledge emotional situations from a triangulated point of view, in that one becomes the observer of one's own emotions
Thus prepared, in revisiting a past event in meditation
to resolve the origin of an emotional issue,
the competent past life worker able to remain detached
will enjoy the freedom to witness without having to re-experience the emotions ...
to reap the previously missed lesson without the labour, so to speak.
-NHT
(please note: definitions in quotes are from The AmericanHeritage Dictionary of the English Language)
this article was first published on Beliefnet.com in 2007
related on-site readings which look more closely at reincarnation:
Reincarnation - part 1 of 3
Reincarnation FAQs - part 3 of 3