Should I Pursue Emotional Detachment?

[Theprofessional]

I seek self actualization. Unlocking the full potential of my brain has been a goal of mine for a long time now. However, I fear that it is not for me. I notice as I have been watching these videos and developing myself using methods suggested in the videos that I have become colder and emotionally detached, which is healthy I understand, to the point where I no longer connect with normal people emotionally on certain topics.

However, my current passions in life that I am finally beginning to pursue are screenwriting and filmmaking, which are jobs that require the creator to be emotionally sensitive, in order to recognize what will connect with an audience and what won't. I was recently watching a film where a scene appeared that was intended to disturb the viewer and make them feel hatred for certain characters, but I felt nothing. How can I create emotionally resonant scenes when I can not actually feel them?

Is it possible to still be successful in these fields and create soulfull, emotional works while remaining emotionally detached? Should I give up self actualization? Thanks.

[AxelK]

Emotions are an integral part of the human experience, detach yourself from all these superficial beliefs and ideas, not the emotions.

[AlwaysBeNice]

You want to be whole, happy, engaged, alive, emotions are a crucial part of this, and they never have to be experienced as negative or undesirable, they are the shakti of life, the other side of the emptiness and peace.

Only the stress and fear associated with them make it seemingly undesirable. In that sense, I would put fear in it's own category aside from emotions, because that is not opening up, that is closing down, caused by attachment.

Even sadness is beautiful in it's own way when you can just feel it in it's raw state and know that death and change is not the end of life's magnificence at all.

To live emotionally suppressed is more like true death, and surprisingly how most people in the 'advanced' western world live their lives, dead and empty on the inside because of the suppression of who they truly are and how they feel, looking for temporary fulfillment in food, entertainment etc.

No, you want to be as in touch with your emotions as you can, it's what flavors and fuels life, all it takes is willingness and honesty, honesty that you are in pain now, a lot of it, that's what's paradoxically the way out. And techniques that work well with this are meditation, meeting good people and talking honestly, meditating on weed/psychedelics, walking meditation. 

Life can be truly delicious that way and it's within everyone.

[Leo Gura]

@Theprofessional To anyone who says something like, "so I should be emotionally detached?" my gut response is: "No, just since you asked that question, for you, the objective should be to become extremely empathetic and compassionate." Because someone who asks that question usually misunderstands the nuance in "detachment".

True detachment -- as spoken of and demonstrated by spiritual masters -- comes on the other end of deep empathy and compassion. It's not a form of Terminator-like stoicism and non-feeling. Just the opposite.

Right now, you're not capable of detachment, even if you wanted to. What you're doing is suppressing emotions and calling that detachment. Which is not really detachment, but the every same thing you've been doing most of your life. It's an unconscious rejection of feeling.

As your consciousness rises, you should be experiencing more feelings, richer feelings, more compassion towards all beings. If you're not, then you're doing it wrong.

There is one important wrinkle, though, which is this: for most of your life you've been using emotions (both positive and negative) to manipulate yourself without knowing it. As your consciousness rises, these manipulations will fall away. As they do, it might appear to you like you're becoming cold and insensitive, but actually you've just dropped many emotional manipulations which are no longer necessary.

P.S. Isn't it interesting that your chosen career demands that you emotionally manipulate your audience -- often with the most negative, low-consciousness emotions -- otherwise your movie fails? At some point you may be forced to reconcile where your loyalties lie: with success, or with Truth?

[Shin]

It is just a phase, 1 year from now you will cry just by looking at the sunset.