Sadly, the concept of nonattachment, as presented in Buddhism, has been widely misunderstood by many, which leads to a serious misrepresentation of what is may seek to suggest. Nonattachment can refer to the state in which an individual seeks to overcome any form of attachment that he or she may have towards things, people, or concepts associated with the immediate world that creates a sense of heightened perspective (Dweck, Chiu, & Hong, 1995). A majority of Easter religions accept the concept of nonattachment reflecting on the fact that it seeks to represent a significant detachment that one must have within his or her world. The ultimate result that this may have, from a religious point of view, is that it allows for an easier representation of values that reflect on the generalized perspectives touching on human beings. Although the concept had been introduced through Buddhism, it has been accepted by other religions that include Jainism and Taoism.
Literature Review of the Construct
Nonattachment is considered as one of the most essential principles that defines religion considering that it seeks to create a structured approach through which to balance what people may expect with regard to their inner beings. Chio, Lai, & Mak (2018) take note of the fact that attachment tends to create some form of limitation for individuals in their bid to living a life that would reflect on what they would expect in trying to lead a fulfilled life. Consequently, this highlights the importance of having to support the need to project the notion and concept of detachment with the focus being towards ensuring that one would lead a life that he or she may consider as being free or fulfilled depending on the religious structures that have been put in place.
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Elphinstone, Whitehead, Tinker, & Bates (2019) argue that the lack of nonattachment is often associated with continued cases of worry and restlessness that people often experience based on the fact that attachment provides them with a clear approach through which to limit their understanding of faith and religion. Lack of attachment means that people would often find themselves experiencing major challenges in pursuing their desire and personal ambition (Whitehead, Bates, & Elphinstone, 2018). In other words, this means that the concept of nonattachment seeks to build on the generalized perception that one would be free regardless of the nature of decisions made. The consequence of this is that nonattachment allows for a clear front through which people are able to make decisions based on their individual capacities rather than having to focus on what one may consider as being his or her personal connection to the decisions being made.
In Jainism, nonattachment is considered as one of the supreme ideals together with others that include non-violence, each of which represents a specific aspect of the life that people are expected to lead. Martin, Nejad, Colmar, & Liem (2012) argue that nonattachment is seen as one of the Mahavratas, which are the five great values that Jain monks are expected to observe as part of their devotion to the religion. In this religion, nonattachment is viewed from the perspective of having knowledge of self with the focus being towards ensuring that one would recognize him or herself as a soul. Sahdra, Ciarrochi, & Parker (2016) argue that nonattachment is considered as being essential considering that it allows for persons to achieve the perspective of self realization. Consequently, this can be seen as key attributes that every individual would be expected to adopt as part of life.
Sahdra & Shaver (2013) point to the true meaning of nonattachment arguing that the concept reflects on the fact that one must not get stuck in trying to connect with earthly possessions considering that most of these possessions only create a challenge in building an avenue for self realization. In this perspective, it must be noted that nonattachment is considered as the position of having to liberate one from the hardships that may lead to defilement. In this case, defilement can be defined as the act of having to consider everything as being closely related to one’s personal life. That is likely to create a major challenge for the individuals intending to maximize on their overall paths towards liberalization. Generally, this means that nonattachment would only be achieved to help create a front through which individuals would be able to bring out their true personalities.
In Buddhism, the concept of nonattachment can be viewed from the context that individuals ought to give up the world with the aim being towards leading a life that can be termed as being holy (Sahdra, Shaver, & Brown, 2010). In this perspective, it can be argued that nonattachment allows for individuals to free themselves from lust, craving, and desires that may relate to the world that one may live in. The ultimate outcome of this is that it creates a standard approach through which to ensure that individuals are able to concentrate much of their attention towards building a proactive front through which to maximize on overall capacities (Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann Jr, 2003). In most cases, this means having to ensure that one is able to create a standard through which to improve on the connection that one may have with regard to religious connections.
Justification of the Construct
Regarding a justification of the construct, it must be argued that the concept of nonattachment remains as a justified measure considering that it seeks to reflect on the general standards through which to highlight how people are able to connect with their environments. Whitehead, Bates, Elphinstone, Yang, & Murray (2018) point to the fact that nonattachment does not only reflect on the possibility of having to build on self realization but also paves the way for a high possibility of ensuring that the people are able to reflect on self actualization. In other worlds, this means that one of the key expectations that would arise from an analysis of the construct as a measure is that this would help create a new standard through which to create some kind of possessive environment. The ultimate result that this is likely to have for the people is that it displaces them from the environments that they have or have created for themselves.
On the other hand, the concept of nonattachment can only be seen from the perspective that it limits people’s expectations, which serves as a key rule of life. Nonattachment creates a situation where people often build on their reflective capacities while trying to ensure that they indeed build on the reflective expectations and outcomes. That means that it becomes much easier for the people to actually be in a position that would allow them to connect to religion as opposed to actually connecting to the purpose that it created for them. In most cases, this only syncs with the kind of life that they lead while reflecting on the possibility of having to lead a positive lifestyle.
Lastly, evaluating and studying the concept of nonattachment can be viewed as being essential considering that it only seeks to evoke the feeling of compassion rather than anger when examining the problems associated with the world. In most cases, people find themselves experiencing anger while recalling the problems that the world is facing, which serves as one of the key challenges for a majority of the people. Nonattachment brings to question the idea that people should not be perceived as being connected to their immediate environments. Instead, it builds on the fact that people should always be able to chase happiness while showing compassion in trying to get a clear understanding of the problems that the world is facing at the moment.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis associated with the construct being measured is:
Nonattachment has the ability to ensure that people practice presence and mindfulness while seeking to ensure that they are able to remain compassionate towards others rather than having to control them in any way.
Convergent
Nonattachment has the capacity of having to build on the practice of presence and mindfulness as one of the ways through which people are able to build on their capacities to maximize on their detachment from the world.
Discriminant Validity Hypothesis
Nonattachment has the ability and capacity to ensure that people are able to lead a happy and fulfilled relationship considering that it ensures that people would focus much of their attention on self realization.
Additional Hypothesis
The two personality elements that relate to the concept of nonattachment include conscientiousness and extraversion. Each of these personality elements seek to ensure that individuals actually build on their respective capacities to maximize on their capacities to detach from the world.
Method
Participants
The participants selected for the purpose of this study were university students aged between 18 and 24 years, both male and female. The study sought to use approximately 50 students as a sample population with the aim of trying to understand the impacts that nonattachment is likely to have on the personality of the participants. The university students were selected from multiple universities with the main focus being towards enhancing overall validity and reliability of the study.
Materials
The main material used as part of the study was a questionnaire, which the participants selected for the study were expected to fill out and give back. The questionnaire contained a wide array of question relating to the differentiated views that the students would have with regard to their understanding of nonattachment. Additionally, the questionnaire sought to understand how the student viewed the concept of nonattachment as it relates to their ability to embrace religion.
Design
The main type of research design used as part of the study was survey. The researcher sought to embrace the idea of having to utilize a question and answer format in a bid to developing a rather proactive understanding of what the participants believe with regard to the concept of nonattachment.
Procedure
The students selected for the study were handed a questionnaire that they were expected to give back after a period of 2 hours having given their responses to the questions that had been presented as part of the study.
Results
Results from the Factor Analysis
From the study conducted, it was clear that all the participants selected as part of the study had a clear understanding of what it means to embrace nonattachment as a reflection of what to expect with regard to living life fully. The results suggested that nonattachment has the ability and capacity to ensure that people build on their satisfaction within the lives that they lead. Solomon & Rothblum (1984) take note of the fact that nonattachment, as a concept associated with inner peace, often brings to floor the question on whether people would be in a position allowing them to develop. The study reflected on the fact that embracing nonattachment is much more likely to bring out satisfaction regardless of the life that one leads.
Ju & Lee (2015) point to the fact that most often attachment can be associated with human suffering reflecting on the fact that people tend to experience challenges in trying to meet set out goals or expectations. The study suggested that nonattachment creates an element of being free considering that people find it hard to attach themselves to other people or things. In this case, the students indicated that nonattachment is especially important for them as part of their education process considering that they do not attach to their education fully. Instead, the students indicated that they often find it easier in trying to maximize on their efforts while at the university without the pressure that would push them towards stress or anxiety as a result of ultimate failure.
Reliability
In this study, internal reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha formula, specifically through the use of the SPSS software. The formula was especially important in ensuring that the data collected is consistent with the expectations of the study as a way of maximizing on the projected outcomes. Additionally, the use of the formula played a critical role towards ensuring that the data collected as part of the study could be verified, which is essential towards building on a proactive platform through which to build on ultimate reliability of the study.
Descriptive Statistics
In the study, 46% (n=23) of the participants agreed with the fact that indeed nonattachment is a concept that allows for people to build on their connection to religion. The participants indicated that the concept of nonattachment allows people to build more on their individual abilities to concentrate towards what they perceive as being most important. Religion is one of the key areas where most people concentrate on after their decisions to build on nonattachment. On the other hand, 84% (n=42) of the participants indicated that they had practiced some form of nonattachment in the past, which had helped them concentrate much of their efforts on the themselves. Practicing nonattachment means that the participants indicated that they felt more connected to their inner being rather than connecting to things around them, which would result in increased cases of stress and anxiety. Further, 76% (n=38) of the participants pointed to the fact that they believe in the benefits associated with nonattachment, specially with regard to its ability to create a front through which people are able to achieve self realization.
Discussion
From the results, it is clear that the concept of nonattachment remains valid for a majority of people taking into account that it helps towards building an avenue through which persons are able to build on their inner selves. Dweck, Chiu, & Hong (1995) argue that nonattachment is often associated with a disconnection with the world, which is not the case considering that nonattachment allows people to connect more with their immediate environment. In most cases, people often find themselves experiencing a wide array of challenges touching on their failures to detach from things that seek to pull them back (Sahdra, Ciarrochi, Parker, Marshall, & Heaven, 2015). In such cases, the most possible outcome is that the people tend to disconnect with the world with their focus being shifted towards trying to learn more about themselves.
Basically, the need to understand the concept of nonattachment would reflect on the fact that a significant number of people fail to recognize the generalized impacts of the connections that they hold to people and items (Whitehead, Bates, Elphinstone, Yang, & Murray, 2018). That exposes a situation where a number of people may find it hard in trying to detach in a bid to building on their ultimate success. The results point to the fact that the main expectation for a person that intends to achieve success in life is that he or she would need to have self realization and actualization. That can only be achieved by embracing nonattachment and, instead, focusing on oneself with the aim being towards maximizing on the connections that would pave the way for success. Nonattachment allows people to create time for themselves while ensuring that people would learn the value of having to detach whenever they consider any person or item as a burden (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985).
Reliability of the Final Scales
An in-depth analysis of the final scales, associated with the study, suggests that indeed they are very reliable in ensuring that the study is able to pave the way for a clear understanding of the concept of nonattachment. The study has been able to take advantage of the scales in presenting the concept in a manner that would allow for easier correlation with the life that people live. That means that one would have a much easier time in accepting the concept of nonattachment from the results of the study.
Evidence for the Validity of the Scales
The validity of the scales can be seen from the fact that the study has been able to support the hypothesis, as had been presented earlier, reflecting on the fact that nonattachment allows for people to practice presence and mindfulness in everything that they do. Generally, the study has been able to build on a positive understanding of what would be expected in embracing nonattachment as one of the key determinants of how people lead their lives.
Revisions to the Scale and Recommendations
No revisions were made to the scale considering that it presented an effective platform through which to examine the concept that was being discussed in a manner that would be easier for readers to follow. Basically, this means that the scale has been presented in a manner that would be considered as being proactive in discussing how people would apply the concept of nonattachment. Additionally, it also reflects on the value and importance associated with nonattachment in ensuring that indeed people are able to pave the way for their ultimate success in life.
References
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