Buddhist psychology describes the so-called Eight Worldly Dharmas. Sometimes expressed as the Eight Worldly Concerns, they are: Pleasure and pain; fame and disgrace; praise and blame; gain and loss. We want the former and eschew the latter. Of course!


But maybe there is a little more to it.


Chasing a desired outcome seems logical enough except when the chase intensifies into preoccupation, greed and even obsession. And eschewing undesired conditions is likewise reasonable, except when the push becomes frantic, aggressive and harmful. The worldly concerns are potent elixirs that hook us into rapacity for more or desperation for less. We become insatiable for one. And we hate the other.


Attachment to outcomes wanted or unwanted is worth investigating. Circumstances forever come our way and with circumstance comes concern. Just noticing conditions might better suit us rather than concerned clinging (or averting) in relation to them. Imagine noticing pleasure, fame, praise and gain without attaching to those experiences. Further imagine a mindfulness over pain, disgrace, blame, and loss without frenetic pushing away.


We could feel the essence of these qualities as they pass. No holding on; no pushing way. No apathy either. Fully engaged. Fully letting go. As in the Prayer: to dwell in the great equanimity, free from grasping, averting and indifference.