Dispassion is a little like what Buddhists call “non-attachment.” The Church Fathers talk about dispassion intimately as a goal to achieve in order to separate ourselves from those thoughts that block our receptivity to God. Often when we read of suffering in the lives of the saints they are talking about spiritual suffering. This kind of suffering may be accompanied by physical pain and torture leading to martyrdom, but not necessarily so. The very condition of being separate from God... Read more