From Selflessness to Fulfillment: The Role of Connectedness, Disidentification, and Impermanence in Cultivating Non-Attachment and Happiness in Regular Meditators

Abstract Objectives The present study examined selflessness-related dimensions within the framework of the Self-Centeredness/Selflessness Happiness Model (SSHM; Dambrun & Ricard, 2011). Specifically, we investigated whether connectedness to humanity, impermanence-related insight, and disidentification were associated with non-attachment and with authentic happiness, assessed as a brief indicator of authentic-durable happiness, among regular meditators.

Method: A final analytic sample of 212 regular meditation practitioners completed self-report measures. Five path models based on observed composite scores were tested to examine the associations among connectedness to humanity, impermanence-related insight, disidentification, non-attachment, and authentic happiness.

Results: In the primary theoretically informed model, connectedness to humanity, impermanence-related insight, and disidentification were each positively associated with non-attachment, which was in turn positively associated with authentic happiness. Connectedness to humanity also showed a direct positive association with authentic happiness. Statistical indirect associations through non-attachment were significant for all three selflessness-related indicators, but should not be interpreted as evidence of causal mediation given the cross-sectional design. Exploratory alternative models suggested that non-attachment was consistently the construct most proximal to authentic happiness, while the three selflessness-related indicators were meaningfully interrelated.

Conclusions: Findings provide preliminary support for the SSHM by suggesting that selflessness-related dimensions are associated with authentic happiness partly through non-attachment. They also suggest that connectedness to humanity may reflect a distinct relational route to authentic happiness. Results should be interpreted as exploratory patterns of association and warrant replication using longitudinal, experimental, and fully latent variable approaches in larger samples.