Prof. Joseph Ciarrochi will be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences and Psychology at the Dies Academicus 2026. On this occasion, he will give a ceremonial lecture at the University of Lucerne.

An executive cannot rest: feeling driven is proof he is alive. A teenager chases likes long after they stop feeling good. A shopper buys something for the thrill, then feels let down when it arrives. A man posts outrage to feel seen, powerful, and part of the group. Each is chasing a feeling. Good or bad, any feeling can become a precious prize, one that slowly takes over and narrows a life. Left unchecked, this “experiential attachment” fuels materialism, hoarding, workaholism, endless scrolling, gambling, and addictive outrage. From Buddhism to Islam, contemplative traditions warned against it. The science agrees: the harder we chase happiness, the less we get. The way out is not tighter control, but nonattachment — noticing the pull of a feeling, holding it lightly, and letting it pass so we can act on what we love. Nonattachment does not kill desire or numb feeling. Instead, its promise is freedom: the full and flexible pursuit of what genuinely matters.