Teal Swan - DesireDesire has been a big topic of controversy in the spiritual community. Spiritual teachers (Like the Buddha) say that desire is the root of suffering. They say that happiness is the result of learning how to rid oneself of desire. But even the desire to rid yourself of desire, is a desire. So you can never truly rid yourself of desire and you can never lie to yourself enough to convince yourself that you don't want what you want. The desire that is emanating from every being in existence is what is causing the expansion of this universe. To come here and to not desire is to promote ended-ness within the universe. It goes directly against the reason you chose to come into physical existence to begin with. You are designed to desire. Desire is as true to you as pure being-ness. So why does desire cause us pain? The answer is, it doesn't. Desire never caused pain. It's what we add to desire that causes us pain. What makes desire painful is thoughts like these: I can't have what I desire. I don't deserve to have what I want. I'm not good enough until I get this thing that I desire. What causes pain is continuing to focus on what you don't have or don't like or don't want after you have already given birth to the idea of what you do want. There is no reason to feel as if desire is the enemy. Everything you love about existence, from living in houses instead of caves, to that perfect piece of chocolate cake, is available to you now. It was once the byproduct of someone else's desire and now, it is the byproduct of yours.
|