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Desire is deceptive (kinda in the same way that “anger gets shit done” is).
I know… what a horrible thing to say William. I can hear it now; “If we don’t desire something better or different or -whatever-, how then could we be motivated to go and fulfill that desire? Desire drives us, right? What about hope?!?”
Well, lots of things can give us motivation and drive (and for the love of all things holy, don’t use hope as a motivator)… but desire is STILL deceptive. Here’s why:
Desire is tied to passion, emotion, and ego, and as such, contains the complications of indenturing us to something other than ourselves, of weakening our self-control and discipline, as well as applying our otherwise-healthy drive, in a direction of harmful attachment.
I know… what a horrible thing to say William. I can hear it now; “If we don’t desire something better or different or -whatever-, how then could we be motivated to go and fulfill that desire? Desire drives us, right? What about hope?!?”
Well, lots of things can give us motivation and drive (and for the love of all things holy, don’t use hope as a motivator)… but desire is STILL deceptive. Here’s why:
Desire is tied to passion, emotion, and ego, and as such, contains the complications of indenturing us to something other than ourselves, of weakening our self-control and discipline, as well as applying our otherwise-healthy drive, in a direction of harmful attachment.
... it (is) the privilege of the gods to need nothing,
and of god-like (people) to want but little.”
(Anecdotes about Diogenes preserved by Diogenes Laërtius, Book 6, Life of Crates, 105)
In other words, when we want or desire, we compromise our personal agency… because the object of that desire controls/informs our actions instead of our good sense and disciplined minds. We surrender the one thing we have control over, ourselves, to something we have no control over, to something beyond ourselves… and what’s worse, it’s a non-existent something. It’s a something that exists only in desire… in hope… in a rose-colored imagination.
Now, before we start getting binary and polarized, this whole desire thing applies in all directions, not only for the obviously harmful things. The desire for peace, success, or comfort can warp our control matrix, too. Desire pulls us out of the moment, and projects parts of us into a non-existent future built upon attachment.
*Enjoy an extended, mindful pause. Sit with the above for a few breaths.*
Now, turn awareness inward and ask:
What would fulfillment, and ultimately, happiness look like without the habituated need to factor in ego and desire?
Once we put together the answer to that one… well, we’ll really have somethin’ then.
Until we do, we begin again, and again, and again… we practice.
(See y’all tomorrow)
Now, before we start getting binary and polarized, this whole desire thing applies in all directions, not only for the obviously harmful things. The desire for peace, success, or comfort can warp our control matrix, too. Desire pulls us out of the moment, and projects parts of us into a non-existent future built upon attachment.
*Enjoy an extended, mindful pause. Sit with the above for a few breaths.*
Now, turn awareness inward and ask:
What would fulfillment, and ultimately, happiness look like without the habituated need to factor in ego and desire?
Once we put together the answer to that one… well, we’ll really have somethin’ then.
Until we do, we begin again, and again, and again… we practice.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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