Some of us have been trained to look everywhere but where the treasure is. For whatever reasons, and I have my own none too flattering suspicions, the adults around us way back then taught us to not only restrain but positively abhor our desires. We were told that desires were evil, to be resisted at all costs, almost to be a sign that anything of worth lay in the exact opposite direction.
Nonsense. Suppose the universe to be created by an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving God. Why then would such a being instill in us the almost irresistable urge we call desire? Could it be . . . could it be . . . could it be, not Satan (as the old Dana Carville Church Lady routine went) but that God, the Creator or the structure of the universe set things up so that we desire whatever that ultimate power itself desires? Wouldn't that be the simplest and most straight-forward explanation for desire?
Don't get me wrong, I am as convinced as anyone that reckless pursuit of selfish and short-term gains can be painfully destructive. But that's my point. Most of us don't really enjoy sexual debauchery or rampant intoxication when considered in the light of the inevitable consequences of such behavior. As we gain experience and learn about the inevitable consequences of our pursuit of short term gratification, new and more enlightened desires take their place. We develop an appetite for a calm and undisturbed mind, for example. Or we seek communion with nature or an earnest conversation with a cherished friend.
I also happen to believe that our desire cannot progress to this mature enlightenment except through the path that leads through the pursuit, and perhaps the unbridled pursuit, of those lesser, more fleeting, more immature desires. But even if one accepts that immature desires need restraint and redirection, we need not accept that all desire is rotten.
I submit that our desires are holy and sacred, they are the God-force offering its energy and direction to us, our destiny pulling us forward. As such, the highest honor we can pay when it comes to desire is to follow it. And until my own desires become important to me, more important in fact than my job or my lover or my child, I will be a miserable martyr and everyone around me will notice and no one will want to be around me anyway. And I really don't blame them.
Until I learn to honor, pursue and attain my own desire, I don't have anything to offer anyone else anyway.
Nonsense. Suppose the universe to be created by an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving God. Why then would such a being instill in us the almost irresistable urge we call desire? Could it be . . . could it be . . . could it be, not Satan (as the old Dana Carville Church Lady routine went) but that God, the Creator or the structure of the universe set things up so that we desire whatever that ultimate power itself desires? Wouldn't that be the simplest and most straight-forward explanation for desire?
Don't get me wrong, I am as convinced as anyone that reckless pursuit of selfish and short-term gains can be painfully destructive. But that's my point. Most of us don't really enjoy sexual debauchery or rampant intoxication when considered in the light of the inevitable consequences of such behavior. As we gain experience and learn about the inevitable consequences of our pursuit of short term gratification, new and more enlightened desires take their place. We develop an appetite for a calm and undisturbed mind, for example. Or we seek communion with nature or an earnest conversation with a cherished friend.
I also happen to believe that our desire cannot progress to this mature enlightenment except through the path that leads through the pursuit, and perhaps the unbridled pursuit, of those lesser, more fleeting, more immature desires. But even if one accepts that immature desires need restraint and redirection, we need not accept that all desire is rotten.
I submit that our desires are holy and sacred, they are the God-force offering its energy and direction to us, our destiny pulling us forward. As such, the highest honor we can pay when it comes to desire is to follow it. And until my own desires become important to me, more important in fact than my job or my lover or my child, I will be a miserable martyr and everyone around me will notice and no one will want to be around me anyway. And I really don't blame them.
Until I learn to honor, pursue and attain my own desire, I don't have anything to offer anyone else anyway.
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