John’s Sunday Blog

Desire and Fear

To look deeper into desire and fear one must take into account why these movements of thought exist. Why they are so visceral in nature, and how they may hinder our happiness. And there it is. Happiness. Could happiness be a true purpose in life? Life forms, even the tiny amoeba, spend a lot of time constantly moving away from what’s bad and towards what’s good, poisons or food. It seems Desire (I want, looks to the future), and Fear (I don’t want, looks to the past to predict the future). Notice how these two modes of mind affect how one plans and acts, causing a certain energy of agitation in our bodies and minds and emotions.

Desire and fear are not “bad” or “good”. They seem built into every living organism for survival and work normally in nature. However, in the complexities of a human society, unchecked and rampant desire and fear go against natural law. Resulting in ecological destruction.

DESIRE

When one desires substances, objects, relationships, and situations, one’s mind is in the future and mental energy is harnessed to obtain that thing. All fine. The moment you obtain it, a relaxed calm floods the body and a feeling of “all is well” pervades ie; Happiness. Yet is it the object that caused this feeling? No. There aren’t different happiness’ for different things; there is just happiness. There isn’t a chocolate happy, first date happy, or new car happy. It is the cessation of the desire, the disappearance of want, that uncovers your inherent happiness and one feels whole. In a karma yogi’s view, this is the goal - To embrace what is presented in front of you, with no resistance. Note that if using logic, aside from reflections of the mind, the now is the only reality you’ve ever been in. Any memory or imaginings happen now. In this shining moment. This is why love of one’s work, art, or sport can take one out of the planning department, ie, Desire and Fear, and into Awareness of The Moment! And into Flow. This may be why extreme sports have flourished, plummeting one into the moment; the matter at hand. The mind has shut off and there is only action and peace.

When happiness is attributed to the object, substance, relationship, it always wears off. You cannot maintain wellbeing by only focusing on objects; they always change. Something from within is whole and complete. And the happiness that happens, when you get that “thing” came from within you, right?

IT’S INHERENTLY IN YOU,

IT WAS COVERED BY MOTION OF MIND

waiting in there to shine forth, in the moment, as you. And when fully in the moment, is there a you? Could life be “the moment” and not so much a story of it? You know for sure there is this moment. And has there ever been anything other than the Knowing of your Experience?

FEAR

I don’t want. This feeling may seem worse than Desire (I want), yet seems to take energy rather than add. Fear can go two ways: It can blossom into anger (lots of energy) Or dull one down (escape/retreat). Any discomfort in memory begins to predict what to avoid to stay safe. It focuses on lack and limitations, the ultimate of which, is death. In a yogic view we call this Shakti, the world, life and death interwoven, constantly changing. Understanding the instability of this world on a deep level will loosen one’s grip on it. When sensing what is unpleasant to you, notice what is around you. Is that thing present or are you in your memory? Separate the feeling from the thought. Ask why it is arising? It’s connected to the thoughts. When you stay with the feeling, notice it’s the thoughts that fuel it to the point of overwhelm. Go towards just the feeling (counterintuitive) and become curious, experientially. Your openness will reduce the fear. These feelings will come and go. Does a thunderstorm affect the openness of the sky? No, just passing through. Again, you will be drawn into the moment, into reality. This has to be practiced. Most of us spend so much time avoiding feelings we don’t even know what we are feeling, and begin piling desires up to escape the uncomfortableness (addiction). In a yogic view we embrace the flow of life, “good or bad” and focus on WHAT it appears in. It appears in your awareness, open, like the sky.

A final note.

We will not be rid of thought. It is like a river. When we try to block it with thought, it’s like throwing log or boulders into the river making rapids, stirring the water.

In yoga we use dispassion. Know that dispassion has been construed as a negative, but it is not. Dispassion means taking your mind off of the results. Life is a totality. Give yourself totally to what you are doing in the moment, without a care of should have, or will it? And life becomes magical.