Two Tragedies

"In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."

-- Oscar Wilde

Fulfilled desire and unfulfilled desire are two sides of the same coin. The problem is the coin is counterfeit. It pretends to be the currency of happiness, but as our man Oscar points out, it is the stuff of which tragedy is made.

The problem lies both with desire itself, and with our attachment to our desires. Minimal desire is natural. We all desire life's basics -- food, clothing, shelter, sex, friendship, etc. And if we're lucky enough to be born into a reasonably affluent and healthy culture, those minimal desires are not so hard to achieve.

The desires that cause most of our problems are the Madison Avenue created desires, the ego-based wants that go far beyond needs, and are usually thinly-veiled attempts to use having to compensate for a lack of being. These are the desires for more, better, faster, newer everything! They are artificially-induced by those wishing to make a profit off our discontent, discontent that they help manufacture and foster!

Secondarily, the tragedies are based on our attachment to our desires. Artificial desires, like thoughts, arise and pass away. That is, if we don't continue to feed them. We really don't need to get our shorts all in a knot over our desires. Some of them will be fulfilled, some of them won't, but if we base our happiness on our batting average in fulfilling our desires, most of us are in for some major league disappointment!

To minimize life's two tragedies,the seat of our happiness must be where desire cannot touch it, it must be within. If we bring happiness to life instead of expecting to get happiness from life, we find life to be a much happier experience. We appreciate the beauties of nature, the comforts of friendship, the mind-expanding capacity of a good book, the energizing nature of basic human interaction. If we spend more time appreciating what we have instead of worrying about, or pursuing, what we don't, it's hard for tragedy to touch us.

Awareness, acceptance, and appreciation are tragedy's natural enemies. And with them, desires become merely passing clouds in life's brilliant, blue sky.

The Desire-Thought Connection

"It is desire that engenders thought."

-- Plotinus

Thought is obviously very useful. At least we think it is! But what about consciousness beyond thought, consciousness without an object? In most spiritual traditions it is the transcendence of thought, not the refinement of thought, that is seen as the highest stage of human development.

Why? I think a lot of it has to do with the desire-thought link that Plotinus observes. All thought is rooted in desire, and every desire is divisive. Desire divides the world into what is versus what you want it to be. In that primal division Unity is lost, dissension arises, and people holding competing desires are pitted against one another.

The Buddha, as well as many other spiritual teachers, observed that life is much smoother once you give up desire. Acceptance of what is leads to peace of mind. And that peace is a calm, smooth, mental lake without tumultuous ripples of thought to disturb it.

So, should we all walk around like thoughtless zombies? Hardly. There is a time and place for thought, but the time is not 24/7 and the place is not everywhere. Don't worry, you won't lose your capacity to think if you succeed in spending time in a desireless, thought-free state. In fact, you will probably find that your thinking is both sharper and deeper if you take regular cognitive vacations.

Action that grows out of a desireless state is action that works for the benefit of all and is at harmony with the Universe. It proceeds spontaneously from a deep intuitive level rather than being a product of the internal war of thought and emotion. And as such, it produces better results.

Releasing desire automatically reduces thought. You observe, you perceive, but you feel no need to ruminate about what is or change it to work for your personal benefit. Today try living in the space between thoughts, in the moments devoid of desire. Try it and see what happens.

After Midnight

"If you don't get it by midnight, chances are you ain't gonna get it; and if you do, it ain't worth it."

-- Casey Stengal

You got to know when to fish, and when to cut bait. Playing the odds is much smarter than continuing to pursue a dream once the Law of Diminishing Returns kicks in. And that's just what Casey's saying here, in his own colorful, slightly bawdy way.

Many times in life, we are blinded, not by the light, but by our own desires. We continue to chase those desires long after any reasonable chance for fulfillment has past. Buddha knew that in spades. He said that desire is the cause of all suffering. Casey may not be a full-fledged Buddhist, but he at least believes that after-midnight desires cause nothing but suffering. And you can't hit a curve ball worth a damn the next day, even if those nocturnal longings are fulfilled!

The question of the day is simple: What desires are you blindly pursuing? And, secondarily, how can you use the time spent in hot pursuit, in more enjoyable and/or productive ways? If you take these questions seriously, you'll be amazed at how easy it is to both reduce frustration and free up time in your life. 

The clock is striking 12 -- do you know where your energy is going?

Creating Joy!

"The affirmation of one's essential being in spite of desires and anxieties creates joy."

-- Paul Tillich

Fears and desires -- we all have them. The question is: How much do we attach to, and identify with, them? Do we cling tightly to our fears and desires, like a starving man to the world's last known pork chop? Or, do we let those mental-emotional constellations pass through us like clouds in a Japanese sky?

Attachment and identification leave us no energy to affirm our "essential being." When our attention is captured by what we are avoiding, what we are chasing, or both, our essential being is obscured, Spirit is a mere word, rather than an ongoing, everyday experience.

As crazy and paradoxical as it sounds, you affirm your essential being by just being. Nothing to do but observe as the fears subside, as the desires, fade. When that happens, what remains is reality, what remains is being. And you are that.

Fears and desires grow because we feed them with our attached and unconscious attention. They are soul suckers. When we move from knee jerk reaction to amused observation, we witness the beginning of a transformation. Worry, clinging, attachment, and suffering, give way to joy.

Whether we create the joy, as Tillich proposes, or discover that we are joy, as the mystics put it, is little more than semantics. The fact is, that through letting go of all but our essential being, joy permeates our world. We become the embodiment of Joy to the World, and life, in all it's beauty and glory, rocks on...