Desire and Ego
***** o0o*****
Desire and Happiness
Happiness and the Ego
Happiness and Wants
I want, I need and Happiness
Egotism and Happiness
Lonely and Fearful
Happy and the loss of fear
Desire for You and Happiness
***** o0o*****
1. INTRODUCTION to our subject – DESIRE
The question this week is whether we can identify easily the positive
and negative aspects of DESIRE?
QUOTE: "Our desires are what keep life flowing through us. Celebrate
your desires rather than long for your desires and they must come to
you. The difference is in whether you are viewing them from a place of
negative emotion or from a place of positive emotion."
(Eva Gregory)
It would appear from that quote that words have value, but their power
is determined by the emotion we are in.
DESIRE is all engulfing, which as far as wisdom is concerned is an
emotion that controls our state of mind and thus our pattern of
thought.
QUOTE: The best things carried to excess are wrong.”
(Charles Churchill)
When you are engulfed with desire you do not SEE everything. You
become so concerned about your desire that little else ever gets a
look in. So this is when desire takes you into a negative emotion.
Every interruption is a serious infringement of your time and as a
consequence you become grumpy and dismissive.
If in this state of mind you are presented with a problem, you’ll
tackle it with the wrong tools and subsequently make a wrong decision.
The positive aspects of desire, is when we have a plan and need to
take action to complete the task. A desire gives us enthusiasm to
complete this task. Nothing ever gets done unless there is an ACTION.
We therefore need to enthuse our soul to complete these actions.
The dictionary definition of DESIRE is:
“A strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for
something to happen.”
Most people may be able to understand the differences between positive
and negative desires, but can they see them in the play of life?
Allow me to use a daily example to help clarify the negative aspect.
I’ll use a simple example of desire, rather than a desire such as
wanting a new car.
Imagine that you have fifteen minutes to get your children ready for
school; you know it is possible but the children always seem to drag
their heels. You make an active decision (this is your desire) to
speed them along so that within these fifteen minutes they’ll all be
ready.
The first ten minutes are fine, but the last five are fraught with
anguish and frustration. You begin shouting at your children in anger
and break a cereal bowl. In your rush, you accidentally knock your car
keys from the kitchen work surface and they slide under the fridge
without your knowledge. Your desire to have your children ready has
caused anger in your mind and clumsiness in your body actions. Sound
familiar?
This type of desire is how most of us use it. We suppose that by just
thinking we can do it, then that is enough. Sadly it isn’t.
Let’s now take the same situation and apply a positive desire. This
type does more to make the end result happen. Instead of shouting
demands to your children from the kitchen and expecting them to
respond, you NEED to have a more specific plan of action.
This positive attitude allows the plan to be fulfilled. You may say
this, “Children! We have fifteen minutes to be ready for school. Take
you pyjamas off now and fold them on the sofa. Get your school clothes
and put them on. Go to the bathroom and clean your teeth and face. I
want you back in the kitchen in five minutes and the time starts NOW!”
If you want a new car, don’t allow that desire to control your
actions; allow that desire to motivate you to start saving money for
the deposit or for the full price.
Negative desire cause all sorts of problems, so your heart isn’t in
that determined effort that is required, and a multitude of bad
decisions occur which trundle your emotional state still further into
chaos.
Today’s society has us all desiring in a way that defies the original
dictionary definition of the word DESIRE.
Within each twist and turn we are tempted by some product or service.
Finance is easy to acquire and thus a tempting route to fulfil your
desires. All I may suggest far too alluring, which causes the negative
aspect of desire to arise and take over.
We seem to have been brainwashed into thinking that to dream about
outlandish desires is a healthy exercise. To dream and desire about a
product or service can cause irrational decisions.
We can dream and desire, but to fulfil both, they need to be
strategically planned.
To conclude this brief look at DESIRE may I make a few suggestions? In
WISDOM desire is seen as an all engulfing emotion. It gives us tunnel
vision. Wisdom itself holds an open view, so desire has the opposite
effect that wisdom is trying to give you. Without the clarity of
wisdom you can become engulfed with a clouded view.
Do you want clarity or tunnel vision?
If we said that the negativity and positive ness of DESIRE arose in
this proportion, 80% against 20%, could you honestly say that you
could identify which was which?
This hesitancy alone will take you into a tunnel vision emotion where
poor decisions are guaranteed.
Wisdom has often been defined as: the love of philosophy. Philosophy
is: a theory or attitude that guides one’s behaviour. Thus, if you
want to attract poor behaviour, allow one’s attitude to be driven by
desire and all the emotional turmoil it brings.
That, having been said, is how those with WISDOM perceive society
using their obvious tactics to encourage negative desire.
Before we close, let’s not forget the times when we actually need
tunnel vision. If we had a mission over the next hour and it needed
all outside influences disconnecting, we may need the positive aspect
of desire to rev up our adrenalin to complete the assignment
successfully.
I hope the following stories and examples help to underline this
introduction.
***** o0o*****
Desire and Happiness
Happiness and the Ego
Happiness and Wants
I want, I need and Happiness
Egotism and Happiness
Lonely and Fearful
Happy and the loss of fear
Desire for You and Happiness
***** o0o*****
So onto this week's story…
2. STORY
TO BE LAWYER OR A DOCTOR?
There was a lawyer that got married, after some time he and his wife
started planning for the future. The lawyer suggested that when they
had a son, they should bring him up and educate him to become a
lawyer, to be even better than his father. The wife had something else
in mind. She wanted her son to become a doctor because her parents
were in the medical profession. Arguments started and they became
heated. While they argued a holy man appeared and offered to help
resolve their problem. The husband explained his ambitions and the
wife stated hers. The holy man asked then to call the boy and enquire
what he would like to be. The couple said, "But the child is not yet
born!"
(Unknown Author)
3. EVERYDAY EXAMPLE:
SCARS
Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy
decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In
a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving
behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not
realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator
was swimming toward the shore.
His mother, in the house was looking out the window, saw the two as
they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the
water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could. Hearing her voice,
the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother.
It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.
From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as
the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war
between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but
the mother was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to
drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot
the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the
little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious
attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his
mother's fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to
the son she loved.
The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the trauma,
asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs.
And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my
arms. I have great scars on my arms too. I have them because my mom
wouldn't let go."
You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars too. No not
from an alligator, or anything quite so dramatic, but, the scars of a
painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us
deep regret.
In the midst of our struggles, there appears to have been someone
holding on to you. The Scripture teaches that the beloved one loves
you. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But
sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations. The swimming
hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is
waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins, and if you have
the scars of His love on your arms be very, very grateful. He did not
- and will not - let you go.
(Unknown Author)
5: RESPONDING TO YOUR QUESTIONS:
QUESTION: “I would be interested to see how and what you think about
truth???”
ANSWER: The dictionary definition of TRUTH is lengthy, but a shortened
version is thus: In accordance with fact or reality, real or actual.
In Wisdom you gather the truth, if a situation arises where a truth
doesn’t exist then you cannot give a full and proper decision.
In law you have a PRECEDENT. In effect a truth or rule we follow until
the next truth is proven to have a better quality.
So what is true for one person isn’t necessarily true for another. Yet
this uncertainty doesn’t give us freedom but anarchy.
We must govern our life with the rules of the land. If we think these
are not relevant; we have every right to contest them. Rules give us
freedom! We have a boundary to work to. With the rules of driving for
example, if we didn’t comply with these we’d be driving on the wrong
side of the road.
I have an illustration of an unwritten truth, but the GUT feeling, the
WISDOM is evident.
OBEDIENCE RESPECTED
More than a century ago the nobility of England, in their colourful
finery, were on a fox hunt. The came to an area with a closed gate
where a ragged youngster sat nearby.
"Open the gate, Lad" said the leader of the hunt.
"No, this property belongs to my father, and he desires it left shut, "
answered the boy.
"Open the gate, lad. Do you know who I am?"
"No, sir."
"I am the Duke of Wellington."
"The Duke of Wellington, this nation’s hero, would not ask me to
disobey my father."
The riders of the hunt silently rode on.
(Unknown Author)
6. PHILOSOPHICAL TIPS & QUOTES
"The philosophy of rich versus the poor is this: 'the rich invest
their money and spend what is left; the poor spend their money and
invest what is left."
(Unknown Author)
"It is not by a man's purse, but by his character, that he is rich or
poor."
(Unknown Author)
"A man can never get so rich that he can afford to lose a friend."
(Unknown Author)
Bye for now.
PS: “The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit. (Moliere)
======================================================
Courtesy:
www.wisdom-and-philosophy.com
***** o0o*****
Desire and Happiness
Happiness and the Ego
Happiness and Wants
I want, I need and Happiness
Egotism and Happiness
Lonely and Fearful
Happy and the loss of fear
Desire for You and Happiness
***** o0o*****
|
