We as human beings often have lots of desires, from desire for worldly success, have more money, have a bigger house, buy a nicer car, meet your soul mate, have children with your partner, and etc. What we don’t understand is that sometimes the more we want something / someone, the further we are away from it, and the less likely we will receive it as well. Why is that the case? Does that mean we should not have any desires anymore? Does it mean we don’t have to strive anymore since everything will work against our will?
I once thought of enlightenment as a goal, to reach such goal means to renounce everything in this world, the lust, the greed, the desire, the wanting, the hopes, the dreams, and to become stoic, or become a monk in monastery. But unfortunately ( or fortunately in my case) I realized it is not the way to be enlightened. Enlightenment is not a belief to have, nor is it a goal / status to be achieved. It is simply a way of being, knowing who you are, and making every decision with this knowing, experiencing and expressing the joy and peace that you are through every movement, every breathe, every moment of your life. There is no way to become enlightened, there is the only conscious way of being that stems from a deep understanding of who you are and your relationship with the universe. Think and act and be in a way that you are enlightened, every breathe, every word, every thought, every action stems from such understanding. People always say: fake it until you make it. I guess it is similar in this case, when we believe ourselves to be enlightened, then we use this world as a practice, every challenge is an opportunity for us to express who we are, to ask ourselves what is it that an enlightened being would do in this situation, and proceed to think, express, act in this way. The more we can train our mind to think and act this way, the more joyful and enlightened we become; the more joyful and enlightened we are, the more we speak and act in such way. It becomes a positive cycle of reinforcement that helps us not only to train our mind to think and act in a better manner, also gives us a way to be more joyful and delightful in the process of life.
A lot of times when we desire something / someone, the further away we are from it and it is less likely that we receive said thing as well. The reason behind it is because when we say: I want a bigger house, a nicer car, a soul mate, and etc, the words I want means we don’t have said thing. Thus we strive to go after it, and along the process, we lose sight of who we truly are, become more rigid and frustrated and resentful when we don’t achieve the results that we desired for. If we can change our attitude a little bit, instead we can say: I am grateful to have a house, a car, a soul mate, a partner who I can trust for the rest of my life, even though I currently might not have any of it. The attitude of gratefulness can bring us closer to what we originally desired without being resentful or frustrated. To truly believe that I am enlightened, I have a partner, I have a nice car and etc, it will lessen and eventually getting rid of the attachment of outcome to such desire. To walk in this world freely, to think, speak and act with natural desire, but not attach to any outcomes of such desires. To live gracefully and gently in this world, but not of it.
If you want more money, give away your money; if you want more love, give away your love; if you want more success, give your gratitude for the success. The act of giving shows the world that you have abundantly of such thing, thus you will receive it back a lot more than you gave away. The more grateful you are for what you have, the more you will receive and experience such thing. May you live in this world, not just seeking for love, but showing and giving away the love that you are. To truly live means to love and to be loved. Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!
