I Want More!
Posted: Wednesday, December 30, 2009
by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation
Do you? Why aren't you completely satisfied now? Or perhaps you are, but weren't six months ago. Or maybe you aren't now but were six months ago!
What is it that you want more of? New experiences, new tactile sensations, new relationships, more love, some kind of a change in your life, more money? Power? Whatever it is that you want more of, can you ever get enough?
A child might want five-hundred pounds of chocolate. In immature minds that only seek pleasure, this would make a child happy forever, or so they believe. We however know that five-hundred pounds of chocolate would only make them sick and unhealthy, but they don't know that, for few children have any insight regarding the downside of short term satisfactions - or wisdom regarding long term contentment.
Is what we want more of, as adults, going to make us sick and unhealthy as well? Like children, do we lack the insight and wisdom to extrapolate our actions into the future and consider the long term results?
Generally, wants unsatisfied lead to greed, which leads to avarice, to violence. And wants satisfied lead to fear of losing them, and hatred toward perceived enemies that want to take them away from us, all leading to violence as well. Both the haves and the have-nots both hate. Could it be that wanting more, desiring more - of anything - is the very root of our discontent and stress? Could it be that simple?
Today, more than likely something will cause you stress, whether it is a disagreement with a family member, a coworker, articles or news stories in the media, or a physical or psychological ailment. And the stress develops because of conflict. You want it your way and someone else, or your body, wants it another. We are all constantly conflicted in these ways. So to satisfy the conflict and our wants, we assert ourselves ambitiously, competing with whatever it is that disagrees with us. Its a life-long struggle that many times leads to violence if both parties dig their heels in. Many would rather die than lose control.
Control of what? Ideas, opinions, land, lovers, property, money? These are the children's chocolates that will only make us sick, yet we fight over them. We become so involved in the struggle that we can't step back, even for a moment, to see our insanity.
It is very important to seriously look into this matter of wanting; our very lives could depend on it. What is the deep cause of our stress? Are we willing to look at this in depth rather than just continuing to fight for what we want, which destroys all of our energy and time so that there is nothing left by which to solve our fundamental problem, dooming us to a lifetime of continuous stress and discontent?
Is our stress caused by outside circumstances over which we have no control? If so, then we are merely puppets reacting as our strings are pulled. But what if we had no strings? What if the puppet was freed?
If stress is truly caused by outside circumstances, then we are doomed because we can never control circumstances outside of ourselves, nor can we isolate ourselves from outside circumstances. As long as we "want" to live and experience (and "want" is the key word here, not living and experiencing), stress will shadow our every move.
But we can control circumstances within, and that's the key to a stressless life, because then outside circumstances cannot touch us.
If there were no "we" or "wants," there would be no stress. And the secret is that "we" turns out to be just another want! That means that the singular solution to our problems is simply not wanting - simply not desiring.
How is "we" a want? "We," as in "me" and "mine," is a construction of thought in the mind. It's an "I thought." It's not real, only real appearing like a scary movie where we forget for a moment that we are in a theater where the only dangers are flickers on a screen.
If we can see through this primary want, i.e. to exist as a separate entity above and beyond the fundamental psycho-physical being that we are which means that we experience life from a subjective viewpoint (ego), then all the other wanting will vanish - just like that. It vanishes because the one who wants is gone, and without that primary mover of desire, desires fade away.
Now, before we become lost in some kind of no man's land of "no self" where we have lost our footing, a strange thing occurs when the idea of self is seen through. When the "I" thought disappears, something takes its place, and what takes its place is no longer just an image constructed by mind but a reality that changes our entire consciousness.
You know, this question of self is a very serious one. Entire religions have been built around it and it has occupied many lifetimes of deep thinkers. How can we rid ourselves of this devious image of an "I" thought in our minds that fuels our constant wants? And what happens when we accomplish this most exquisite challenge?
It is obvious, if one is aware at all, that this ego of ours, this idea of "me" is the basis and impetus of all our actions, good and bad, as we attempt to protect and shore up our image of ourselves, our bodies, and our psychological happiness. Most importantly, we constantly try to make real, solidify, and protect this image of "me" by injecting it into a life eternal in some way.
This is our strongest and most fundamental want - to continue to exist. The amusing thing is that since "we" are simply an image in our minds, we never existed in the first place! So what is there to not exist? We are free right now, but we can't yet see that through the fog of self.
To help see it, we might question what it is that exists. And if what exists is merely an idea concocted by the brain in order to protect the physical body from harm, then, as just an idea, as just an image, what we assume to exist has never been real, just an imagination.
Therefore, "we," as defined as an image, is not reality, and we can say that from a definition of reality, images must be false. "We," never existed as a reality, only an image that began in our early childhood superimposed on a psycho-physical being. It's all been a dream, a dream similar to the dreams that we awaken from every morning. We can awaken from this dream as well. If it weren't that we are afraid to.
If we woke up one day to find that our "selves" were only an illusion, what would happen? Wouldn't the mind be forced to go in another direction? Would our wanting and its constant companion, stress, disappear?
Would we finally glimpse the true eternity?
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)"Would we" finally glimpse eternity? Probably. I like your writing/ideas, but sometimes they are a bit difficult to follow. Are you saying that "we" are in fact part and parcel of EVERYTHING? I believe we are.Hi Joyce, thank you so much for commenting on my articles. Regarding following my articles, it can be difficult depending on your level of insight, which can be increased exponentially with meditation. About this article and your comment about being part of everything: "Everything" is causal. Therefore everything is subject to the "Three Marks of Existence."
Best.............e
I've always preferred the word "WE" over "I" But we cannot loose our own identity, for our personal lives are our own. It takes many "I's" to make a "WE" But the "I" is only natural we are aware of ourselves as an entity form childhood to maturity.Hi David, yes, many tens of thousands of years ago, the human species became self aware, which separated humans from animals. And I'll bet about ten minutes after the first human became aware of his or her self, they also came up with an idea about projecting that self into eternity! It would be a natural progression!
Best ......e - Hope you had a Great New Years Eve! We spent it in the San Antonio temple meditating and chanting from 8 pm until 1:30 am!
I think happiness comes from within. I think when we realize our needs have been met we become aware that it brought what we wanted. Peace and contentment. Thought provoking article, thanks for sharing. Linda DHi Linda, thanks for the great comment on New Years Day! My experience has been that lasting happiness, i.e. happiness not dependent on constant satisfactions, wants and needs, derives from emptiness - believe it or not. ("Sunyata") in Zen.Best ...........e
On a good day I can accept the fact I have no control of outside circumstances and am content with who I am and what I have. On a bad day, I let the words or actions of those around me affect me, and sometimes want for things that I know wouldn't bring happiness in the long run. Contentment is a wonderful thing, but can be a struggle to maintain. I don't think one can ever be happy or content in life, without being content and happy with themselves first. I hope we can all eventually get to that place you've found Raymond.Hi Brianna! Happy Day after New Years Day. (I can't seem to stop celebrating!)
A couple of points about your comment. Regarding "a bad day." These usually involve times where our distractions can't keep pace with a reality we are facing, with which we feel that we need to escape desperately. Therefore, through our attempted escapes we never really face the reality and remain in delusion about it. As my articles say, facing reality without running takes tremendous courage - just to sit there with the discontent and watch it (which is part of sitting still in meditation), but this is the way to freedom from the tyranny of mistaking transient experience that has to be repeated ad infinitum as a permanent answer.
Regarding being content with yourself; how will you do that? Usually we try to be content with ourselves by putting ourselves into some kind of preconceived situation where we feel secure and content, but those situations are always subject to change, "The Three Marks of Existence." The only permanent way to become happy with ourselves is to see through the delusion of self, (again, a part of meditation). Then there is a happiness not dependent upon an illusion of a self that insists upon happiness and contentment.
Regarding any place that I have found, there is no permanent solution or method. I am only a practicing monk that tries to be awake, but not always successful!
Metta) loving kindness..............e
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