We all have desires, wants and needs. Each of us finds, at some point in time in our lives, that the life that we are leading is missing something. In search of that certain something, we reach for the ephemeral pleasures of entertainment or possessions, sport or adventure, and yet, somehow, all of the things that we grasp for seem to somehow fall short once they have been obtained.
The special car or technological marvel soon falls out of fashion by virtue of the excellent work of advertisers or the natural consequences of wear and tear. That which we felt would fulfill our need and satisfy our wants soon proves inadequate and unsatisfying. Perhaps it is the ultimate defeat of this futile search that is the inevitable cause of aging and death. Once we tire of the search for satisfaction or lose faith in the ultimate achievement of satiation we just give up on life itself.
There surely must be more to living than an unending search for the ultimate experience that will fill that empty place within us. I do not profess to know the answer to this question. However, it is the search for the answer that motivates me. Somehow, I believe that there is a purpose to my life and a meaning to the desire within my heart. Each day that I wake and greet the dawning of consciousness I find that there is more to learn and more to experience.
As I walk to work each day, I am forever fascinated by the variety and variation of the world that fills my senses. To look, to hear, to smell, to taste and feel the variety of experiences each day is somehow a miracle to me. Each person that I see is a gift of beauty and joy.
Until recently, I did not know that such joy could exist. Even in my sorrow, I find contentment. Could any such experience be sane?
How have I come to this place? Is this real or just a figment of my imagination? This question is another burning desire to be fulfilled. The search for the answer is a reward in itself. I fear that finding the answer could somehow leave me at the end of a journey, every step of which, I have enjoyed to the depths of my very being, and yet, the clue may lie in a conversation I recently had with my Love Brenda.
We were discussing detachment. The details shall remain private but the conversation came round to this; what is it that we truly desire?
Let us say that you might have a desire for a beautiful pen. You have seen this pen in magazines. It is plated with gold and custom designed for the hand of each owner. Somehow, you know that with this pen you could write the “Great American Novel”. Therefore, you take a job to make money. You really have little interest in the job that you do. It is the money that you seek. Of course, you still have to eat, have a place to stay and a roof over your head. You have to get back and forth to work. By the time all of your basic needs are cared fore, you have little to put aside for your great and wonderful pen.
Somehow, you save almost enough to make your purchase and then some crisis comes along. Maybe you get a raise or a promotion in your job and more responsibilities to go with it. With the greater responsibilities come greater stress and you begin to dissipate this stress though entertainment and other diversions. You still never seem to be able to save up enough for your wonderful pen. As the years go by, your skills as a writer begin to fade and your desire to create begins to wane. Once you have the wherewithal to purchase the great and wonderful pen, you now wonder why you even wanted it.
Perhaps this story seems familiar to you.
This person in search of the great and wonderful pen had “attached” their hopes and dreams to the pen. Therefore, where the pen goes, so goes the hopes and dreams. Could not this person had asked, “Why do I desire to write the ‘Great American Novel’? What is it that truly motivates me? Shouldn’t I pursue this directly instead of a pen that really has nothing to do with my true desire?”
I believe this is the true key to detachment.
Know your root desire, and acquire it directly. Detach every idea, concept or thing from your root desire and concentrate on that desire totally to the exclusion of all else. This is true detachment.
What then is the root desire of each and every person that exists? Is it not bliss, joy, imperturbable happiness? Is it not to live each day in paradise? If so, the key to the achievement of this ultimate goal is to detach every idea that we might have from this goal. It is not the new car or new outfit or whatever that should be the focus of our desire because these things are finite and limited. The new car becomes an old car and the outfit is soon out of style.
You might ask, “Is it really possible to pursue bliss directly? How do I DO that? What if I succeed, what then? Will I become some blithering idiot floating through life with an eternal smile on my face living in some fantasy world of my own making?”
That fact is, I don’t really think that I have enough information to figure this type of thing out. One who lives in a world of limitation (by choice of course) has already accepted some limitation of awareness for the purpose of experiencing the unfolding of manifestation through cause and effect. Basically, I believe that I have chosen to have a limited conscious mind because it is somehow of value to me, for me to be aware of that value would “spoil the fun”, so to speak.
It seems like a pretty nasty catch 22, but then, perhaps not. Why not appeal to a “greater authority”.
This whole conversation has an underlying concept that is a “given” from the beginning. That concept is the idea that there exists a consciousness without limitation, a consciousness with the power to control all aspects of reality and know the consequences of any action, Infinite, Living, Mind. It is a consciousness that is infinite, omnipotent, and omniscient, what most of us would call God and yet any concept that you might have of what God is could not encompass the most minute fraction of the reality of this being. That being is both the creator and inheritor of all that was, is and ever will be. It is both the true nature of your ultimate self and the true nature of the universe. It is that which is both simultaneously the creator and the created and is above all law and logic. There is nothing outside of the reach of its power and capability. It is the ultimate paradox that transcends all reason.
This is the “greater authority” to which we must appeal. In the appeal to this authority we must have the discipline to focus every component of our consciousness on the one single desire. If we should, in the slightest way, focus our thoughts on any aspect of the lack of what we desire, the manifestation will be delayed and this is the value of detachment, because if we should somehow believe that we “know” the “proper” path to the manifestation of our desire, it is the path that shall be manifested and not the desire itself. Since the path really has no bearing upon the fulfillment of the ultimate desire, it creates conflict within us that creates a world of longing for something that we somehow know is missing and un-manifest and yet we don’t know why.
Therefore, perhaps each prayer should be a prayer of thanks and happiness and joy. Maybe we should seek to keep in our hearts and minds the ultimate goal of whatever it is that we are seeking and remain open to however, it will manifest. We can stay vigilant for the signs of the manifestation as it unfolds and mindful of the signs, symbols and intuitions that will lead us on the pathway to paradise. We can concentrate on the goal and detach ourselves from all other things.
This is detachment.