🎯 The Great Paradox: Why We Want What We Want 🎯

PART 1: An Awesome Problem

From the standpoint of our everyday mind, having a desire feels like launching a thrilling quest. A new goal pops up, a promotion, a beautiful new home, a certain relationship, and suddenly, we have purpose. We embark on the journey, driven by the promise of an incredible reward, a moment of ultimate bliss when we finally get the thing.

And yet, we all know the catch, don't we?

The problem with desire is, it's short-lived. That sensation of triumph and fulfillment after achieving a long-sought-after goal? It’s rarely as lasting as we anticipated. The high is often fleeting. Before long, the new car is just "the car," the dream job is just "work," and we’ve already started taking that hard-won prize for granted.

It seems we are fundamentally approaching desire with a wrong notion, that the thing itself is the source of the lasting joy. Let’s dive deeper into what might actually be going on.

PART 2: The Soul’s Game of Hide and Seek

Imagine, for a moment, that your deepest self, your Soul, or Source, is already complete, full, and perfectly joyful. From this perspective, the entire process of desire is just a beautiful, divine game of hide and seek. So let's take a look at the journey of desire from the perspective of the soul.

1) The Disconnect:

A desire suddenly appears in your mind. This moment is like a momentary amnesia, a deliberate disconnection from the wholeness of your Soul. You momentarily forget that you are the fulfillment you seek.

2) The Quest:

The human mind, feeling the lack, immediately dedicates itself to fulfilling that desire. It doesn't know it's trying to return to its source; it just thinks, "I need that thing to feel whole again." And so, we strive, hustle, and achieve.

3) The Return Home:

The moment you finally get what you want is the moment you are free of wanting it. The illusion of separation, that you lacked something and needed this external object, is broken, even if only for a brief second. This instantaneous release from the need is why we feel bliss, relief, and joy. It’s the feeling of momentarily returning to your complete, non-striving self.

Unfortunately, the ego often confuses the bliss of release with the thing that was acquired. It registers: "I got the reward, therefore I am happy." It misses the true lesson: "I stopped needing, therefore I am happy." And so, the ego immediately creates a new cycle of disconnection, kicking off the next quest for the next thing.

PART 3: Desire as a Playground

So, what’s the point of the whole cycle? The point is not to stop desiring. Desire is the engine of human creativity and experience!

The real invitation is to change the way we view the quest itself. We can choose to step into the journey of desire from a deep knowing of our existing fullness as a soul, rather than the false notion of "I am empty and this will make me whole."

The Power of Play:

This view completely changes how we approach our goals:

It prevents us from getting carried away by societal or familial pressure to chase things we don't truly care about. You won't waste energy on a goal unless it truly sparks joy in the pursuit and offers an interesting experience.

It transforms the journey into the reward. The quest becomes a divine play, a way for the Soul to express and rediscover itself over and over again. The joy is in the creative striving and the beautiful experience of forgetting and remembering, of hide and seeking.

The "thing" you acquire is just a souvenir—a lovely marker that you successfully played the game. The true victory is the joyful rediscovery of your own complete self that happens every time the striving ends.

Embrace your desires. But know that you are not incomplete without them. You are simply choosing a fun, creative way to remember how whole you already are.

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🪞PLEASE SHARE WITH US:

What is the deepest desire I'm currently chasing, and what is the underlying feeling I believe getting it will give me?

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