Moving From Desire to Aspiration (I)
Desire yields suffering, a step further is Aspiration which yields harmony and purpose.
Aspiration comes from Latin word aspirare. It means “to strive” or “to seek”. Another meaning is “to breath upon something”. Both meanings are closely related. For me “to breath upon something” means to make the seeking process of the nobler ideal of life your breath, i.e. your source of life energy.
Human beings in general are driven by desire. The movement of life is the result of their longing to satisfy myriads of desire. These desires are the result of the degradation of a greater, deeper, and profounder longing of humans to Find Themselves.
Those of us who are on the path of trying to make sense of our own lives know that the root cause of our suffering is our desire as Lord Buddha said. But the immediate rationality of the human mind questions, if I leave all my desire, how do I advance my life, how and why should I do anything? Because at the end everything in this world seems to move because someone desires it.
Yes! No one can deny that your desire motivates you to move ahead, but it comes with a heavy cost of disharmony. You put yourself into the pool of dissatisfaction, jealousy, anger, sadness, anxiety, and whatnot. So what’s the right thing to do?
Work your way out of desire and establish Aspiration as your agent.
The Mother says that in the starting phase when aspiration makes its way into your life and action, you have this vague sensation that behind what you perceive in this universe there is something that is worth knowing and maybe the only thing worth living for. Now, the next thing that you do is try to be under that influence in everything that happens to you and your world.
How do we distinguish between Aspiration and Desire? The honest answer is that you know it when you know it. But, Try this exercise.
Choose the correct option
What do you want for yourself from what you are doing or what you intend to do ?
A. You have many reasons to do it.
B. You have only one reason.
C. It’s hard for you to find any particular reason. The question is confusing.
Now, I want you to think over those three options for some more days. In each of your actions and efforts, try to find what you want for yourself from it.
(Discussion on the above exercise will be in the upcoming newsletter)
Let me know in the comments which of the options would be more likely when you are aspiring.
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