Desire is a like a shadow because we imagine a happiness that never arrives. We wish for, we long for, we covet, we crave a satisfaction that still illudes us even when the desire is fulfilled.
We want what isn’t; more or less of something or someone, or something or someone completely different. We are attached or averse to a future outcome. In desire, we reject what is.
The effect of desire with attachment or aversion is that we miss the present moment awareness. What we are not experiencing is contentment within. When we are lost in desire, we miss “now” and we live a life in resistance. Resistance to ‘what is’ means we are pushing away what we don’t want or grasping for what we want. Resistance is dissatisfaction.
Life isn’t lived when we are resisting ’what is’ and lost in future projections. Desire, with attachment or aversion to outcomes, breeds immense dissatisfaction because the present moment is never good enough. We have judged it so and resist it. We have covered over the value, the purpose and the grace of the present moment and replaced it with self-grasping. Most importantly, we have forgotten who we are; present moment awareness – Presence – the source of happiness.
Our contentment, satisfaction and happiness are Self-arising. Desire deceives us into believing what we covet will bring happiness, will bestow contentment. Desire is identified with a person, a place, a thing or a situation. Our conditioning has overwhelmingly convinced us happiness is achievable outside. A worldly desire, when satisfied, can only bring a temporary rush, a moment of pleasure or an instant of relief, not permanent happiness.
When we accept ‘what is’ and reveal the present moment awareness within, we can find peace because the attachment and aversion of resistance eases. Present moment awareness isn’t about attention directed to what’s currently happening. It is the state of pure awareness, pure consciousness, pure presence. This is the eternal ‘now’ that reveals the true Self.
When we realize that what we seek we are now, we can discover our true Self. In ease, non-resistance and acceptance, we find peace of mind. That peace opens us to stillness that reveals pure consciousness, the true Self. Then our life becomes grace, the power of revelation benefiting all beings. Our life becomes the Divine acting in this world as us.
Blessings,
