Understanding Desire is Understanding the Self

Everybody throughout the world has a common bond,'Conditions' just so we all understand the context in
the craving for happiness derived from meaning orwhich I am using this term, are the tiny programs in
purpose. This purpose is sometimes disguised as thewhich we identify with everything in the world around
simple satisfaction of desires.us.
These desires can be as simple as being noticed orFor example the chairs you are all sitting on are only
received as a separate part of a functional wholechairs because of a process that started as a child.
such as one of societies lonely rejects, or asWhen you first start learning how to talk you may
complicated as the leader of an entire nation directingpoint at a chair and say 'what's that' to which your
the masses in such a way that moves the world.mother may reply 'that is a chair' then you will identify
These desires although they may appear to be quiteeach object in the environment that has similar
different have one thing in common; when the desirecharacteristics as the same, everything that is sat
has been fulfilled the satisfaction only lasts for aupon will then be a chair.
moment, the desire still remains only to change itsYou then walk up to the couch and say 'chair' to which
appearance.your mother will reply 'no darling that is a couch' where
Once you achieve your goal what next?you will then enter what differences you observe into
The game of life becomes a dance between theyour memory through establishing emotional markers.
desire to satisfy desire (future) such as getting thatThen a chair is divided infinitely into sub groups such as
promotion or buying a house, and the desire to riddining chairs, arm chairs, wingback chairs etc... and the
oneself of desire (past) such as a drug addict trying tosub categories do the same; a couch becomes a
escape the clutches of defeat. Desire seems tochesterfield, a love seat, you get the idea.
always appear as points of focus.This becomes a network of infinite division that
Without the focus or direction facilitated by the desire,includes fabric, colour, texture, smell, feeling, whatever
life seems to lose its purpose once more so we simplyvariation or combination of empirical evidence is
focus our desire in another direction or point with theavailable
hopes that this time it creates a hole that can be filled.Science is this very process, taking something and
Desire itself has addicting properties that are worthdividing it into smaller and smaller pieces labeling each
observing.piece in an attempt to understand how the tiny pieces
Desire fundamentally is to want something you do notfunction as a whole.
have or to become something you are not.You will notice if you observe the growth of a child
Most spiritual practices are geared toward ridingthat they do not learn very often the first time you tell
ourselves of the illusion of separateness and find thethem something, as if they do not believe you.
oneness and unity of ourselves and the world aroundYou must tell them over and over again until they
us.finally receive the program, often rewarding them with
We then ask ourselves if we are already everythingpositive affirmation when they finally get it correct
then what is there left to be desired?(such as clapping or screaming with glee) and punishing
Desire is the driving force that inspires all movement,them with negative emotions (such as frustration or
and movement is how we identify with the world so itanger) when they do not. It is important to observe
was worth examining all its components.that both are equal variations of emotional intensities.
Let us examine shall we the concept of desire in anThis is conditioning and the end result is a condition.
attempt to find a correlation between all forms ofThe point to recognize is that the motivation to move
desire and come up with a theory that could bedepends solely on the position that is being moved
generalizable to all of its appearances.toward being a more desirable position than the
Desire is the motivation to move amidst a largeposition one is currently in. Thus the position you
network of points that are the conditions through whichcurrently refer to as "I" is never satisfactory.
we see the world.I am reminded of a mathematical concept that is of
Sometimes these points appear as goals that wegreat importance to this idea; one cannot double itself
move towards, people we are in relationship with etc...out of nothing but can divide itself infinitely.
our focus then remains on that point until we are closeOne day we realize that this process of division is us
enough, and just as we are about to arrive, the pointusing what we call our memory to group the
itself shatters into infinite possibilities whereas we pickinformation we create through this conditioning, and
one of these possibilities discard the rest and continuestoring it in the environment only to forget that we are
the dance.the ones that put it there to lure ourselves out so that
The points themselves are conditions created throughwe can feel the movement or current that is Love.
conditioning.