Freedom
Wanting, Wonder and Space
   I want this. I want that. I want love. I want to be happy. I want you to like me. I want peace, I want money, I want sex, I want total enlightenment; I want people to be less stupid, I want to be young again (but I want to know what I know now), I want a good night’s sleep, I want to stop worrying about the news, my kids & grandkids, the future of the planet, my health, etc., etc, etc. I am a wanting machine. I want everything, even if I already have it!
 But here you are this morning, sitting quietly, listening to the crows and rain on the roof. Right now, listening is taking precedence over wanting. You have relegated thinking and wanting a back seat in attending to what is right now. There is something about this simple act of listening. What is it? Something deeply satisfying. You don’t know why, but there is an urge to return to it, and little by little, you begin to discover what can only be called space…space between the train of thoughts that comprise desire. It may not seem so big at first, but as one relaxes into it, the space expands into an open field where inner and outer lose their meaning. One may find that our collection of wants, which just a while ago described our existence, gradually becomes transparent and loses its power to control our actions.Â
 How odd…a minute ago, so many wants, and now? What is here now is beyond words. It feels empty, but it fills me up. Nothing brings it about, but it holds everything, including my wants. I can say, however, beyond all doubt, that to come upon this spacious, silent wonder is the fulfillment of the heart’s deepest desire, which is, paradoxically, the end of desire and the flowering of love.
                              -Ojai, CA 3/18/24
Schopenhauer thought that the will was the source of most unhappiness and dissatisfaction in life. It drives us to want things thinking we'll be happy once we get it but once we've gotten what we want the will isn't satisfied for long and just finds something else to desire. Biologically it makes sense for us to be that way and probably has a big part in our survival as a species. You want something for a meal. You also need something for your next meal but that meal isn't going to keep you alive forever. You want a mate to help pass your genes along. But your chances of those genes survivng your death and the deaths of your descendants go way up if you find other mates to help pass those genes along.
Beautiful, Mike!