No
object of desire is the cause of any agony in itself. It is your craving for
that object that makes you suffer.
Take
for instance, a hot summer day. And you are thirsty. You see nice juicy
watermelons on the street and want to stop your car. But you find the parking
slots by the stall crowded and you see a policeman standing under a tree
nearby. You believe the cop will object to your parking your car outside of the
earmarked space. You are miffed and drive away cursing the crowds and the cop,
ruing the missed opportunity to take some of those melons home. Even when you
narrate this experience to your wife when you get home, you are complaining and
are not merely reporting. There’s a sense of loss and evidence of frustration
in your reportage. Now, did the humble melon on the street cause your agony or
did your craving for it__and your eventual inability to buy it__cause it?
Think
about it. All of us are victims of this cravings-brings-suffering trap. What we
crave for is not the cause, it is the act of craving that causes misery. We
crave for attention, adulation, understanding, respect, fame, rewards,
recognition, wealth, opportunity, love and followership. And when we don’t get
it, we are disappointed. Now, if you are disappointed and if your
disappointment doesn’t affect your Life, it is fine. But when you are
disappointed, you are mourning. Your energies are low. You start operating in a
low energy__scarcity__spectrum. This naturally affects the way you live and
experience Life. On the other hand, consider the situation when there is no
craving, and so there’s no disappointment, so there’s no suffering. In such a
scenario, you are operating in a high-energy__abundance__spectrum. Remember:
Wherever your attention goes, your energy flows. In Buddhist teachings, they
advocate the complete cessation of craving. Which means to eliminate all
craving. In Japanese, the word wotsubusu means
to annihilate. When you wotsubusu
craving, you feel liberated. Such freedom opens up a whole new opportunity
spectrum of playing to your strengths – to what you have. Than to worry about,
lament over, what you don’t have.
Simplify
Life: Give up the craving. And you will immediately stop suffering!
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