I recently had an intense emotional experience that opened my mind to new ideas and helped me better understand old ones.
Through that experience, I more deeply understood the nature of endless Desire.
We all want things.
We will always want things.
Each of us must develop our own mental process for channeling that energy because at the end of that process, the emotional residual builds up.
Our moods and feelings of happiness are directly linked to our relationship to Desire, particularly Desirous Attachment, our Desire for worldly objects, attainments, and fame.
If encounters with objects of desire leave behind feelings of weakness or a lack of fulfillment, then life becomes defined by a low-grade sense of dissatisfaction, like everything is “Meh.”
Can you relate to that hollow feeling?
If so, you aren’t alone. A man named Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, noticed 2,500 years ago.
When Buddhists talk about suffering, many laypeople think of big emotions associated with loss and grief.
But the instructions the Buddha provides in the First of the Four Noble Truths is to know your suffering,
He is pointing to this seemingly inescapable low-grade sense of dissatisfaction.
Other, more experienced practitioners may disagree, but that draining lack is how I feel this Truth today.
Academic opinions may differ.
These opinions are generally based on suspect translations formed without years of actual meditative practice.
Therefore, these opinions are sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Pay them no Mind.
The Life of a Prince
The Buddha was born a prince, so from birth, if he wanted something, there were no limitations, and he was indulged. (It must have been fun!)
As an aristocrat in the ancient world, he was a rare individual who lived an empowered life, unfettered by survival concerns.
As a prince, the Buddha had the best spiritual training of his time and abundant natural ability.
He observed his mind.
He noticed that he wasn’t happy even though every whim of fancy was indulged. All the wealth in the world couldn’t buy him that.
The futility of chasing hedonistic pleasure was a spiritual dead end, and he knew it.
He knew it so deep in his heart that he couldn’t deny it.
He crossed an emotional Rubicon and couldn’t look back.
I can imagine that pivotal moment when a young prince looks at his privileged life, sees the emptiness in front of him, and thinks,
Bummer. That sucks. What can I do about it?
It wasn’t a sudden catastrophe that changed his life. He glimpsed a larger truth he could not ignore, so he spent the next several years meditating to clarify his vision.
My empowerment was sudden and spectacular, but the inflection point on life’s path doesn’t always arrive spectacularly announced.
Emptiness of Meaning
Most people don’t realize their life is a pointless waste spent chasing fleeting satisfaction they will never obtain.
(I hope this isn’t you.)
However, once the Buddha felt this in his Heart and knew it to be True, he couldn’t allow himself to waste his life.
He became the Buddha instead.
I’m not the Buddha, and I’m certainly not enlightened.
I’ve spent years studying and practicing Buddhism, and yet my intense experience increased the depth of my understanding of the meaning of this Truth.
It’s more than intellectual knowledge now.
I feel it in my heart.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash