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To Desire or Not to Desire… that is the question
By rachel | April 24, 2008
Desire is a deep longing for something a person does not possess. Whether the desire is for more money, more love in our lives, or increased status, human nature dictates that each of us eventually desires something. Unfortunately, we often come close to achieve that which we desire, but fall short in some area. This causes great suffering in most cases.
It is difficult to define the meaning of happiness. It is, however, much easier to observe that most human beings are not at peace within themselves. There is a desire to have more than what they possess. We live in a world where enough is never enough. Each generation grows up being taught that they should have a better material-based life than their parents. The parents are only trying to give their children a life better than they had; yet they don’t realize how this act, or combination of acts, is only hurting their children’s future. “I must own a better vehicle than my parents did,” “I must make more money than my parents did,” and “I must have a better relationship than my parents did.”
These are desires that are ingrained in us from childhood. Often times, these desires lead to feelings of inadequacy, which fester and lead to suffering and never finding the ability to be content in life.
If human beings detached themselves from desire, the world would be a less selfish place. If people learned to be content with what they had and not constantly desire more out of life, there would many less unsatisfied people. I think if the detachment from desire occurred, human nature would dictate calmness, contentment and happiness with the way life is being lived by each person. There would be less war, less divorce, less anger towards others, and less suffering by all. Human beings would care more about each other, because there would be less competition to better than someone else. I, personally believe, if we detached ourselves from desires we would be in a better place spiritually, which would lead to a better way of living, more meaningful human contact with less psychological distance between each other.
People would still be unique as individuals; there would just be less animosity for those that have the things other individuals do not have. There would be less negativity in the world, and much more positivism in the way each human being views the world.
If people detached themselves from desires as materialistic possessions, then the desire to simplify life or to express themselves creatively in art, music or literature would be the greatest desires any individual would have. Human beings, for this very reason, could not detach themselves completely from desire.
By detaching ourselves from desire, our communities would grow and expand to include those that in the present likely would not be a part of them. There would continue to be communities of like individuals based on race and economic status; however, if we did not have a desire to live a better life than the generation before us, maybe we would venture so far from our childhood communities and the family unit would not be as spread out as they are now. We would be content living in the same general areas we grew up, and not feel the desire to move where the opportunity to gain economic status was greater.
Economy would be affected by a detachment of desire. Material possessions would not be as significant, which would cause economy to fall, until someone figured out what people with less material desires would spend money on. The other aspect of our lives that would change would be politics. There would most likely still be two major parties, but the views of each party would have to change, as would foreign policies. Overall, our communities would be affected a great deal by a decrease in the economy and a change in politics.
It would be fascinating to live in a world detached from desire, though I do not think it is truly possible for many generations. Having a complete paradigm shift like detaching from desires would have to be a slow process. The world would not literally fall apart; however, there would be unsavory repercussions from a major shift in a short time, which would make the change in thinking difficult to achieve.
Topics: Randomly Musing |