Desires – Effects and Consequences

Surrendering the ego to Divine Will, to me is the ultimate form of positivity. To act in accordance with the Whole, and in harmony with the One, is the true way of spirituality. Ego desires can be a huge obstacle on the path to freedom, but it is important not to repress them. If you repress them they will more then likely spring up at some later date with more power then before. To be able to remain strong, you have to develop and work with the part of you that is Divinity. The more you can be firmly rooted in that essence the less likely you will be swayed by ego desires. One cannot be in a state of peace if constantly led this way and that way haphazardly with desiring. Following through with desires that to the best of your knowledge will not cause harm to others (the concept of ahimsa, non-violence), and then working on not being attached to the outcomes can be a good practice. When one surrenders the ego to Divine Will, actions naturally will arise that are harmonious. If one\'s focus is constantly on the external manifestation of things, there will be less time to work upon inwardly liberating yourself.

A very popular term nowadays is “Manifestation”. Unfortunately the majority of people who promote the myriad of different manifestation techniques, often make little or no mention of something I think to be very important - The ability to be able to discriminate between those desires that should be acted upon and those that should not. I think it is absolutely fundamental for the sake of all the beings on this planet that we learn to check over our own desires, and disregard those that will cause harm and suffering to ourselves or others. This to me is a worthy thing to strive for, and I often wonder why when people speak of manifesting, this is often not stressed as the most important thing. One needs to be able to tell the difference between those desires that come from the ego (the self that regards itself as seperate, and is related to states of ignorance, fear, anger, lust etc) and those that come from a more wholesome integrated source. I ask the question - why are people not being taught this as a fundamental first? There are elementary steps that just seem to be missing.

Until you truly transcend your own suffering, you will always be subject to the ups and downs of the world. That is the nature of the reality you experience, your thoughts and belief systems are not the only things that determine your experiences. What would you think if someone was to say to you, “You never really leave the wheel, you just learn to sit in the center as the wheel spins around you”? Some people want to create material pleasure realms, where every want and whim is fulfilled - but tell me, who is fulfilling these things? The only reason we want is because we feel a lack inside and no amount of pleasure will fill this lack – we need to create love and care for all things. Abundance prevails eternally within, from within you it springs, let it be like a tree that is able to give shade and support to all who come near it. Do you want to live in a world where your gain equals the loss of another? Do you want to buy into the idea that it is okay to fulfill desires that adversely affect others, because other\'s peoples problems are not your concern? Tell me what do you gain by holding this idea? What do you lose....

We live within social structures that often encourage us to compete with each other for our resources and livelihood. If you attempt to win a position where only one person is needed and a hundred people apply, is it not a hollow victory? You have won... but ninety-nine people similar to yourself lost. Why not work towards a world where everybody wins? One way in which we can achieve this is to change our focus – to creating freedom for individuals and a non-violent world for all. If spiritual liberation1 was the focus then everything else would fall into place.

Footnotes:

1 - Known as moksha in the yoga tradition – Total freedom from suffering through realization of one\'s eternal spiritual Self.