A colleague, kindred-spirit and friend sent me an email...
“...This is the most rewarding book I’ve ever read...” he wrote.
I love that for whatever reason, people want to share the most “rewarding” book they’ve ever read with me...
As I went back to read his message and saw the name of the book, I smiled.
Two other people had recommended the same book that same week.
I love how the universe sometimes turns up the volume so that I will listen.
I have not bought the book yet, but will this week. He sent me a passage which felt so fitting for these times that I am living - though probably, the passage would feel right any and every day of my life.
The book was by Yuval Noah Harari, and the title is “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”.
I will share a few lines from the passage he shared...
“In the end he came to the realisation that suffering is not caused by ill fortune, by social injustice, or by divine whims.
Rather, suffering is caused by the behaviour patterns of one’s own mind... no matter what the mind experiences, it usually reacts with craving, and craving always involves dissatisfaction.
When the mind experiences something distasteful it craves to be rid of the irritation.”
Think DISHARMONY
“When the mind experiences something pleasant, it craves that the pleasure will remain and will intensify.
Therefore, the mind is always dissatisfied and restless.”
Our default unwillingness to ACCEPT & be GRATEFUL for the “IS” of our lives...
“This is very clear when we experience unpleasant things, such as pain. As long as the pain continues, we are dissatisfied and do all we can to avoid it. Yet even when we experience pleasant things we are never content. We either fear that the pleasure might disappear, or we hope that it will intensify.
People dream for years about finding love but are rarely satisfied when they find it. Some become anxious that their partner will leave; others feel that they have settled cheaply, and could have found someone better. And we all know people who manage to do both...
...lucky coincidences can turn us into millionaires, but none of them can change our basic mental patterns.”
WE can, I believe, change our basic mental patterns through DISCIPLINE, through a committed practice of the concepts of HARMONY...
“Hence even the greatest kings are doomed to live in angst, constantly fleeing grief and anguish, forever chasing after greater pleasures.”
We are DOOMED only in MOMENTS when we fail to embrace our IS and focus on our WANT. There is no ‘FOREVER’ state... There is only US in the MOMENT... And, HARMONY is about embracing our ability to redefine our ‘state’ in every moment.
THE PASSAGE GOES ON...
“If, when the mind experiences something pleasant or unpleasant, it simply understands things as they are, then there is no suffering.”
ACCEPTANCE OF THE IS OF OUR MOMENT
“If you experience sadness without craving that the sadness go away, you continue to feel sadness but you do not suffer from it. There can actually be richness in the sadness. If you experience joy without craving that the joy linger and intensify, you continue to feel joy without losing your peace of mind. But how do you get the mind to accept things as they are, without craving? To accept sadness as sadness, joy as joy, pain as pain?”
CRAVING is WISHING...
And, the line between WANTING and WISHING is a delicate and dangerous one... but, I believe full acceptance without the energy and hope of a WANT is status quo...
I don’t believe that we are in our greatest harmony ONLY in acceptance, but in a combination of ACCEPTANCE with CLARITY of a COMMITTED intent (WANT)...
PERHAPS THE POWERFUL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HARMONIC ENERGY OF “WANTING” AND THE DISHARMONIC ENERGY OF “WISHING” IS NOT THE WORD ITSELF, BUT RATHER THAT ONE IS GROUNDED IN ACCEPTANCE AND THE OTHER FLOATS FROM THE REJECTION OF THE “IS” OF OUR MOMENT.
(Wow... that thought has knocked me on my butt...
MAYBE WANTING and WISHING are sister energies - with the difference being one is FUELED from acceptance... and the other isn’t...)
So, we exit disharmony via
“meditation techniques that train the mind to experience reality as it is, without craving. These practices train the mind to focus all its attention on the question, ‘What am I experiencing now?’ rather than on ‘What would I rather be experiencing?’ It is difficult to achieve this state of mind, but not impossible.”
AMEN!
“Those who have attained nirvana are fully liberated from all suffering. They experience reality with the utmost clarity, free of fantasies and delusions.”
ACCEPTANCE OF THE IS WITHOUT THE WISH...
“While they will most likely still encounter unpleasantness and pain, such experiences cause them no misery. A person who does not crave cannot suffer. “
BUT, my issue / question, CAN A PERSON THAT DOES NOT CRAVE... REINVENT THEMSELVES, ACHIEVE, INNOVATE, TRANSFORM?
I think the energy from CRAVING founded on acceptance has transformed the world for the better...
It is our inability to accept the IS of our moment that grounds so much of the world in disharmony and distress...
I don’t want to be liberated from my want...
I want to be more mindful and constant in ACCEPTANCE of my IS first...
AND...
Maybe I am wrong, but I am not ready to go there yet.
I think most philosophies steer us away from craving because the difference between the WANT and WISH craving is so delicate and subtle that it’s easier to just ignore them both...
I don’t just want to experience ‘nirvana’ by disassociating myself with my dreams or giving up on them... I want to achieve harmony by living in that amazing balance and tension between acceptance and ambition to do my little part in making the world better...
Harmony is subtle and delicate and so very powerful...
I look forward to reading the book, and am grateful for the recommendation...
It all begins with acceptance...
Life
IS
what it IS...
And, Life flows, evolves, transforms...
I believe we can affect and influence to some extent where it takes us...
I believe NOT in craving, but in seeking.
I BELIEVE...
In harmony,
Nestor