Desire

The desire of “I” is what traps one into the bondage of a “want of I” mindset and as long as this mindset is in place, there will be struggles in life because these selfish desires will always need to be fulfilled.

Desire arises, there’s no getting around this, but it’s not desire in and of itself that causes problems, its being controlled by it unconsciously that makes desire a problem. To follow through on all our desires isn’t always useful, but this isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with desires, it’s really deciphering which ones are useful and which ones actually cause harm; to yourself and others. The desire for sex is something that’s basically in our DNA, but to be controlled by the need to satisfy the desire for sex so it becomes the focal point of ones existence, is where issues arise from. Just take sex and substitute it with something else, working out, being successful, thrill seeking, golf, social status, ambition, hoarding, enlightenment, spiritual seeking and so on and see how the desire holds you in captivity. As long as one’s desires are unconsciously in control, they have to be followed, this bondage to desire is the foundation of the Conditioned Mind.

Looking back I can see how the attachment to desire is what allowed them to control me and why they were at the core of every issue I had in my life. Where the issues come from is the how desire is used to satisfy the “want of I”. I still have desires in place today, but for the most part they’re there to fulfill a higher calling than I. The “want of I” is the root of suffering and this is because one is entrapped to the bondage of self; existence doesn’t produce much harmony in a “want of I” mindset. By far does knowing any of this make life I free, but it does lead one in a direction that is much more conducive to love which in turns makes desire more about what’s better for humanity as a whole instead of fulfilling the desire of a “want of I” mindset.