Friday, April 2, 2004
Do you know what you want? We all have wants even if we believe otherwise. If we don’t get food, water or other necessities, we become very aware of having wants because the wants become needs that must be met in order to live. But, as our basic needs are fulfilled, we are then safe and able to look around for something else to achieve, acquire or experience. Creating the fulfillment of desires is what makes life interesting and meaningful. Wanting is, in itself, not a bad thing, contrary to some puritanical or rigidly harsh beliefs. Wanting is simply the energy it takes to move forward in life. It is the way we practice creativity and growth. Is it wrong to want to save the environment, create a healing institute, cure cancer, have a child, or succeed in business? Of course not!
The real problem with wants is that they become an identity. We become our wants just as we become our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and accomplishments. These are all identity trances. And like lessons 1 and 2, it is crucial to spiritual and psychological wholeness to recognize and practice observing and releasing any identity trance. When we believe thoughts, feelings, beliefs, accomplishments, personas and desires are the essence of who we are, we are on the road to spiritual and psychological problems. Identity trance-actions ruin our relationships with each other, our environment, our Higher Power and ourselves. The spiritual truth is we have those trances, but those trances are not who we are.
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Posted by Victoria @ 05:18 PM CST [Link]
Thought
for the Week