Eknath Easwaran has written, “The Buddha is sometimes quoted as saying that desire is suffering. A more accurate translation is that selfish desire is suffering - in fact, the source of all suffering.”
However, Joel Goldsmith wrote exactly what The Buddha is quoted as saying, that desire…all desire…is suffering.
Jesus the Christ is quoted as saying that the Father knows our needs…so what is there to desire?
As for me, I believe that all desire is based in self (no matter how pretty I dress it up, i.e., for the poor, for world peace, etc.) and is therefore a self-determined objective, not of God. On the other hand, the Sermon on the Mount is all about putting others first, thinking of and for others before one thinks of and for self. Wouldn’t it follow that desire has to be an acceptable learning tool?…one way toward learning the discipline of putting others first, of aligning my will with God’s will?
Maybe it’s all about where we are on the path…to the wholly enlightened, The Buddha, Jesus, desire would be suffering because by its nature it would take them out of their enlightened state. Desire to the likes of me is necessary to keep me on the path toward enlightenment…which at my stage is many lifetimes away, and I’d best keep that unselfish desire honed and at the ready.
As for me, I believe that all desire is based in self (no matter how pretty I dress it up, i.e., for the poor, for world peace, etc.) and is therefore a self-determined objective, not of God. On the other hand, the Sermon on the Mount is all about putting others first, thinking of and for others before one thinks of and for self. Wouldn’t it follow that desire has to be an acceptable learning tool?…one way toward learning the discipline of putting others first, of aligning my will with God’s will?
Maybe it’s all about where we are on the path…to the wholly enlightened, The Buddha, Jesus, desire would be suffering because by its nature it would take them out of their enlightened state. Desire to the likes of me is necessary to keep me on the path toward enlightenment…which at my stage is many lifetimes away, and I’d best keep that unselfish desire honed and at the ready.
Thank you.
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