In Spite of Desire

Desire, especially strong desire (e.g., cravingness), frequently blocks our getting what we want.

Why is this so?  Actually, the way something comes into our life is because we have chosen it.  It was the result of our intention, or we made a decision for it. It has come into our life in spite of desire. The desiring was actually the obstacle to its achievement or acquisition.  This is because desire literally means, ” I do not have.”  In other words, if we say that we desire something, we are saying that it isn’t ours.  When we say that it isn’t ours, we put a psychic distance between ourselves and what we want.  This distance becomes the obstacle that consumes energy.

The impossible becomes possible as soon as we are totally surrendered.  This is because wanting blocks receiving it and results in a fear of not getting it.  The energy of desire is in essence, a denial that what we want is ours for the asking.

Let’s compare the arduous lower consciousness way of achieving goals with a higher state of consciousness in which we have acknowledged and let go of the desire and are in a freer state.  In a freer state, that which is chosen manifests in our life effortlessly.  We surrender the emotion of desire and, instead, merely choose the goal, picture it lovingly, and allow it to happen because we see that it is already ours.

Why is it already ours?  In a lower state of consciousness, the universe is seen as negative and denying, frustrating, and reluctant.  It is like a bad, stingy parent.  In a higher state of consciousness, our experience of the universe changes.  It now becomes like a giving, loving unconditionally approving parent who wants us to have everything we want, and it is ours for the asking.  This is creating a different context. It is giving the universe a different meaning.

Although the world may be stingy and hostile to other people, there is no reason why we should buy into this paradigm.  When we buy into it, we make it that way in our own life.  As we experience the letting go of desires, we begin to see that what we have chosen will come into our own life almost magically.  “What we hold in mind tends to manifest.”

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 7, pg. 108-109