[MD] desires

[MarshaV]

On Mar 14, 2011, at 1:15 PM, Ham Priday wrote:

> Dear Marsha --
> 
> On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 5:25 AM, MarshaV <valkyr at att.net> wrote:
> 
> 
>> Desires are just a way to ward off one's only certainty: death.
>> Desires project existence into the future so one does not have to
>> deal with one's fear of death.
> 
> [Marsha, later]:
>> Except for the wish to become enlightened, the Buddha has said
>> that desire is the source of all suffering.  I suppose I needed to
>> work this out for myself, because desire has culturally been labeled good.
> 
> [Dan replied]:
>> Looking at suffering, it seems that without it there would be no
>> evolution, no need for "betterment." Therefore, within the framework
>> of the MOQ, suffering is seen as the negative face of Quality.
> 
> As a Quality devotee, how can you dismiss what drives us all toward "betterness"?
> 
> Is there anything you do, short of an obligatory chore, that is not motivated by desire?  Wanting to paint, listening to music, seeking wisdom, falling in love, improving your healh, increasing your wealth, satisfying your hunger, caring for your children, longing for peace -- are these not all examples of your desiring?
> 
> Indeed, Desire is implicit in Value (Quality) itself.  How else but by desire do we experience it?  I make no distinction between what we desire and what we value.  And it astonishes me that an MoQist can only relate desire to Buddha's pronouncement that it's "the source of all suffering." Can you explain that to me, Marsha?
> 
> Again, I refer to Socrates who put it this way: "...the man who desires something desires what is not available to him, and what he doesn¹t already have in his possession; and what he neither has nor himself is - that which he lacks - this is what he wants and desires."   The cause of of suffering? Well, not unless yearning and longing are your idea of pain.
> 
> I would hope that you rethink that statement, Marsha.  When you do, I suspect you'll realize that without desire life has no value.  And that, indeed, would be tragic for any of us.
> 
> Of all the responses to your assertion, only David seems to have put desire into its proper philosophical context:
> 
> [dmb]:
>> What we like gets us out of bed each morning and it gets us off
>> hot stoves.  It's the continuing stimulus that creates the world in
>> which we live.
> 
> Amen,
> Ham

 
 
Greetings Ham,

I suggest you check out the second of the Four Noble Truths.  You have claimed a familiarity with basic Buddhist tenets.   There is an abundance of material to support the fact that longing/desiring/craving is the source of suffering.  For me desire is all about illusion, it is not realizing that the object of my desire is a projection, a pattern, a conceptual construct that does not exist out there somewhere separate.  Desire creates separation, builds ego or I-ness; it is dualistic through and through.  -  I paint when I prefer to paint above all other activities.    
 
 
 
Marsha  
 
 
 
 


 
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