Desire

Desire is the closest thing there is to magic. Nothing else changes the world so powerfully, so quickly. Nothing else builds empires or families or great works of art. Nothing else rearranges my perception so fully, making some things salient and others basically invisible. Even in spiritual lineages dedicated to ending desire entirely, the startin... See more

Desire is actually magic, as far as I've seen. I can't count how many times I've watched people hone and shape and pour time and energy into their desires, only to have that desire appear in their life through weird, non-linear, frankly baffling ways — ways that include but don’t easily reduce to the work they’ve put in. The stream of creation seem... See more

What impresses you? Why? Money? Cars? Fitness? Abilities? Intelligence? Influence? I often find myself feeling impressed by something and desiring it, and have worked to build in a self check on this - why am I feeling this? Is it an authentic feeling I should embrace and nurse - inspiration? Or is it a feeling instilled by consumerism that I shoul... See more

Expected elation. Society has built a world that defines what's appealing and what's not. What success should look like. I spent years chasing this idea, and achieved it. And never felt truly happy. Why? It seems so obvious, there are a million songs and movies about how wealth and fame aren't the end all be all for human states. Yet we pursue it a... See more

The idea of desire bombardment - you want to want -

The idea of appearing to do something - you get the same level of satisfaction if you know that someone believes you’re accomplishing something as you do from actually accomplishing something and so it’s easy to get trapped in that loop and so you never get there because you’re too busy sharing that you’re getting somewhere instead of actually doin... See more

So are there ‘authentic’ desires? One of the roots of the word authentic is ‘author’. Are any of us authors of our own desires? Yes, we can be. You might not be the sole author of your desires, but you can certainly take ownership and put your mark of authorship on them through your creative freedom.