Friday, September 01, 2006

Desire

There has always been a fire that burned bright within us. Its flames have always seared the very core of our existence. It keeps us going. It gives us a reason to wake up every morning and face this arcane world before our eyes. There are times when this fire rages within us, unabated and unchecked and there are other times when it lays dormant as a dying ember, waiting to be rekindled. This is no ordinary fire. This is the fire of desire.

We are mortal and we shall always be susceptible to all the mortal tendencies which come as a virtue of our being human beings. We will err, we will stumble, we will conquer, we will succumb but one thing shall never change - We will always want.

What is this thing we call desire? The enlightened Buddha said something to the effect of - "Desire is the root of all misery.", and also a logical implication which said "Misery can be shed along with desire". To call these wise words would no doubt be an understatement. These words are profound any way you look at it. Call me arrogant but I think that while this is true, it is only half true.

Is it desire that makes us want all we cannot have? Is it desire that gives us nights of restless torture? Is it desire which makes satisfaction the proverbial forbidden fruit? Well to put it simply, yes it is in most cases. We always WANT. We live to WANT. We breathe to WANT. And rather poetically, we WANT to WANT.

The web of desire is the one that we are perpetually entangled in. To get to the point that you, dear reader, are expecting me to come to, let me say this. As the enlightened one put it, we must indeed shed desire to shed all misery, however, you don't just shed misery. It is my belief that you shed happiness as well.

Why would you want to wake up every morning if you knew you had everything and didn't want anything more from life? What more is there to find in a life where you have no desire to accomplish any more than you already have? As hard as it already is to find a purpose in life, how would you find your purpose to live when you have nothing more to live for? Living just for the sake of existence is a crime against existence itself. If you shed desire, you not only eliminate the tendency to want something you cannot have (and therefore be unhappy), but you also distance yourself from all the things which make you relatively happy, which you could have.

Hence, my belief that the statement that branded desire as the cause for all misery is a half-truth. If shedding desire gives true happiness, should you even want happiness? Wouldn't that be a paradoxical contradiction of your need to be free of desire?

It is of no doubt that desire, is in fact the root of much unhappiness in the world, at the same time, it is the fire that burns inside us, keeping us going everyday. However, it is desire that will always be a part of us in one way or another - as a desire to be something more thanwhat we already are, or as a rather cruel irony, a desire to be free of desire. These are my views but I'm sure they are not mine alone. To summarize what I believe in strongly,

Its fragments among
The mirrored facade,
Of the mind that lies within.
Its glory lost in
Illusory potence,
That succumbs to mortal sin.

Its divinity bound
By a sheltered cause,
That will never conspire again.
Its mortal bliss,
A mere dream until,
It concedes to its own sweet pain.

Its words a mirage,
Unto the facets
Of the fickle human mind.
Its power is a will
Of its very own:
A pagan wish unto my kind.

Its form unseen
By most, but felt
As a healing, searing fire.
It is my bane;
It is my elixir -
This hallowed curse that is my heart's desire.

By,
Nikhil Menon

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One helluva article.. But no comparison to the one on emotions..
Here u tend to go by the premise that unachievable desire is bad while achievable once are things that get us going in this world, correct? What about Dan Brown's opinion, "all things are possible, impossible just takes a little longer", Funny as it may seem, its implications are deep..
Could a medieval knight 'desire' a trip around the world in 40 hours? Or to see something a billion times smaller than his hair?
So an 'unachievable' desire of a knight died (or killed some too), but then after waiting 500 years man did achieve this.. So I think it is safe to say that any legitimate desire is the one which drive the human kind forward(lets not go into what is legitimate here, shall we, LOL)
gr8 going dude

Anonymous said...

I dont think he was talking about desire as desire alone... i think this was just nudging at what buda said. You DO need desire to live with sanity. Brilliant writing but i do agree that the analysis of emotions and thoughts was your best. Stuff like this should come out of a middle-aged mind and not someone so young :) You ar gifted. Keep going.

clearmist said...

you've been tagged!