I guess almost everyone on the spiritual path gets confused at a certain point whether or not to pursue their desires. Spirituality is often linked to total renunciation of worldly goods. Not only possessions are frowned upon, but also the attainment of status or even the finding of a lover. Spiritual enlightenment entails finding peace in oneself and not in factors from outside oneself. Still, I think having desires are very compatible with leading a spiritual life. In this post I share my ideas concerning desires and explain why I think they can even enhance our spiritual journey.
Why are desires potentially bad?
Let me start by explaining why I think desires are so frowned upon. Most Westerners connect spirituality to Buddhist monks who seem to be very happy living without any possessions and desires. They are not driven by their ego and live in complete harmony with their surroundings.
This sounds awesome, so we try to imitate whatever they are doing. The only problem is that we aren’t necessarily on the same spiritual level as they are. And that’s completely fine. We simply can’t compare our level of consciousness to theirs. Our level of consciousness would probably even rise if we could accept where we are. And accept that we have desires. As we should know from the yin and yang principle, there is no such thing that is completely negative nor positive. Even if we try to not have desires, we might be led be our ego. It probably convinces us that having desires is “bad”. In this case we often force ourselves into something, but we don’t really raise our level of consciousness. In fact, wanting to be free of desires, is a desire in itself which should be treated just as carefully as any other desire.
I am not trying to say we shouldn’t try to attain higher levels of consciousness. Sure, we have work to do on ourselves. That’s why are so drawn to eastern spirituality. But we should keep in mind the stages we still have to work through. We can’t simply force ourselves into a specific level of consciousness. Recently, I listened to an audio book where the author tells that it’s not uncommon for an enlightened guru to suddenly take off with a woman, because he hasn’t dealt with his sexuality yet. We have to face all aspects of ourselves and our desires are part of it. Skipping parts which make us human is unnatural and might even lead to worse scenarios. Just like every other part of ourselves, we should learn how to deal with it rather than suppress it. Apart from having to face our desires, having desires can actually be a very positive thing, if done correctly. So, if you are full of desires in this beautiful life, continue reading!
Positive aspects of desires
In my opinion, desires can serve as a catalyst for positive action. Having desires and wanting to fulfill them drives you to make positive changes in your life. Especially those on the spiritual path start to dig deeper in their true beings, trying to understand what keeps them from reaching their goals. This understanding helps them to correct their spiritual misalignment and makes them achieve their goals more easily. Inevitably, this leads to more joy and happiness not only for the spiritual seeker, but also for his or her entire surrounding. Happiness rubs off on other.
The way in which the spiritual seeker will affect their surrounding is twofold: directly and indirectly. Or in other words: on a physical and on an energetic level. Imagine you are the spiritual seeker and you have finally dared to have a serious look into yourself. Ever since your world has changed. Initially, you might go through a rough time (which is what often happens and what makes soul searching so scary). But when time goes by, the storm seems not only to calm down, but the winds actually blow in your direction! Your relationships are less conflict ridden, you have energy in abundance and your wishes seem to come true. I don’t have to explain how this can positively influence others in a direct way. People will feel a lot more attracted diving into their own souls. And obviously, the more people start walking the spiritual path, the more other people will be positively influenced.
Once you start living this life, in which you see that all is perfect and your desires come true, you will automatically be filled with positive vibrations. You will pass these on to the rest of humanity whether you want it or not. I strongly believe in the ripple effect of vibrations which all happens on an energetic level and is completely out of our control. You can positively impact others with your positive vibrations. You don’t even have to know or talk to those people, it just happens. People with extremely high positive vibrations can even heal people, simply with their presence. This is how powerful you are!
I hope this short post has made you understand the negative stigma of having desires and why it’s not necessarily always true. Furthermore, I hope it has motivated you to start digging deeper into your desires, so you can start manifesting them! In the next post, I will explain how you can fulfill your desires through deliberate manifestation. Hope to see you soon again!