Beloved Students:

I greet you once again in peace and equanimity, appreciating fully the beauty of our work together in our recent Convocation this year. I offer a sincere “Thank-You” to all of you who “showed up, paid attention and gave it your best effort.” Your focused ability to be present for both the teachings and the ceremony were unprecedented in our Convocation history. Know that I so appreciate those moments when you are able to extend your focus beyond the confines of the ego, and your efforts this year were stunning to behold.

There is an interesting passage in the Koran that holds there are ten parts to desire. Nine parts, it claims, God gave to women; and one part to men. While I am making no claims here as to the veracity of that statement, I do find it interesting to note that Islam sees women as having more desire than men. Christian, Hebrew, Indian and Buddhist scriptures do not differentiate between the genders, although in Christian and Hebrew texts there is a distinction made between the desire(s) of righteous people and the desire(s) of evildoers. In the Hindu scriptures, the aspirant is instructed in the proper use of desire and that is, to draw closer to the Divine. In Buddhist teachings, the aspirant is taught to dissolve the desires of the ego mind, and hold in their places a single-pointed desire for the liberation of all beings everywhere.

It would be helpful if there were two words in the English language for “desire”: one that addressed the cravings of the ego mind, and one to reflect the mind imbued with pristine consciousness. Not having this luxury, we must carefully negotiate the difference in these two types of what we term “desire.”

In Hebrew texts (notably the prophets), there are many promises for God’s fulfilling “the desires of your heart,” the implication being that if the “desire” truly comes from the heart, it must be pure. While this is a truthful premise, I notice that sometimes folks believe their desires arise from their hearts when, in fact, they are ego-generated. Most believe that when they have strong feelings arise, those feelings come from the heart. In fact, some hold that the stronger the feelings, the greater the output of heart energy.

While all of you know the power of strong feelings, we must be careful not to confuse emotional intensity with activity of the heart. These are not the same. Those of you who can observe movements - or flows - within the energy body, can readily observe that intense emotions arise not in the heart chakra, but in the solar plexus chakra - the seat of the “I.” The fact that one feels them intensely has nothing to do with the heart. Rather, the intensity is usually the ego mind letting you know one of two things: either what it wants, or what it doesn’t want. The more strongly it wants (or doesn’t want), the greater the emotional intensity.

Indeed, counting on emotional intensity to provide any reliable information about anything except the ego is virtually asking for misinformation. True, one can gain a great deal of information from the emotions if one is present enough to objectively observe the emotions, inquiring deeply as to their origins, their effect on the body and mind, as well as their relative control over the mind. But the ultimate task is to cut through that emotional intensity, not trust it for specific truths in the course of one’s path.

As you will discover when you listen to our lecture for August, our concern this month is with desire as it arises in the ego mind. As you consider carefully the matter of ego desire, it will become clear to you that desire is actually a powerful form of suffering. In fact, when the matter is “boiled down”, you discover that the desires of the ego actually prevent, or at least strongly obscure, all spiritual practice. For most people, the notion of giving up desire is tantamount to giving up happiness, since most do believe happiness comes from chasing after desire. But when one really understands desire, it becomes clear that the presence of desire within the mind can only bring or increase suffering.

If one desires something, s/he has already made it up in her/his mind that they do not have the object that is desired. To sense the absence of something one wants is, indeed, to suffer. But further, having the object of one’s desires also leads to suffering, for in most cases one learns that it is either not enough or it turns out to be something other than what one thought would be the result of gaining the object of his/her desire.

What may not be seen when one is in the throes of desire is what all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas before you learned: that the peace that is gained with abandoning desire leads to nirvana, or the cessation of all suffering. In fact, you will discover that peace is nothing but the absence of desire. Not understanding the truth about desire is even a form of suffering, for while stuck in desire, the mind cannot see there is a better, fuller, indeed permanent kind of happiness. This higher form of happiness does not depend on anything in the external world. Rather, it is cultivated within one’s own mind.

In truth, desire in the mind is somewhat like having poison ivy. The affected skin itches, so you (like most others) scratch it. Eventually, the scratching produces raw, perhaps even broken and bleeding skin. The skin that first itched became raw and sore, in addition to itching, and the ending result is a great deal of suffering. Clearly, the less one is exposed to poison ivy, the less one suffers. In like manner, less desire equals less suffering.

Please join me this month in listening to Desire and the Mind, one of the lectures from our 2006 Peace Convocation. It is my hope that this teaching will provide you with a deeper understanding of desire. May you discover many practical applications for transcending desire in your own life, and may your efforts generate inspiration for others, as well. Celebrate your journey and serve each other in the workshop of the mind – the most important workshop you will ever take!

Your Loving Teacher,
Djwhal Khul