What are some ways we can articulate the difference between a separating or returning desire?
It goes beyond the surface value of a desire... such that I think that buying a car that is a status symbol could be somehow spiritual and that entering a monastery could be somehow separating. Or is attachment to anything ephemeral itself of a separating nature?
What is the undercurrent we are identifying?
Though I don't have many words for it, I grasp a feeling, that returning is like being with the Universal current, and separating is like stepping out of alignment. But not every soul's alignment looks the same on the surface.
For example, on a personal note, I read the Tao Te Ching in high school and felt depressed afterward because I felt that what I had read was true, but I did not feel ready to live by it as I understood what the book was telling me. I felt like I still had to explore the realities of being an eighteen year old in southern california, and whatever else, and that to live by the Tao (as I understood it in a limited way then) would be inauthentic. If I had renounced my contextual, social life in the name of spirituality, rather than going along my path as it naturally was at that moment in space-time and in personal development, would that have been a separating desire masked in spirituality?
Really welcoming multi-faceted ways of looking at the difference between returning and separating desire, your examples, and thoughts.
-Sabrina
Hi Sabrina,
I would think that the key undercurrent to identify is the intention behind the desire. I don´t think that having a car as a symbol of status has anything to do with a desire to return to the Source but, having that same car could have a very specific function within a context that would serve the whole or the Source in some way. Again the key is the intention behind the desire and intentions themselves are also connected to deeper desires. Let´s say you are a writer and you have a desire to help others thru what you write.. if you would have some form of attachment to your computer because it´s a necessary tool to do your work, then I personally wouldn´t consider it a separating desire as it´s serving a deeper desire which is to serve others thru your writing.
From my understanding most people won´t have a conscious desire to reunite with the Source yet will try to do what they feel is right within their hearts. Others will want to improve the lives of others or their surroundings or be of service in some way. Others will want to achieve specific tasks which they simply know from within that need to be done.
Spirituality is a buzzword in the world at the present moment and many times means nothing at all. Some people think that doing yoga poses without any intention to connect with the divine is spiritual. Others think that doing Reiki, Tai chi or charity etc all automatically equals being spiritual.
I can´t say for certain whether what you are asking was a separating desire masked as spirituality or not but the search for authenticity and that which is natural to you is necessary for real spiritual development. Your depressed feeling could be coming from inner judgements based on man made morality and the un-natural guilt related to them. If you are discerning you will know what is true and what is not in relation to this question.
We are all alive and have our independent lives which we need to live thru the choices we make... it´s a matter of aligning our will with the will of the Source thru those choices.
All the best
Hey Sabrina, called to offer a couple thoughts -
I think you said it -
QuoteI felt like I still had to explore the realities of being an eighteen year old in southern california, and whatever else, and that to live by the Tao (as I understood it in a limited way then) would be inauthentic. If I had renounced my contextual, social life in the name of spirituality, rather than going along my path as it naturally was at that moment in space-time and in personal development, would that have been a separating desire masked in spirituality?
To me that is the tao - moving with what is most natural and authentic to oneself, not living in any fabrication. The very essence of Pluto and the nature of desire is that we are impelled by our own soul nature to take the next step, whatever that is. The point is to be honest about it the best we can - and to also recognize that everything comes and goes since eventually we'll have to move on. We form relationships with people/ experiences/ ways of being, build an identity, fully live out an entire life experience and grow from it, naturally reach the limitation of growth possible in that identity/circumstantial reality and then unravel and on to the next. Cycles of involution and evolution.
Some skipped steps are often created as a result of trying to be where we are not - which is often linked to a misunderstanding of what is natural, shame or idealizations of some kind of perfect state we are supposed to be at.
QuoteThough I don't have many words for it, I grasp a feeling, that returning is like being with the Universal current, and separating is like stepping out of alignment. But not every soul's alignment looks the same on the surface.
I feel that too.
The desire to return, to wake up - is a very powerful desire because it harmonizes with the truth of creation, with the Oneness. The stronger we are in that desire, the more we find that the universal current is literally taking us home. Doesn't mean there wont be challenges or cataclysms, but we learn to trust it and become more devoted through it - knowing that there's so much we don't understand about the comings and goings of life, about our own karma, and that we can trust life to lead the way. The more soul aware we become we also develop clearer perception of what needs to be played out; where we are called to as our next steps in evolutionary growth, whatever that looks like. We get to move through it more quickly too as opposed to earlier stages that take a long time. Ideally that is. It's always possible to get stuck for a while at any point along the journey.
Hi Ari,
Just wanted to say it's so nice to see you back here.
God Bless, Rad