The One Desire

The desire to know and recognize God, Truth, to experience that sweet space of Oneness is thought by some philosophers to be the root of all desire, the one desire. It may be that the desire disguises itself, showing up as a wish for a new car, or a particular job. Perhaps it shows up as some wanting for a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a relationship. However it comes to us, there is desire.

We, in our ignorance, sometimes think that desire itself will cease when we obtain the object of our wanting. Yet, the moment we fulfill one desire, the moment we obtain the object of our wanting, there is another desire. Often, even before we obtain the object of our wanting, there is still another desire. Desire itself never goes away. Whatever mundane satisfaction we experience in the fulfillment of one desire fades in a short while only to be replaced with a new desire.

In fact, Patanjali, in his yoga sutras, offers guidance as to how one transcends the desires of the ego and return to the purist desire of the soul, to know God. He suggests that we be relentless in our determination to know and recognize God. He advises spiritual aspirants to gain gradual control over the negative tendencies of the mind through vigilant self-inquiry. He wrote that we should ask ourselves, “Why do I really desire that object? What permanent advantage should I gain by possessing it? In what way would its possession help greater freedom and knowledge?” Even without going full boar into contemplating these questions, it’s easy to see how ephemeral our mundane desires are.

In all our restless wanting, we get lost and end up collecting all kinds of stuff that can clutter our lives even more . Or, we feel that the goal of our wanting is beyond our reach. This is especially evident in those who reach for the high goal of knowing Truth. Clearly, as we work towards the achievement of a particular goal, we have all experienced the alluring pull to simply give up and quit. How many students quit before they obtain their goal and graduate? Either they fall prey to the mistaken belief that they will never reach their goal due to their own ignorance, the demands of family, or the whining and screaming of their own ego leads them down a different road. How many times have you found yourself confronted by a particular job or goal that stretched beyond what you thought you were capable of, only to find that in your tenacious perseverance, you succeeded?