In his book, A Gradual Awakening, Stephen Levine talks about the 'Wanting Mind'. He says the wanting mind takes many forms: "It wants to be secure. It wants to be happy. It wants to survive. It wants to be loved. It also has specific wants: objects of desire, friendship, food, this color or that color, this kind of surrounding or some other kind. There's wanting not to have pain. There's wanting to be enlightened. There's wanting things to be as we wish they were. Our daydreams are imaginings of getting what we want; nightmares of being blocked from what we want... Wanting is the urge for the next moment to contain what this moment does not.... Wanting is seeking elsewhere. Completeness is being right here."
Personally, I try to live by the motto: "Life is good, especially today." I try to remain in the now, but it's a difficult balancing act. For example, I want my Tai Chi art to improve, but wanting that takes me out of the present, out of the idea of being satisfied with the idea of putting one drop into the bucket at time. I've discovered that every time I learn something new, I must discard an old opinion. Sometimes that's hard. I love my old opinions. I'm comfortable with my bias. Why must things change? It's just plain ironic that wanting causes dissatisfaction, but at the same time without wanting there's no quest, no goal, no improvement. Does that mean I must forever struggle with being incomplete? I don't know. It's just a thought. I think I'm being mind bent by all of these Buddha figurines in this house. Or maybe it's the Tucson sunlight. That rainy weather has left. We had another blue sky day. Judy and walked about four miles. We've done a good job of starting slow. Both of us are feeling some used muscles, but neither of us is injured, so that's good. Speaking of injured. right now Judy's curled in the corner with every Buddha figurine in this house gathered around her like a temple full of Sufi zealots. She's begging them to intercede on her behalf with the god of cribbage which has abandoned her. She thinks a little purification is in order after suffering consecutive skunks. I now lead the Wiley Cager by $.15 cents, and she isn't really liking the way the fickle finger of fate has been waggled. I, on the other hand, am delighted, even though I know that if there's anything true in this life, it's that things always change, so while i'm on my high horse now, I'm careful not to get too attached to my prowess. After all, I've been witness to how the mighty fall. As they say, "I'm just happy to be here" because either way, life is good, especially today.
Rubbing some part of your lover's body, or reaching into a bag of dog poo. Both are mere sensations of touch. Why then do we perceive a difference?
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