The trouble is, the soul in this physical life really doesn’t know what it wants. We have to learn, and in this way the physical life is a fantastic kindergarten for the soul.
We often think we are selfish to the core, believing our true desires to be ones of power, being “the best”, and being able to control everything in our lives to get things. But if you really think about it, we want none of this, for to have it brings no satisfaction.
If you could control everything, there would be no meaning to it, and life would be as empty as a movie, for there would exist no honest free will outside of your own, and no surprises for you either. How could you have any sense of accomplishment without some struggle? In the same manner, you wouldn’t want to be the absolute best at anything. Because then you could have no competition, and even if you were given thousands of awards, they would not quite satisfy, because a true judge must have an idea of something even better than what you’re doing. All praise would be meaningless, for instance, if you were the smartest person in the universe, because all that praise would be coming from “stupid” people, so how could you respect it?
So we actually want to be judged, fairly, and we don’t want absolute power or control. We want a bit of struggle and surprise! We don’t want to be God, for that is a very lonely and unsatisfying concept.
Many a spiritual teacher has said, “just be”, and practice “just existing”. But oh! how we hope that “just existing” isn’t the state of our souls after the death of the physical body! We are actually violently, desperately opposed to the idea of just being. The idea satisfies nothing. We want to do something, experience something, and interact with existence in every way we can. I believe what we really want is to be part of a tribe, and to have something to contribute. Actually, we want to not be completely satisfied all the time.
We don’t even want to know all the answers, for we love being inspired by some new idea, and we love the progress of our growth and discovery. Inspiration is an art of mystery — and really, we crave unending mystery. An unending journey. Things happening beyond our control.
In other words, we desire this life we’re living, which is not completely satisfying, and therefore challenging and real and alive and meaningful to us. Isn’t that a laugh? Having desires isn’t evil after all! In fact, a logical examination of the nature of desire shows us how humble our hearts truly want to be: a little soul in an endless universe, free to explore and experience it like a child.
Dreamcraft 