Beginner's Paradox, Discipline of Desire, & More

Desire as an Obstacle There is often a lack of understanding of the function of wanting and desire. The main illusion is seen in the statement, “The only way that I’ll get what I want is by desiring it; if I let go of my desire, then I won’t get what I want.” Actually, the opposite is true. Desire, especially strong desire (e.g., cravingness), freq

The fearful ego tells us that by holding on to old resentments we protect ourselves from getting hurt again, or “falling.” The irony is that the release is in the fall.

Letting go is not in anybody’s program for happiness, and yet all mature spirituality, in one sense or another, is about letting go and unlearning. You can take that as an absolute. As German mystic-philosopher Meister Eckhart said, the spiritual life has much more to do with subtraction than it does with addition.