A Free Heart is Necessary For Wisdom

Dear friends,

It is a part of human nature to see the world as we would like it to be, rather than the way it actually is. This is why we often make the same type of mistake so many times (reincarnation, anyone?) Eventually we get it right after repeated attempts. So why does it take so long?

The fundamental delusion in this world is that we need circumstances to be the way we want for us to be happy. All creatures seek happiness and try to avoid pain. We just mis-discriminate as we evaluate whether something will actually bring us happiness. Gosh, that 4th piece of chocolate cake looks good! :-)

To discriminate well requires a calm heart. If we desperately want something the mind is excellent at making it seem like a good idea, even when it is anything but. And when that doesn't work, the search goes on. A part of a favorite song of mine addresses this point:

Men hunger for freedom
But don't see the dungeon
Is only the thought that they’re bound

Desires are their shackles
The hope that tomorrow
The doorway to joy will be found

Maybe what will finally fill the hole in my heart is behind door number two… or number three… or number four… It's just got to be around here somewhere!

True wisdom is dispassionate and is more interested in seeing how things really are than in the way we wish they were. The calm heart has no stake in a particular outcome, other than to know Truth. This is why the many heart-calming techniques of the spiritual path are so important. We cannot know what is best for us if there are chunks of reality we dismiss out of hand, and other chunks we desperately want. Spirit is smarter than we are, and our effort ought to be to put our own opinions aside in light of that superior Intelligence.

Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West