35 On The Desire to Know
Beloved Dharia,
Love.
The "need" to know is not a real need, it is a very strong desire.
There is, however, a need to experience, a need to be in the moment, and
this often gets confused with the desire to know.
The need to experience is very strong, and if one is in the moment, and aware that each moment is different from the next, then this need is satisfied by the state of awareness.
However, as soon as you forget that each moment, and each experience, is unique, you will develop the disease of unawareness, whose principle symptom is the false state called "boredom".
If one doesn't satisfy one's need to eat, then the body will react by the process of starvation, slowly digesting itself from the inside, only making things worse since the body is only eating itself.
Likewise, if one doesn't satisfy one's need to experience, if one is
unaware, then the consciousness degenerates into trying to satisfy itself
through the mind's system of processing data into facts.
This also only makes things worse, as the mind is only chasing itself.
Finally, just as some anorexics begin actively desiring the state of
starvation, some people begin actively desiring this state of being stuck
in the mind instead of the moment.
This leads to the "anorexia of the spirit" which is called the
"need to know".
Regarding the need to control: the desire to be in control of oneself
is only a delusion born of the belief that one is spiralling out of control.
In reality, it is only when you accept no control, that you can the centred
peace within yourself.
What I call responsibility is the acceptance of this peace; it is not
the desire to be in control over the world or over yourself, but a willingness
to accept that you can be at peace despite not being in control over life.
That is why I say that "everyone chooses where they are".
Love
Swami
