The Sacrifice of Desires – Life of Humility
We come now to the second sacrifice. The sacrifice of desires. How is that possible? We are human we live and we desire. It is as simple as that. How then do we “sacrifice” a fundamental part of our Self?
EJ Gold tells us “How is it possible to sacrifice one’s desires without having first sacrificed one’s comfort?” In the course of sacrificing one’s comfort we learn a few things. We start to learn about the delicacy of the state of our attention. How fleeting it is. Do we yet have the will to sacrifice one comfort? What do we discover then, we start to see our true limitations. That is a great start. Thus, opens the door to Humility.
When we perform a task, any task, and we imbue that task with great attention we have no room left for any thought of self congratulation, there is no room for pride. When we work then to help others, we work only to perform the task. We work with great energy and resolve. We see only the imperfections in our task performed. We wait for the task to arise again, so we may improve it ever so slightly. When the task is complete we do not wait for praise, we move on to our other work. Or, if there is nothing to be done at the moment we sit in patient meditation.
During this cycle of service, we begin to see what the meaning of personal desire might be. We contrast that to being of service. At that point we have a place upon which we can begin to understand the path to the Sacrifice of Desires.
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