April 30th ~ In the state of passion without a cause there is intensity free of all attachment; but when passion has a cause, there is attachment, and attachment is the beginning of sorrow. Most of us are attached, we cling to a person, to a country, to a belief, to an idea, and when the object of our attachment is taken away or otherwise loses its significance, we find ourselves empty, insufficient. This emptiness we try to fill by clinging to something else, which again becomes the object of our passion.
Examine your own heart and mind. I am merely a mirror in which you are looking at yourself. If you don’t want to look, that is quite all right; but if you do want to look, then look at yourself clearly, ruthlessly, with intensity–not in the hope of dissolving your miseries, your anxieties, your sense of guilt, but in order to understand this extraordinary passion which always leads to sorrow.
When passion has a cause it becomes lust. When there is a passion for something–for a person, for an idea, for some kind of fulfillment–then out of that passion there comes contradiction, conflict, effort. You strive to achieve or maintain a particular state, or to recapture one that has been and is gone. But the passion of which I am speaking does not give rise to contradiction, conflict. It is totally unrelated to a cause, and therefore it is not an effect.
March 30th, 2020 ~ Passion totally unrelated to a cause. What does that mean? I am reminded of Krishnamurti’s book “The Kingdom of Happiness.” He talks about having a vision. I often remind myself of this. It feels like ultimately the only way to live a happy full life is to help others, not just a few but as many as possible. That has been my goal for a long time. Specifically in business, work and spirit. In the second chapter, Interest and Enthusiasm, page 23, he writes: “Because then I am able to forget the “I” and identify myself with the rest of the world–with every kingdom, vegetable, animal, and human! I am then nearer the Truth, nearer that perfection. It is the separate self, it is this narrowing down of the self, this division which self creates that stands in the way.”
There is desire here. There is passion here. Perhaps it is coming from a different place. In Buddhism, the desire to become a Buddha or to wake up. Yes, it is a desire, but not your typical desire. Is passion the same as desire?