Choose your desires well to give your life a good direction and purpose

"We create lots of havoc, not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of others, simply because we don’t even know what our desires are. We think we want something and we find out, “Well, that’s not what I want,” and we want to throw it away. We barge through life like this, creating huge messes.

So getting to know your own desires and gaining some control over them requires sitting down very quietly with a mind that’s steady and solid, and looking at what you really want in life. You’ve got the choice. Choose your desires well so that you create good becomings. Ultimately, of course, as the Buddha said, the best thing to do is to go beyond becoming this person or becoming that person. With arahants, as he said, you can’t define them because people define themselves around their desires and their attachments, whereas someone who has no desires, no attachments — because they’ve found true happiness — can’t be defined. As far as they’re concerned, the question of who they are is a non-question. The question of what happiness can be found in the context of worlds is a non-question. And as for purpose in life, they’ve achieved that purpose. They have no further purposes for their own sake. Their only remaining purposes center on helping others in their quest for their highest purpose.

We’re not there yet. We’re still on the path, but the good news is that we get to choose our purpose. The bad news is we get to choose our purpose. In other words, if we’re really sloppy in our choices: As they say, be careful what you want because you might get it. So you want to train yourself, both in terms of the concentration that sees things steadily, and the discernment that shoots great distances: seeing clearly that “if I choose this course of action, this is where it’s really going to go.” This is the discernment that helps to get you past the usual muddled perceptions where you think, “Well, I think I might want this person,” or, “I think I want this situation,” and you try to get it and it doesn’t turn out to be what you thought it was. Or it was what you thought it was, but you really had other ideas in mind. You were actually fixated on something else.

In this way, the ability to fire shots in rapid succession actually connects with that ability to shoot great distances, and to pierce great masses. You break through your ignorance so that you see the long-term results of quick changes in the mind.

And you clean up your own life. You give it a good direction and you stop making a mess of other people’s lives. This is why this is a good path. It’s good — not only for you, but also for the people around you — that you’re following this path. So try to take advantage of the freedom you have. You get to define yourself. You get to define the purpose of your life. Keep the Buddha’s options in mind as to what the possibilities are and make the best choices you can."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Take Good Aim" (Meditations9)

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