> > > > There are expectations that invoke anger and there > > are expectations that invoke temporary satisfaction. > > From the point of view of Buddhist thought, both are > > equally binding, and both are equally premeditated. > > Just to clarify, even the expectations that "work out" > and bring about a temporary sense of satisfaction > are binding, because the happiness, being relative > and based on relative phenomena, cannot last. And > when it doesn't last, one gets angry and frustrated. > > In the Buddhist paradigm, the only way to break the > cycle is to get beyond expectation. Some have inter- > preted this teaching as needing to get beyond desire, > but I don't agree with that interpretation. Desire is > always going to be present. What does not need to > be present is attachment to the fruits of desire or > aversion to the desire not being fulfilled. In other > words, the aspect of the equation that is in our control > is expectation. If you're working with the handicap of > expectations, you are by definition (according to this > theory) setting yourself up for a fall, locking yourself > into the attraction/aversion desire cycle, the wheel > of karma. >
What is a desire without expectation? It seems, at best, to be a eunuch desire. Or a paraplaegic desire. If there is no expectation, then there is no link between an impulse towards action and its result. Desires in that context appear empty, phantom, vacuous. I am not questioning the beauty of letting go of expectations -- and all of its offspring such as judgements. (How can you judge a person if you have no expectations of their behavior?) I don't see how desires exist (or last very long) without expectations. Without expectation, what remains are impulses towards activity. "Do that which ought to be done" captures part of that mode but can imply a moral authority. Its more "Do that which ought to be done -- the 'ought' not being dictated by some moral authority or code, but from rational analysis, common sense and sometimes intuition." To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
