The butterfly’s desire is for the sweetness of the flower. The flower’s desire is for the butterfly to carry is pollen away to the next flower. And our desire is for the beauty of butterfly and flower, which is created without the least care for what we want.
How do you provide joy for others simply by doing what brings you delight?
“But he did not understand the price. Mortals never do. They only see the prize, their heart’s desire, their dream…. But the price of getting what you want, is getting what you once wanted.”
― Neil Gaiman
What has been a price you paid for getting what you wanted?
The goal of advertising, what stokes the fires of capitalism, is for us to want more and more, to consume our way toward happiness. Except, of course, that the philosophy of “more and more” is never satisfied, so we are never supposed to actually be happy and content.
How do you find yourself being caught in the pull of “more and more”?
“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.”
― L. Frank Baum
When have you found your heart’s desire close to home?
Robert Browning famously wrote: “a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” But when you can’t quite touch what you’re aiming for, it doesn’t feel all that heavenly in the moment. Maybe heaven is not the fulfillment of our desires, but process of moving toward them.
What goal gives you joy in its pursuit, rather than its achievement?
