431. The Voice That Speaks

The voice that is desired is not the voice that speaks. The voice that is desired confirms our self-knowledge and conforms to our existing understanding of the world. The voice that speaks ignores our expectations and counters our beliefs with difficult truths. The voice that is desired takes us on a pleasing journey along worn and familiar paths. The voice that speaks drags us through the mud and deposits us in some unknown place. The voice that is desired comforts us as a parent comforts a child. The voice that speaks disturbs us and says what must be said. The voice that is desired confirms our innocence and misfortune. The voice that speaks implicates us in wrongs we have unknowingly committed. The voice that is desired showers us in praise and approval. The voice that speaks questions our efforts and doubts even our most cherished values. The voice that is desired tells us that our choices were certainly the right ones. The voice that speaks reminds us of uncertainty and demands that we make an effort to understand what is truly good. The voice that is desired offers us a guarantee of our personal salvation. The voice that speaks tells us we are far from being saved because our actions regularly fall short. The voice that is desired shows us the truth gently and grants us respite when it becomes too much to accept. The voice that speaks offers no escape, only the unmitigated truth, always and without end. The voice that is desired allows us to remain as we are and requests only that we enjoy its satisfying words. The voice that speaks is itself an endless demand for us to see our reality and to grow into more. The voice that speaks is not the voice that is desired.

430. A Call To Action

Many of the texts you encounter seem to do nothing other than make an argument for a particular conclusion. The conclusion is supposed to follow from the premises according to the usual rules of logic. As you read, you determine whether or not the machinery of logic successfully leads to the conclusion. The value of such a text then seems to be coextensive with its logical success or failure.

But it is always possible that even the most logical text is also about something else. This is not the conclusion named in the text but something revealed through the process of reading openly. Here, the text is not just a logical argument but a pretext to some further possibility. It is a call to notice a particular insight, an idea that drives the text itself. And it is this driving force that you might also discover can drive you.

429. Immaterial Needs

When I feel an unmet need, my first impulse is to look for a material solution. I’m lacking something, so I reason there must be some object or experience that could fill the void. And indeed, many problems of need can be solved in this way. In particular, I manage to meet the majority of the needs of my body through material solutions reached through simple practical reasoning. So it is perhaps no surprise that seeking a material solution is my first reaction.

428. Nameless Suffering

She knew this was going to happen. She knew that sharing her art would come with an emotional cost. She knew that her feelings would be mostly negative, regardless of the reception her work received. Even if she was praised, she knew that she was going to feel bad.

She anticipated her feelings perfectly, but this hasn’t helped. It hasn’t limited or reduced the intensity of the emotion. She feels exactly as terrible as she thought she would. At least it’s over, she tells herself. At least she did this courageous thing. At least they didn’t completely hate her work.

427. Liberating Attention

To live with joy, a person’s attention needs to be open and free. When it is open and free, it becomes possible to see need and how it must be addressed, and it is by meeting need that joy is created. Conversely, attachment to particular intentions limits the range of attention, causing need to be ignored, which then produces suffering.

The experience of suffering is an indicator that attachment is present, and liberation from suffering is possible only by releasing attachment. Attachment is released through the awareness developed from open and free attention to experience, but it is attachment itself that causes attention to become limited and narrow.

426. Saving The World

If you suddenly started telling everyone that your goal was to save the world, they might look at you strangely. Saving the world is not something one ordinarily does. It is reserved in our history for heroes and in our mythology for gods, for those who act in extraordinary circumstances or with extraordinary power. You, on the other hand, do not seem extraordinary at all. So your sudden announcement will be met with concern. Even so, it is exactly this kind of incredible goal that is most worthy of being adopted.

425. Catastrophic Thinking

A problem can seem bigger than it actually is. Engulfed in uncertainty, I can’t see where it begins or ends, so my imagination transforms it into a monster. I know that everything uncertain is also unbounded, which causes me to jump directly to the worst case scenario: the problem is actually huge — so big that I will never be able to solve it.

The extent of my concern arises from the human ability to extrapolate. This ability is helpful when it comes to understanding the world, as it allows for the consideration of even the most extreme possibilities. But in all cases, the most worrying possibility is total catastrophe, so I automatically assign this outcome to any problem with unknown dimensions.

424. A Beautiful Bomb

Nothing less than a world-destroyer will do. You’ve set this incredible standard for yourself because you know you’ll never succeed without it. You’ll be distracted into thinking about things that aren’t worth thinking about. You’ll end up pursuing some lesser idea that won’t solve anything. You’ll falsely believe that you’re creating something great when you’re not.

To prevent such an outrageous disaster, you’ve set goals for your creative work. Every idea is given a rank — world-destroyer is the highest one. It’s called world-destroyer because that is what such an idea is supposed to do. At least, were adequate resources and time invested in it, it would theoretically be capable of fulfilling its task of total destruction.

423. Evasive Constructions

There is something that I know I must do. I have no doubt about its necessity. Not doing it almost guarantees harm for me and possibly for others, which means it must be done. This is perfectly clear.

Still, I don’t want to do it. I would much rather do something I enjoy, and the thing I must do is not at all enjoyable. It will be a struggle, and haven’t I already struggled enough? How much struggle can one person be expected to take on? Questions like these suggest the possibility that I do not need to do what I feel I must.