Desire
In the Western world, desire is considered the way of life. After all, this is the land where dreams come true. In this society you must always be reaching for something better, something more. People at the top of society are considered successful, while those that live a simple life of peace and serenity are looked down upon because of their lack of life goals and aspirations. Why is it this way? Shouldn’t people who are at peace be the epitome of our society? With the desire to always be something more comes a lack of being comfortable with the place in life that you are. In this way, Americans can be very self-loathing for not being what they would consider the “perfect” person.
On the other hand, people that live by the Tao will never feel upset or disappointed by their lives. There will be no self-pity as whatever happens to them is the only thing that could have happened to them. There will be no envy of others. A person who is at peace and lives a simple life is considered a wise and knowledgeable person, quite a contrast to the beliefs held in Western culture.
According to the Tao, “Free from desire, you realize the mystery,” pointing out that your mind will be at peace and not worrying about your desires. Yet it also points out that desire comes from darkness, the same place that manifestations and falsities of the mind stem from. Therefore, it does not say that having desire is bad, as it comes from the same source as non-desire, but you can live more at peace without it. There is no right or wrong, but there are extremes. Having too much desire will whither the heart, blinding you from the beauty and greatness around you. Having too little will deprive you of any joy, and possibly even life if the desire to eat, drink, or live is lost.
The way of the Tao is not right or wrong, but finding a middle way that does not block you off from the world. It should not limit your ability to enjoy all things. You should not live unhappy and without hope, but you should also not live focused on one main thing as it will control your life and leave you with tunnel vision.
When I feel a wanting for something for a long time and focus on achieving it, it soon envelops my life. I am constantly thinking about it and it prevents me from dealing with life at hand. I can be witnessing some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, but if my mind is elsewhere, I will not experience it. While reaching for something-greater will blind you from enjoying life, so will not looking to a higher place. If I feel that I am worthless and cannot achieve anything greater and hold no ambition to be better than I am, I become caught in a web of doubt and loneliness. Everything seems bland, nothing is good, and life is bad. I personally hate this state even more than the former, because it causes you to have doubt in yourself. Doubting yourself is one of the worst symptoms of American culture. Everyone is either cocky or suffers from low self-esteem. It is a plague that threatens the lives of every American and is constantly striking everywhere. It does however, lead to some more, shall we say, "interesting", music. On one side we have the Tommy Hilfiger “I’m all that and a bag of chips, so don’t mess with me as I brag about it in my next song” attitude, and on the other side we have the ripped jeans and metallica t-shirt “I suck, you’re perfect, why can’t I be like you, let’s write angsty music” attitude.
The only cure for our culture is for everyone to look around and say “I’m pretty, you’re pretty, let’s all go dance in a field of flowers and play beautiful music.” Without an accepting attitude everyone will either be putting himself or herself down, or putting others down. This is not in accordance to the Tao and there will be no peace. The Tao is not about a set of rules to live by, but basically tells every person to look inside their heart and do what they truly believe is right. In this way nothing is truly bad, everything has a purpose, and it sure prevents crusades, jihads, and holocausts from happening.
In the perfect world, the Tao is what everyone would live by. To achieve the perfect world, all it takes is one person to live by it, you. When you live by the Tao, the entire world is perfect. All addictions are bad. There are people who neglect other aspects in life because they are so focused on one thing. It leads them to become unbalanced in life. When new situations arise, you fall back on previous knowledge to guide you through them. With previous knowledge only in one thing, you will not be able to ease your way through many situations and will cause many conflicts. Neutrality is good. Extremes are bad. You should never be so focused on one thing that it dictates your life, leaving you without the freedom to try new things or experience the world outside that which you are focused on. Desire leaves your mind cluttered. In order to be at peace your mind must be free of preoccupation and thought. While living in desire this state cannot be reached. While living in the opposite you will also be preoccupied with negative thoughts of yourself.
Life is experiencing everything and its beauty. As long as there is anything preventing you from appreciating the world around you, it is blocking you from having a happy and fulfilled life. As long as desire is alive, fulfillment can never be reached.