The only thing worth seeking is freedom
Stop manifesting, set yourself free and step into the river of life
A few days ago I asked ChatGPT a simple question, inspired by something I saw online. “Tell me what my curse is, don’t explain”, the prompt read.
Here’s what Chat responded:
Longing.
The word hit me in the gut. It was a hard reflection to receive. One I knew was true. My mind loves longing. It loves longing for belongings, it loves longing for more time, it loves longing for the moment when I live in the countryside surrounded by rolling hills with dogs and ducks and chickens running around. The moment I can finally slow down, chant in the mornings, cook elaborate meals, read more, and spend quality time with loved ones. My mind loves longing for that moment much more than making an effort to slow down, chant, cook, read, and connect in the now.
Longing is a curse because the point of life is not to be happy, but to just be.
There is nothing wrong with happiness. I love being happy. But I’m not after happiness. I’m after freedom. And so the only longing I will embrace is the longing to liberate myself from the limitations of my mind, over and over again.
Longing is the human curse. As the Buddha taught: life is suffering. The root of suffering is craving and aversion.
The beauty of Buddhism is you don’t need faith. If you simply sit and observe your mind long enough, you will experience this truth. The moment I did that and rolled up to a monastery in Nepal, burned out and disillusioned by modern life, I knew I touched truth. For the following years, I studied the philosophy. I meditated every day. I attended silent retreats. And—I still longed.
Because that’s the nature of a curse: It’s a pattern you can’t stop. For years, I have now walked side by side with this truth, forgetting it and then remembering it, just so I could forget it again. You know how it goes.
It’s the mind’s favorite trap: you will be happy when you _____.
All you have to do is manifest your dream life!
Manifestation works. But here’s your reminder: it won’t solve the roots of your longing. If you don’t untrain the mind from longing, it will never stop. It will certainly not stop once you’ve gotten what you longed for. It will simply find something new. Because you haven’t solved the real problem: your inability to be with what is, without wishing a different reality into existence.
The solution to the curse of longing is not manifestation but liberation. And there’s only one path towards liberation: neutrality. Buddhists call it the Middle Path. When you teach the mind neutrality, you move beyond the polarities and judgements of the mind. This stills the movement of the mind into the past and future, into craving and aversion.
You return to living fully embodied in the present moment, where you are already free. Just like you were as a baby, when the borders between you and the world were non-existent. There was no ego. You were in unity with the world around you. You lived entirely immersed in the present moment.
To walk the Middle path, you merge with the moment as you sense it in your body, over and over again. You observe the movement of your mind. You stay at the level of sensation. This is how you become one again with the divine intelligence that governs this magnificent universe, delivered through the current of the never-ending present moment. This is how you become a vessel of service to its boundless love.
Because here’s the real dilemma: How do you know what to manifest? You don’t. Manifesting your longings keeps your ego in the driver seat. Your mind does not know your destiny, it only knows your past. If you’re experiencing the world through the mind, you’re not experiencing it with equanimity but through the past.
The real guide to listen to is your heart. Your heart doesn’t make five-year plans. Your heart only lives in direct experience. It communicates not through thoughts but through your senses. It only ever tells you if something feels warmer or colder in the now. It is a moment-to-moment compass that guides you into your soul’s truest expression.
The choice is yours: You can manifest a beautiful life and spend the rest of your life longing for an even more beautiful one. Or you can transcend your mind, free yourself, and let your heart guide you into your destiny.
You step into the river of life and surrender your fate to the flow of divine intelligence. No plans. No agenda. No idea where you might end up.
Other than exactly where you were always meant to be, of course.
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Artwork shared by Terra Pin
"Longing is a curse "
I disagree... unless its a blessed curse:). About 8 years ago I had an epiphany (a story for another time) and started writing poetry. Through this I discovered a lot about myself. But somewhere along the way I realized if it weren't for longing, I would have nothing to say or write about, so I revel in it.
I really love this reflection, it hits home with me too. The teaching of the middle way does point in this direction of neutrality which creates freedom. There's the Zen koan " the great way is not difficult for one with no preference". Though, these teachings typically come after teachings on ethics. There's a foundation in ethics that underlies the middle way. Preferences are then necessarily constrained by purity of heart. You mentioned the importance of the heart, and I'm grateful that you did because it is core navigational compass for the path. Simultaneously, the mind can serve this unfolding of presence with perceptiveness and continual orientation towards a heart-based ethics. Where do ethics come in for you?