“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are, and you know what you want.”- Lau Tzu
This quotation from Lau Tzu is the one that I found interesting to discuss. All of us humans have desires. These desires are either good or evil. As what I have learned in Economics, humans have “unlimited” wants and needs. These “wants and needs” refer to our “personal desires.” As humans, it is our very nature to desire. Our desire is brought to us by our freedom and will. We desire for anything that can please and satisfy us, for anything that can make us happy and fulfilled. Desires are part of our being human. In my own experience in talking with different people and also in reflecting on my own self, we have the common desire of having a good life, wealth, fame in our chosen field, stable job, and desire for love. We desire these things because our body and soul would ask us to. The body would ask us for whatever that can satisfy it and the soul does the same thing. As our common desires, we desire for wealth for us to buy the things we need and want, and for us to provide the needs of our family. We desire for fame in our chosen field because we want to be known and become popular and to be idolized by people. We desire for a stable job for us not to have problems where to get our income. We desire for possessions for it will tell others about our state in life. These desires are present deep w/ in our hearts, w/in our soul, deep w/in our person.
The quotation above from Lau Tzu teaches us that we can know our desires by focusing in our inner self. In going deep w/ in, we can know what we really want in life and what is really important for us. We can even know who we are as person. In my own analysis, Lau Tzu refers to what we call “meditation.” Through meditation, we can know our self w/in and our burning desires. That is why we seminarians are encouraged to meditate during the vacant period after the prayers for us to really know who we are and what we really want in our life. Meditation is a big help especially in finding what can make us happy as we live.
As what I have said earlier, our desires are either good or bad. Not all the time, these desires of ours are good. We desire for good things and we also desire for evil things. Often times, these desires of ours are selfish and self-centered which leads us to commit sin. Sometimes, the desire itself is a sin (like for example- Lust). Aside from meditation, which is going inside our self, going deep w/in our person, another thing that we should practice is discernment. Discernment is the process of evaluating our self to what decisions we will make in our life. This is not only an ordinary decision-making but it is a critical decision-making. In our life, we must discern also with the things that we desire. As we discern, we ask our self if these desires of ours are for the good or evil. Through meditation, we know our self and we also know our personal desires (as what I have understand in Lau Tzu’s words) but with the help of discernment, we can know what among these desires of ours are good and according to the will of God and what among these are evil. Remember, not everything we desire are good. We must learn to distinguish the good from evil and eliminate whatever is evil. That is why discernment is very important. In relation to our discernment (seminarians), we seminarians are also humans. As human beings, our natural tendency is to find a partner in life, to find someone to be with for the rest of our life. That is why, seminarians also desire of getting married. I believe that this desire is strong for we are but humans. If we will just follow our natural desire of getting married, for sure no one among us seminarians will go on for priesthood because all of us desire for getting married. With the help of discernment on the other hand, no matter we have a desire for getting married, if according to our discernment we are for the priesthood, we will choose the priesthood.
Desires have been part of our being human. We desire for our needs, for what we want until we desire for more of it. If we will just follow our desires, we will never be satisfied. Not everything we desire is good. Often times, we desire for pleasurable but evil things. That is why we need to discern our decisions and actions in life. One wrong move could change our life. Discernment is important in one’s life because through it, we will know what among our desires could make us happier, what among our desires are the greater good.
This quotation from Lau Tzu is the one that I found interesting to discuss. All of us humans have desires. These desires are either good or evil. As what I have learned in Economics, humans have “unlimited” wants and needs. These “wants and needs” refer to our “personal desires.” As humans, it is our very nature to desire. Our desire is brought to us by our freedom and will. We desire for anything that can please and satisfy us, for anything that can make us happy and fulfilled. Desires are part of our being human. In my own experience in talking with different people and also in reflecting on my own self, we have the common desire of having a good life, wealth, fame in our chosen field, stable job, and desire for love. We desire these things because our body and soul would ask us to. The body would ask us for whatever that can satisfy it and the soul does the same thing. As our common desires, we desire for wealth for us to buy the things we need and want, and for us to provide the needs of our family. We desire for fame in our chosen field because we want to be known and become popular and to be idolized by people. We desire for a stable job for us not to have problems where to get our income. We desire for possessions for it will tell others about our state in life. These desires are present deep w/ in our hearts, w/in our soul, deep w/in our person.
The quotation above from Lau Tzu teaches us that we can know our desires by focusing in our inner self. In going deep w/ in, we can know what we really want in life and what is really important for us. We can even know who we are as person. In my own analysis, Lau Tzu refers to what we call “meditation.” Through meditation, we can know our self w/in and our burning desires. That is why we seminarians are encouraged to meditate during the vacant period after the prayers for us to really know who we are and what we really want in our life. Meditation is a big help especially in finding what can make us happy as we live.
As what I have said earlier, our desires are either good or bad. Not all the time, these desires of ours are good. We desire for good things and we also desire for evil things. Often times, these desires of ours are selfish and self-centered which leads us to commit sin. Sometimes, the desire itself is a sin (like for example- Lust). Aside from meditation, which is going inside our self, going deep w/in our person, another thing that we should practice is discernment. Discernment is the process of evaluating our self to what decisions we will make in our life. This is not only an ordinary decision-making but it is a critical decision-making. In our life, we must discern also with the things that we desire. As we discern, we ask our self if these desires of ours are for the good or evil. Through meditation, we know our self and we also know our personal desires (as what I have understand in Lau Tzu’s words) but with the help of discernment, we can know what among these desires of ours are good and according to the will of God and what among these are evil. Remember, not everything we desire are good. We must learn to distinguish the good from evil and eliminate whatever is evil. That is why discernment is very important. In relation to our discernment (seminarians), we seminarians are also humans. As human beings, our natural tendency is to find a partner in life, to find someone to be with for the rest of our life. That is why, seminarians also desire of getting married. I believe that this desire is strong for we are but humans. If we will just follow our natural desire of getting married, for sure no one among us seminarians will go on for priesthood because all of us desire for getting married. With the help of discernment on the other hand, no matter we have a desire for getting married, if according to our discernment we are for the priesthood, we will choose the priesthood.
Desires have been part of our being human. We desire for our needs, for what we want until we desire for more of it. If we will just follow our desires, we will never be satisfied. Not everything we desire is good. Often times, we desire for pleasurable but evil things. That is why we need to discern our decisions and actions in life. One wrong move could change our life. Discernment is important in one’s life because through it, we will know what among our desires could make us happier, what among our desires are the greater good.
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