Printed in the Conscious Creation Journal
March 2003
You are Designed to Desire
by Joanne Rodasta Wilshin, MA
How many times have you really wanted something, only to be told that wanting it is selfish or unrealistic? Have there been times in your life when you’ve dreamed of grandness, only to be reminded that the “meek shall inherit the earth”?
These limiting reminders, while well-intended, block and deny the very essence of one of God’s greatest gifts to you: your ability to create what you desire.
That’s right. God designed each of us to desire things. Not only that, he designed us to be able to create that which we desire. According to Proverbs 13:19, “The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul.” God wants us to want, and God wants us to have what we want.
And, really, if you think about it, this seems pretty logical. Why would God gift us with the quality to desire without also gifting us with the ability to have what we desire?
At the same time, we must understand that we get into problems with desire when we don’t understand it and when we don’t understand how to use it. We want the wrong things, or we’re out of touch with what it is we really long.
In order to desire properly, we have to understand the power of desire. According to Paul Buser, “Desire, like the atom, is explosive with creative force.” Buser doesn’t just mean that having a desire makes you creative. He’s saying that a desire, like a belief, has a creative force all its own. Not only does the desire compel and propel you to do things that will attain the desire, but it has its own personal influence on matter. The energy of the desire itself works outside yourself to manifest itself in the physical world. That’s how powerful a desire is.
God knows this. That’s why God created us to want and desire; he knew that our act of wanting would indeed create that which is desired.
From one perspective, this is pretty fabulous. Just think of the desires you’d like to see show up in your life!
But from another perspective, there are some problems. What happens when you desire conflicting things? What happens when you want bad things? What happens when you want things meant only to protect you from others?
What happens is that these conflicting and protective desires actually manifest into exactly what you don’t want. For example, if you want a someone who has been cheating you to get what he deserves, that desire can create revenge. But it doesn’t create what you really want, which is to be treated fairly.
Conflicting and protective desires usually result from limited thinking. “We trifle [squander] when we assign limits to our desires,” wrote Christian Bovee, “since nature hath set none.” In other words, we waste a great opportunity each time we rouse a desire based on limited thinking.
For instance, if someone has been cheating you, is it revenge or fairness that you really want? Desiring vengeance doesn’t solve the problem; it just creates a punishment. Desiring fairness, on the other hand, creates what you really want, which is being treated truthfully and equitably. Desiring fairness creates safety, while desiring revenge does not. Desiring fairness requires unlimited thinking, while wanting revenge assumes that fairness is impossible to attain.
“The energy of the desire itself works outside yourself to manifest itself in the physical world. That’s how powerful a desire is. ”
What, then, can each of us do to make the most of our desires? The answer lies in asking ourselves: “What do I really want to happen, if anything in the whole world were possible?” That question asks us to really look at what we yearn for.
To illustrate, if we want a cheating person to be punished, it implies that nothing can change. The person will continue cheating and will never apologize, and we just have to learn to cope with such monsters. This is fixed thinking, indeed.
On the other hand, if we remember that anything is possible, we might realize that what we really want is for the cheating person to somehow realize that he doesn’t have to cheat to get what he wants, that the person will feel so much better if he apologizes, and even that the person will have wonderful people in his life who help and support him in getting what he wants with honesty and integrity.
Such a desire creates just that. It creates a future in which the cheating person gets the help and support he needs so that he can comfortably and openly get what he wants.
With that in mind, consider this: Would you rather create healing and recovery for a cheating person, or would you rather create revenge? Would you rather create the possibility of honesty and integrity for the person, or would you rather create more anger, shame, and lack?
Hopefully you’d rather create healing and recovery! If so, remember this example, and then practice asking yourself what it is that you really desire if anything in the world were possible. Ask yourself what the other person, people, or organizations need to get their needs met. When people get their needs met, they usually don’t do mean things to others. Think about what others want and need, and desire it for them. What do you want and need? Desire it for yourself. And lastly, “Plant the seed of desire in your mind,” as Robert Collier wrote, and it will form “a nucleus with power to attract to itself everything needed for its fulfillment.”
Joanne Rodasta Wilshin wrote Take a Moment and Create Your Life! (available through Amazon.com) and facilitates the MindAffects Workshops. Contact: [email protected] – 949-759-9300, or 3857 Birch, Suite 288, Newport Beach, CA 92660.
©2003, Joanne Rodasta Wilshin, MA. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the Conscious Creation Journal. (Feel free to duplicate this article for personal use – please include this copyright notice and the URL.) http://www.consciouscreation.com