Wanting Bugs (Part 4)

Wanting Bugs are very clever! They hide under rocks and things, or conceal themselves like chameleons so that we seldom see them. Most of the time they hide in our thoughts, and can’t stand to be discovered. Actually, when they are discovered, they sometimes go away, which they hate to do, because they get very lonely. But we always know that they are lurking in the background somewhere, even though they disguise themselves very cleverly. The big ones pretend to be only small ones, and the angry ones pretend to be peaceful!

Wanting to be a good person surely wouldn’t have anything to do with Wanting Bugs, would it? Yep, it would, because the little rascals love it when we do that! Wanting to be that over there means that we aren't very happy with what we are over here, so why don't we simply change, instead of wanting to change? Yep, we have a problem, and the problem is that we really don't want to change, although we do want to change. Oh, it's so confusing! This is how our little Wanting Bugs really mix us up! We want to change — and then we don't want to change, and then we can be forever be works in progress! Wow! So cool! And as long as we continue wanting, we don't have to do much, and our little Bugs are happy as clams!

If accidentally we do get rid of some of our cute Wanting Bugs, (actually, if you look closely, they are not so cute, and have very sharp, little teeth), then, we actually turn into good people — humble, honest and truthful in every way — but then our Wanting Bugs are not happy campers! If we don’t "want" things, how will our Wanting Bugs ever hitchhike their way to heaven on our backs so that they can drag us back down to earth . . . or some other unmentionable place?

But what can ever take the place of our Wanting Bugs, those little buggers that take up our entire existence? This is a very, very good question, and it must have to do with something a lot different from wanting. What in the world could that be? Could it be something such as being aware — of every moment — including moments of "wanting," which would certainly take the place of the wanting itself? Oh, horror of horrors! The poor little Wanting Bugs then would have nowhere to stick their stingers in!

Without Wanting Bugs around, their offspring, the Baby Angry Wanting Bugs,couldn’t hatch, and we wouldn't be fooled into thinking that we are always full of anger and desires. Wouldn’t it be something if we were quite different from all of this, something so different that it would wow us if we could only discover what it is?

But our clever Wanting Bugs can live under water for a long time. We might even think that they are gone forever, when suddenly up bounce their little heads. Can Wanting Bugs ever be banished from our minds, or will they be there as long as we are, and maybe even after that? Actually, there may be ways to rid ourselves of our pesky Wanting Bugs, but before we consider that, wouldn’t our first step be to understand why Wanting Bugs aren't as cute and cuddly as we think they are? What’s so bad about Wanting Bugs anyhow?

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Copyright © E. Raymond Rock 2007. All rights reserved E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center (southwestfloridainsightcenter.com/). His twenty-eight years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers (ayeartoenlightenment.com/).

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