Real Motivation

Real Motivation


Real motivation is a special kind of passion, so strong that we will literally give up everything.

Luke 18:22-29

[22] When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

[24] Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!

[25] Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

[29] "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God [30] will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."

Without this special passion, motivation is no more than strong desire. A difference exists between the two. Desire culminates in acquisition. Passion results in ending all acquisition. Acquisition insures bondage, whereas liberty from desire and acquisition insures unbounded freedom. True passion understands total freedom and will settle for nothing less.

To have true passion, we must see through the illusion of life. The Buddha and Christ were literally beggars, and their followers likewise. They were homeless, family-less, and in the eyes of many of their peers, worth-less. But my, how their enlightenment has changed the world!

Until we can see that our acquisitions, including our families, our wealth, our achievements, are holding us back from the freedom we desperately seek, we will remain incarcerated in our stubborn refusal to admit that we are totally miserable. Either we are trying to hold on to what we have, or get more because we can never get enough. That’s how desire works; there is never enough to go around, and we are damn sure going to get ours.

Passion is an evolution beyond this. Passion is an evolution beyond war and all the gruesome things we do to each other to make sure that we get our share, and then make sure that nobody can take it from us. Passion involves love, not emotional love where we love our country and hate another, but a love that understands the basic suffering of all humankind regardless of how much we have, regardless of our beliefs, regardless of our skin color.

Passion? Desire? Which will you choose? Desire is spreading our religion so that all the stupid people that don’t believe as we do will get in line. Passion understands religion, and how our dependencies and insecurities cause religion to become so ugly. Desire is wanting our small ego to survive and be eternal because we are so important. Passion is not caring about ourselves so much, but how our neighbors are doing.

Passion is not worrying about how much we have or whom we know. Desire wants to be famous. Desire is aggressive, ambitious, dreadful. Passion is easy, content, happy. Passion is freedom from ourselves; desire is caught up with ourselves.

If you ever choose passion, be prepared to leave everything behind, including your "self." This is the price of real freedom.

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, http://www.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. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com

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