On Wanting

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Suppose you are writing a multiple choice exam.

1. You want to choose the correct answer.
2. The correct answer is (a)
3. You think the correct answer is (d)

Suppose you chose (d). Did you get what you wanted?
This is the basic gist of the argument that Socrates makes against Polus in Plato's Gorgias.

The gist is, that all we want is what is good for us, and so, though we may think that we want one thing, we may in fact want something else.

Consider the example of knowledge. It is possible to believe something that is false, though it is not possible to know something that is false.
eg:
One can believe that Los Angeles is in the province of Quebec, but one cannot know that Los Angeles is in the province of Quebec.

If we apply the same principle to 'wanting', it seems understandable that one can think he desires something which he truly does not.

(Note: Aristotle had some very good criticisms of Socrates' approach to this, but primarily the difference in views arises from a preference for a different context and a different set of definitions)

It appears as though the main thing which interferes with our acting upon our true wants is the problem of thinkingness. Our thoughts simply are not trustworthy when it comes to discerning these differences.
In the absence of thinkingness reality as-it-is, is self-evident. We often seem to be of the persuasion that within our thoughts is contained our humanity, when the case seems to be just the opposite - that in thinkingness we are trapped in a state of oblivion; where we can know about a great many things, only by virtue of the dualistic view, we're never quite able to truly know such things. We fear that if we surrender our dreams, and our thoughts and our ideas, that we will somehow surrender something which is real in the process.
What we call our dreams are really what we think our dreams and ambitions are.
What we call good ideas are merely those things that we think are good ideas.

Having understood these principles it seems as though the way to truth dwells in the silencing of the mind...and since we are not the mind, the task of silencing it is no easy task...it does not succumb to our will(just try and predict your next thought! impossible!).
The mind is like a tiny tv screen in a massive arena. We give it so much attention that it seems to occupy the whole of our being...but the stadium is over 99% empty.
All we need do is disengage from the mind...thinking will come to rest on its own.

"Truth is verifiable only by identity with it, not by knowing about it." -David R. Hawkins

-Rob

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