Step Into Bigger Shoes

Question

In various spiritual writings I have come across, it says that at some point on your path you have to give up the desire for enlightenment. That makes no sense to me. Can you explain?

Answer

What such writers are addressing is that at some point you need to surrender the PERSONAL desire for enlightenment (in other words, seeking freedom for just your own sake). And if you think about it, that makes perfect sense. Because in order to break out of the prison of the small self, one must step beyond their current, more narrow focus of identification into something much more expansive.

One of the most powerful ways to move beyond the limits of the small self is to open up to bigger desires - ones that extend beyond the typical boundaries of an ego structure. Such a shift automatically aligns you (energetically and otherwise) with a larger field of being. For example, the sincere urge to attend to someone else's needs over your own, instantly increases your arena of awareness. Similarly, when your heart aches with the burning desire to free the entire world (and not just yourself); the imprisoning shell of the small self is suddenly opened wide.

Ultimately the desire to merely to ease your own suffering or solve the riddle of your singular existence is not sufficient to the task of enlightenment. In fact, countless seekers regularly get stalled due to desires that are much too small (confined to the narrow circle of self).

Simply put, when you think small, you receive small. Expand your thinking by asking God to open up your heart to its deepest and truest desires, which by nature are always much loftier and larger than typical ego concerns. A sincere prayer in this regard (which includes inviting God to remove all obstacles currently standing in the way of such a state) is guaranteed to yield dramatic results.

Time to step into the bigger shoes of your truest desires. Ultimately, you have nothing to lose, but a much smaller and more limited experience of self!