Page 33 - NAMAH-Oct-2024

Namah The Anatomy of Desire

ourselves and proactively extend our help are quick to blame others for it. They falsely
to others by becoming a reliable support to perceive the world itself as being mean and
them. One should learn to take joy in the idea selfish, while forgetting to examine their own
of taking responsibility. It is through these blatant selfishness in all this. The sense of
deliberate actions that we turn around and entitlement can also blur the line between
restore our lost sense of self-worth and earn genuine needs and desires. The feverish
back our respect. pursuit to acquire things without putting
in much effort causes additional suffering.
All these negative emotions can eventually
snowball and become so toxic that they
lead to a breakdown, bringing suffering to
ourselves and those alongside us.

We need to rethink if the hubris around
entitlement and this suffering is worth it,
especially for those superfluous desires that
we feel must be satisfied at all cost. Really?
The next time we desire something in life,
we should say, ‘Now that I want this, I will
The sense of entitlement and negative have to do it all myself and not expect free
emotions gifts from others.’ This teaches us foremost
the value of hard work and labour, one’s own
When we have an entitlement mindset, we and that of others. It educates us to respect
naturally expect others to gratify us because people and relationships and life becomes a
we feel we deserve that attention (‘Because joy. This new awareness also brings a sense
I am so and so, I need to have this, I need of gratitude in our heart to what others bring
to get that’). This feeling, though natural, to us, and we learn to value everything dearly.
is completely flawed and self-destructive.
Everyone including our family, friends,
relations and co-workers are often taken for
granted and we hold little gratitude in our
heart for the good things that come our way
because of their kindness. To a certain extent,
this belief-system is imbibed from parents
who unwittingly spoil their children by
sparing them all the necessary efforts needed
for a healthy growth and development.

Entitled individuals feel that life must always Transgressing ethical boundaries
be full of rewards to keep them happy. The
result is that even minor failures lead to Sometimes when we feel an acute desire for
huge upsets and disappointments and they something, we might have to cross our ethical

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