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When the mind is absent, thinking about the past or future, we are only half tasting our food. When our awareness rests in the mouth, when we are fully present as we eat, when we slow our eating down, pausing between bites, then each bite can be like the first, rich and full of interesting sensations.

Pursuing pleasure without mindfulness is like being caught on a treadmill. Mindfulness allows pleasure to bloom in thousands of small moments in our life.

Final Words: There can be no party in the mouth if the mind is not invited to attend.

25

Endless Desires

The Exercise: As often as possible during the day, become aware of the arising of desire.

REMINDING YOURSELF

Post small notes in strategic locations that ask, “What Is My Desire Right Now?”

DISCOVERIES

People report that prior to doing this exercise they always thought of desire in regard to food or sex. However, as one man reported, after maintaining an awareness of desire throughout the day, he found that desire is constantly arising, from the time he awakens until the final conscious moment before he falls asleep. When the alarm clock rings, desire for more sleep. Walking into the kitchen, desire for coffee. In the evening, desire to lie down in bed. And so on. Many people are stunned to find they are a mass of desire, thinly disguised as “rationality.”

The tyranny of desire takes hold very early in life. A half hour after breakfast my two-year-old granddaughter will be outside, swinging happily in her swing, when suddenly her little face screws up into a frown and she declares, “I want ice cream!” A little later it will be “I want chocolate raisins!” She has also learned that “I need . . .” is more potent in getting her desires met than “I want. . . .” She is so transparent, you can watch the clouds of desire pass through and darken her sunny mind. It can take a lot of adult determination and wiles to distract and untangle her from the tentacles of desire.

We all know how desire can take hold of us like a cocklebur. We are not much different from a toddler. We could be walking contentedly through the mall, and suddenly we smell cinnamon buns. We can watch desire arise and begin to nag, negotiate, and rationalize in our mind. It takes determination to stop the internal argument and switch the mind-stream to something healthier.

DEEPER LESSONS

There is nothing innately wrong with desire. Desire keeps us alive. If we had no desire for food, drink, or sleep, we would soon die. If we had no desire for sex, there would be no people, no Buddha, no prophets, no Jesus. For example, there is nothing wrong with desiring food when you are hungry, and enjoying it as you eat. However, if we cling to that pleasure afterward, and then cling to the food that brought us pleasure, we start down the road to suffering. “That ice cream was so delicious, I need another big bowl.” Or, upping the ante, “I worked so hard, I deserve another bowl.”

Watching how often desire arises during the day brings it out of the unconscious realm, where it can control us, directing our behavior without our realizing it. “I want/need/ deserve some ice cream” soon becomes “How did I gain ten pounds?” “I’m lonely and I want/need/deserve someone to love me” becomes “How did I find myself in bed with this person?” When desire is brought out into the open ground of our awareness, we can see it and make conscious decisions about whether following it would be wholesome or not.

Part of the reason desire is so potent is that it makes us feel alive. When our mind fixes on something it wants, we are like hunters fixed on our prey, alert and energized. If we are thinking of buying a car, we begin to notice cars everywhere. We talk to friends and salespeople about cars and read comparisons on the web. Finally we buy a car. We are happy driving our new car around. But how long does the pleasure last? A few weeks or months at most. Then it becomes just another car and we’re off looking for something else, a new computer perhaps. Desire itself can be pleasurable,