Desire

Hi, I am Kiwi Kawaii ^^ Desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire we refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. Even if we may temporarily satisfy a desire, the main problem is attachment to desire. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering. Attachment to desire works on auto-pilot, while the vast majority of people do not realize they are autmatically functioning like this. For example, in this artwork 'Desire' we can see a homeless person who has a desire to have a bed and a roof above his head. We can rationalize that this is a healthy desire as it can keep him out of the danger. However what happens when he obtains what he desired? There is a part of him which is used to always desire something, even if that something was achieved, the habit of desiring (attachement to desire) will keep him in a loop of desiring. Now, the person in this drawing, desires to have an even more pretty room, a fancy bed with luxurious golden finishes. Even if he obtains that, the desire will never stop there and he will always constantly crave something else, perhaps a bed on on a spaceship in space.. therefore, never finding true peace. If we look carefully to the bottom part of the artwork, we can see that despite his situation, peace is always there, waiting to be noticed.