The pendulum you describe here, between desire and what's "best," has a name in Buddhist psychology: tanha, usually translated as "thirst" or "craving."
But what the Buddha said wasn't that desire itself was the problem. It was the clinging to it. The pendulum keeps swinging because we grab the arc instead of watching it move.
The Rumi quote almost names the same gap. Not between desire and renunciation, but between what's felt and what can cross into language.
What stays with you more from that dream: the image, or the feeling of being unable to speak it?
this actually reminds me of a poem i really love by fernando pessoa… there’s a line that says “i am nothing. i will never be anything. i cannot wish to be anything. aside from that, i have within me all the dreams of the world.”
That quotation is widely attributed to Kahlil Gibran.
The love lost one? Good to know. I’ll look into it tomorrow morning, thanks!
The pendulum you describe here, between desire and what's "best," has a name in Buddhist psychology: tanha, usually translated as "thirst" or "craving."
But what the Buddha said wasn't that desire itself was the problem. It was the clinging to it. The pendulum keeps swinging because we grab the arc instead of watching it move.
The Rumi quote almost names the same gap. Not between desire and renunciation, but between what's felt and what can cross into language.
What stays with you more from that dream: the image, or the feeling of being unable to speak it?
Aha I like the Buddhist interpretation. I would say the image!
this actually reminds me of a poem i really love by fernando pessoa… there’s a line that says “i am nothing. i will never be anything. i cannot wish to be anything. aside from that, i have within me all the dreams of the world.”
My fav Pessoa poem goes something like
Man is not an animal
Is an intelligent flesh (e uma carne intelligente)
Though ill sometimes
(Embora as veces doente)