As We Advance, the Goal Recedes   

There is hope and continuity implied in this paradox, though at first it might sound dismaying. Those who have reached an objective goal have often said, in retrospect, that their enjoyment ceased m-turned sour – after attainment. Thereafter they had to seek new goals in order to continue enjoying.

Goal-seeking has often been defined in terms of emotional satisfaction that the search, or the work, brings. We use terms like "achievement." "success," "winning" etc., but more often than not we have in mind only the kamic-emotional aspect of our nature, our feelings of likes and dislikes, and the whole gamut of emotions they encompass. Our mind alone is able to gauge our true feelings, provided we are intellectually honest with ourselves.

Only we, the mind, can control our feelings. Often these feelings try to blind the mind’s clear vision and we fail to see our lower, petty, selfish desires for what they are. We have all experienced this. All of us have at times felt uneasy, possibly disenchanted, with our lives and objectives, when we as thinking beings realize that we are being carried away by our feelings and are getting bogged down by uncertainty, disillusion and temporary expedients.

© `The Theosophical Movement’ (January, 2002) published by Theosophy Company (India) Private Limited, 40 New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400 020. Reprinted with permission.

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