Easwaran addresses pleasure and pain as he comments on the names of the Lord in our reading this week, pages 270–281 in The Constant Companion.* Speaking to the short-lived pleasure of dreams, he acknowledges the legitimate function dreams serve and then offers us a clear message:
“My advice, however, is to forget your dreams – don’t dwell on them – and never dwell on daydreams or fantasies of what might be. When you do, you are teaching your mind to live in a dream world, where it can cling to private pleasures and retreat from anything unpleasant.”
He explains that this tendency to separate what we like and what we don’t like into “two different departments” prevents us from growing. And as we practice bearing what we dislike cheerfully, we discover they are not separate departments after all. “If it benefits others, we can actually learn to enjoy it. Then a good deal that was bitter in life becomes sweet.”
Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he has to say in our readings. How can you apply his words to your situation?
Throughout this book study, we’ve been giving special attention to our practice of Spiritual Reading. What do you find most helpful or nourishing about the ways you practice Spiritual Reading?
* For those using electronic versions of The Constant Companion with different page numbering: this week’s reading is Easwaran’s commentary on the names Child of the Infinite through Whose Thoughts Are True. (Please note that the latest edition of our ebook is titled Names of the Lord.)