In today’s world we don’t suffer from fulfilling desires, we suffer from a lack of desire. You have all the tools you want to create, but there’s struggle of creation itself (at least in my case).
With our theory of emotion and its consequences under our belt, how do we gather steam, get some desire? You can start with purifying input streams, but that only prepares us. We need to care enough to start creating. There’s two patterns to a deep care.
Some say those with a passion were born with it. But the first common pattern is that, in their more formative years, they were deeply impressed with whatever now dominates their day to day; first drawing, first book, first building blocks. I’m reminded of Glenn Gould and a concert experience that changed everything. In either case, there’s a bedrock of realized possibility from which the rest comes. What drives them? It’s to, always, in some form, bring possibilities of an activity into life, which they may have witnessed from other masters. Why? The effects of such possibilities makes their world better.
Some people’s divinity brews slowly with time. Like tracing a thread through a quilt of experience that shines a sort of gold. The possibilities may not be immediately obvious as a deeply impressed experience, but they build up. This approach, in some ways, is better. Because you have a small fire you’re building up, instead of taming a roaring fire that may destroy you, which is another common trope. But you can also note that, with this path, it’s almost required to clean up your streams, otherwise the small fire will die out.
The second pattern is that input, process, output cycle. Those who were initially enamoured as a child fell out, why is that? It’s because the stream stopped, the input stopped. Maybe they wanted to play piano but the family couldn’t afford, just one of many examples. So they stop and forget about it, stop caring as much. We often mistake that which we pay attention to is determined by what we care about, a care fixed in at birth. But, instead, what you care about is DETERMINED by what you pay attention to!
So, when you suffer from a lack of desire, it just requires two steps.
The first is to, from whatever fancy you choose, the tiniest inkling, force yourself to see what’s possible with it. Want to draw? Look at what others create, and the effects from that. Think about the breadth of impact Disney has. Think about the possibilities already realized.
Once you’re hooked on possibilities shown, the second is to never stop adding fuel to your small flame. Keep always seeking. You’re collecting experiences, whether from you or from people around the around, what they’re doing and what they learned. Seek by observing what others are doing, seek through the tools, add a bit each day to your complex. Stretch your imagination to see what could happen that hasn’t happened yet, that you can bring. Collect more possibilities, remind yourself why its effects are interesting to you. Synthesize. Find streams of information that channels your imagination into reality.
As long as you have an activity, some attention with a small bit of imagination, and continued diverse experience about an activity, care will come. From care, everything else will flow.
