Vested Moments

 There is a German word Schadenfreude that expresses the joy of seeing someone’s misfortune. It’s an ugly sentiment, but an honest raw emotion if we can accept it to ourselves. Same with anger, when we are angry at someone our little world is suddenly defined. No, we never want to be that person. We want to be as far away from him as possible, or worse, even consider doing him harm. Yet either way, our creative juices are flowing by hating him. In a weird way we feel alive!

 

It’s easy to see why we may temporarily forget about our spiritual “no-thing-ness” perspective in the pleasurable moments. After all, why negate the “me, myself and I” perspective when the going is good. Yet when it comes to the negative emotions—the anger, the jealousy, the regret, the depression—that’s when we like to inquire into love, serenity and selflessness because we have the feeling that we would be better off if we could leave all these negative emotions behind.

 

Do you see the problem statement? Every moment is in fact a vested moment, it’s just that we do not want to accept it for the guilty part of the emotional spectrum. Yet, we can only penetrate the veneer of self identity if we own every moment at hand and are willing to dive into our attachment to it. The problem with the wish to be spiritual is that we don’t really accept for ourselves how much we like the pleasurable aspects of life—and their reasons—and effectively look down on the so-perceived negative ones.

 

Own the moment at hand. Understand why you are vested and maybe then you have a shot at inquiring into the “me, myself and I” energies until they dissolve by themselves.

 

#spirituality