Priorities
Many people have theorized what our most General Desire is. There has been much written on this subject. While the true identity of this Desire is not dependent upon our individual perception, the accuracy of our perception of it defines who each of us is and becomes the root from which our other Desires stem.
This identification process should be a priority for us because the obtainment of our General Desire is the most important and accurate measurement of our success.
The rest of this explanation is based on my understanding that our most General Desire is the Sustainable Joy we obtain in Compatible Relationships. Joy is a feeling of happiness, complete satisfaction, or balance. When we have it, we want our present relationships to never end. When we don't have enough of it we find ourselves watching the clock, waiting for our current circumstances to be over with or looking for additional relationships.
But when we experience true Joy, we desire to stay in that relationship forever. When we develop the Resources that enable us to do that, Joy is Sustainable. This is what many religious writers have termed salvation. There are countless other words that have been used to describe it. When we consistently dwell in this state of Joy, we are saved. We couldn’t ask for anything more....but to assist others to find it for themselves.
Desires can be ranked between general and specific. Some Desires are more core than others. At some point in our rankings, the choice becomes what is most important to us individually. There are some Specific Desires that we could never sacrifice for another. At this level, Specific Desires merge with our General but they are still specific to us, rather than common to all people. Not everyone has the Specific Desires that we do. For example, we may decide that one of our most important Desires is to marry a certain person. We will not give up this person for anyone or anything else. This is a Specific Desire. Yet, generally speaking, it is very common for most people to choose a certain person to marry. But it is less common for all of us to choose the same person. There are groups of people who are generally attracted to a certain type of individual, individuals with common character traits, but each of us has unique preferences, attractions, and needs. Some of us have more Specific Desires than others. For example, it may be true that a high percentage of people would be okay with marrying a number of different people from a given group. It may also be true that a smaller percentage of people need a very specific person with very specific character traits to obtain compatibility. Each of us has to figure out these choices for ourselves. Neither is better or worse. It is best to choose our Specific Desires based on our personal experience of our General. Which of all our choices brings us Sustainable Joy? That takes time and experience to determine but it doesn’t take forever.
You may have written down a Specific Desire for your answer to the Desire question in Level 1. When we choose a Specific Desire, it is like a hypothesis. We believe that when we obtain this Desire we will obtain Joy, or a more sustainable degree of it. We are not always correct in our assumptions but it is important to form them to the best of our ability anyway. Researching what it is that we Desire is a great way to start our journey. We need to study it, evaluate it, understand what it is, define it, and expand it before we actually place it in the position of a more General Desire that we cannot ever be happy without. As we come to know what our Specific Desire is, we can make a more educated decision about whether we want to pursue it or not.
In response to the Level 1 Desire question, you may also have answered that you just want to be happy. It is a good start to understand that happiness is our most General Desire and that we should evaluate our Specific Desires by this one. It’s important to know that we don’t want to sacrifice Sustainable Joy for something else. There are many Specific Conflicting Desires that are opportunity costs for Sustainable Joy. We need to be aware that these types of Desires do indeed exist. When we know what Sustainable Joy – not just short-lived pleasure, amusement, or gratification – feels like, we are equipped with the ability to detect Specific Conflicting Desires and with the strength to sacrifice them. Since we’re all unique, each of us needs to identify the Specific Desires that are compatible with Sustainable Joy. This is how we work out our salvation. It is required of us to choose the specific relationships and abilities we individually need to develop to become eternally happy.
