There is pleasure, and there is bliss

rheadopmeijer

Oct 1

"There is Pleasure.
And there is Bliss.
Forgo the first to possess the second"

- Buddha –

We already have been exploring Desire and Pleasure as well the hidden aspect of them. Yet there is also the forbidden aspect of Desire and Pleasure and another layer to enfold.
Looking at pleasure there are so many things that can bring us pleasure, it can be the smile of a loved one, the touch of a loved one, the smell of a loved one, or the sound of a loved one.

All senses participate in the sensation of pleasure. Of course, it is through music as well as eating a treat or getting an embrace, a comment to validate you and a painting you created, or a present you were given.

Yet if we are looking at desire, it is almost inevitable to look at our own physical encounters we can have. A baby reacts instinctively to the loving touch of a parent, as it does in response to a painful experience. Along the way in our upbringing, we are being taught what feels and creates a sense of pleasure and what the opposite of it, a painful sensation, is.

Desire is something that is not just giving way to what you want to feel, either emotional or physical; it is always about the mental and psychological aspect that creates the sensation of pleasure.

There is this deep desire we can feel to become one with the other when we are in love as a reflection, you could say of our deeper desire to become One within ourselves. The exterior mirrors the interior in so many ways that we seek those experiences that will give us the most pleasure.

In fact, if you solely want to experience pleasure because your desire is coming from the need for validation on a physical plane, you will seek other experiences than the ones that come from the Heart and its desire to expand and explore the inner source that lies within.

Yet when it comes down to it, every action and every experience we seek in our desire for pleasure is coming either through Love or the lack of Love, the lack of self-worth and confidence as well the inner knowing of self as being the mirage reflection of the Divine and all these layers in between.

There however is a world we do not want to see or acknowledge when it comes to pleasure in combination with pain. There is something forbidden in the way the two combine and how pleasure can be achieved. Of course, there are differences in culture, upbringing, in religion, and gender. Yet it is coming more and more out in the open, the desire to be playing different roles and being dominant or dominated willingly instead of an abusive relationship.

When Love is part of the experience between the parties, the desire for pleasure will have a different outcome in experiencing that may be clear. There can be a balance between power and control and letting go of control and power if there is a loving agreement. Then the experience will shift from solely physical to a more embodied experience where boundaries are being explored and expanded.

Not many people talk about it, and not many people want to be exposed when it comes to forbidden desire in the eyes of the beholder. For it is also a matter of perception, and there are many judgments about this topic of forbidden desire and pleasure.

Looking at the quote of Buddha, there is pleasure, there is bliss. We all are one way or the other searching for our inner desire to experience at least pleasure, and in our journey to seek there are many paths we can take and many teachings that we can follow to achieve either pleasure or bliss. How many of humanity have experienced bliss or at least pleasure following their inner desire to a reunion or become once again, as a whole, not as an individual solely?

This is what most of humanity is being taught, is not it? Women need to please the men in the marriage, religion condemns certain female behavior and sexuality is just for procreation, for the women. Men may have pleasure in their sexuality. And all the excessive abuses that come forth because of all the doctrines and social measurements as well.

How can there be a change to enable the deeply rooted inner desire for Unity and Oneness if we cannot even give the example to each other in a loving and compassionate way? No tolerance to go about it, for that still is conviction and condemnation wrapped in nice colored paper. Just in an unconditionally loving way in our own encounters with each other.

For as long as we do not accept our differences in the way we are seeking to bring our inner desire into this world and our expressions, we cannot understand that all experiences are having one common factor.

We all want to be loved, and we all want to love. Basically, it comes down to this simple factor that creates every experience from the day you were born, and even before that in the womb, till the day you decide it is enough, no longer is there a need for diversity, no need for division, or duality.

Then we can create a world where only one desire will create the greatest pleasure, the sensation of total connection and melding, a true state of bliss.

If you see and love the essence in others,
it is because you have found the essence of your own being.
This is the purest form of compassion.
Not one to the other, but of Being to Being.

Mooji