The 3 Desires and The 3 Actions

We have both positive desires and negative desires. Lack of desire also exists.

Don't perpetuate negative desires.

Here's a formula which can help, but it's not foolproof. If faced with a negative desire, say:

"I don't want to want to"

There are nine permutations concerning desire and action. There are three possibilities with regards to action versus three possibilities with regards to desire. Not all of these permutations make any logical sense though:

1. Positive Desire w/ Positive Action
2. Positive Desire w/ Zero Action
3. Positive Desire w/ Negative Action

4. Zero Desire w/ Positive Action
5. Zero Desire w/ Zero Action
6. Zero Desire w/ Negative Action

7. Negative Desire w/ Positive Action
8. Negative Desire w/ Zero Action
9. Negative Desire w/ Negative Action

Positive desire is what we want to cultivate in our lives. Because by making ourselves, each and every one of us, better on the inside, (which is to say by making MYSELF better on the inside) and by passing on those positive desires, we will make the entire world, eventually, a better place.

It's one thing to make the world a better place on the outside, but it's quite another to make the world a better place on the inside. And that's where evolution really happens.

Positive Desire is the first possibility.

The second possibility is Zero Desire. Zero Desire can be used positively.

Especially to counter Negative Desire. There are a lot of things that could be called negative desires. One example is heroin addiction, other things that could be considered negative desires might be the desire to harm others, the desire to selfishly keep everything for yourself to make sure that only your own life is comfortable with no regard for anyone, etc.

We all have our own definitions of negative desires as well as the classic examples. It's up to one's own individual judgement as to what constitutes a negative desire and what constitutes a positive desire.

Should you have a negative desire that remains with you when you die (no matter what the source, because where the desire comes from is not nearly as important as the concept of not passing that bad desire on), if you're strong, you're going to become part of a lot of people, and if your negative desires are strong you're going to cause a lot of unnecessary pain.

In order to abolish negative desire the formula is
"I don't want to want to".

"I don't want to want to do that". Now that's a zero desire, but used in a very positive direction. By simply getting rid of your negative desire and not perpetuating it, you are doing a service for the entire human race.

The 3 Actions:

1. Positive Action. Good, get up and do it!

2. Zero Action can have either positive or negative consequences. Negative consquences as in what they call "sins of omission", ie. something you should have done but didn't. On the other hand, if there was something you shouldn't have done but did anyway, zero action could have been a positive force.

3. Negative Action. There have been a lot of very great things created since the dawn of time, which have been destroyed, or vandalized for no good reason at all.

Combinations of the 3 Desires and the 3 Actions

The word desire, here, only means "want" but there are a lot of things that, as the British say, want doing.

Positive desire coupled with positive action means that if you are sure that the goal that you are working on is truly positive - Do what you have to do to achieve that positive goal!

10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

Are you going to spend you life dreaming and never working towards achieving your goals?

3. Positive Desire coupled with Negative Action is totally contradictory and yet this is exactly what happens much of the time.

For instance someone will say, "Oh, yes. I absolutely have to lose weight!" and what happens? Overeating is so often a compulsion that can be likened to any kind of addiction.

In general, eating is a positive action but when taken to excess, of course, it becomes negative. What often happens is we somehow get sidetracked and thereby lose sight of our positive goals.

Zero desire, as mentioned before can be effective in combatting negative desires. Zero desire coupled with positive action basically means that you're working for somebody else.

In other words, you don't want to do the job, but you are doing it anyway (and hopefully getting something in return for it even though it's somebody else's idea).

If you find yourself in a situation like this, you still have to realize that you're working towards a greater goal, not just for yourself or not just for the boss either, or for his backers.

In general what most people would call negative desire coupled with positive action, is actually a desire "not to". Which is a negative thing in itself, spending life in a bad mood, saying, "This damn job. I don't wanna do this, I don't wanna do that". Whereas in actual fact you're actually doing a great deal to help out the rest of the world and that's one of the things you should realize.

5. Negative Desires

This is a tough one. Because there are some really warped people, that work themselves up into a real frenzy, and go out and do something crazy. Hurt people, and mess things up. I mean there are some notorious names in history, which be better to be forgotten altogether, and as far as the Shards are concerned as well.

6. Negative Action is The Enemy.

Negative Action must be prevented from happening. There are ways that people attempt to prevent further negative actions, they call them prisons. Proper mental health care is a good way to weed out negative desires/negative actions as well.

Every action plants a seed, and a bad seed can only produce a malignant plant.

Negative Action cannot be condoned.

No one should ever use the Shards as an excuse for negative behavior. If someone says, "Well, I found out that this mass-murderer died around the time I was born, therefore I've become a mass-murderer because I have all these reincarnation desires and I just can't stop myself".

This defense cannot be taken seriously, the Shards teaches that you have to do whatever necessary to clear yourself of negative desires, to not only make your life and others surrounding you better in the present but also to avoid transmitting these destructive desires to future generations, and thereby perpetuating man's inner hell. A good place to stop that feeling of "I can't stop myself" is with the Shardal Mantra: "I don't want to want to".

As with any religion a certain number of people will never believe in the Shards, and will continue to believe in one of the other religions (or no religion at all) at whatever cost to themselves and humanity.

Shards©1984