Unexpected Freedom

Unexpected Freedomtendencies of mind. If we always follow our preferencesthen we will always feel like they are ‘me’. Every time I givemyself what I want, ‘I’ feel gratified, and this ‘I’ grows a littlebigger and a little happier. And every time I succeed inavoiding that which I don’t like, ‘I’ feel a little more pleasedwith myself. But the way of the Dhamma is not always togive ourselves what we want, and not always to turn awayfrom that which we don’t like. In this way we go against ourpreferences in order to see their conditioned nature. Bypractising according to these principles we discover thepossibility of another level of comfort.There is an initial level of comfort or happiness thatcomes from gratifying our desires and according with ourpreferences, and there is another level of happiness whichcomes as a direct result of our willingness to go againstdesires – from knowing that we don’t have to gratify ourdesires – from understanding that all our preferences areconditioned. That’s why I say that purification, the primaryspiritual activity, means opposing preferences in order tolearn about the greater comfort that is the heart being atease with itself. Such comfort is not merely physical, mentalor emotional, but is a contentment in the core of our beingthat arises with understanding, with seeing clearly.Some years ago I accepted an invitation to visit a friendin Beijing with the aim of going together with him to Kyotoin Japan. I had wanted to go to Japan for as long as I couldremember and since my friend was working in China and Iwas en route from visiting family in New Zealand back tothe UK, it wasn’t too big a deviation to stop off in China. Thethought of going there occupied my mind for a long time inadvance. The idea of getting to Japan at last, and seeingthose beautiful gardens and temples in Kyoto, waswonderful. But as it happened my connecting flight from110