Ambition and Desire: The Thief and Raw Ambition.
A thief is the most ambitious person. He is raw, unapologetic, and has very little patience. He exhibits only as much patience as required for the act of theft. Thieves are often caught in the act of disposing of stolen property. This lack of patience is their undoing.
Human beings are the most complex animals. Animals have two distinct personalities.
One is the personality of the beast: to attack, defend, and feed. This is ambition in raw form. The other personality is tender. This is the way the animal deals with its parents, siblings, or offspring. This is the compassion. A state of emotional display.
Human beings are losing track of these two sides. They have developed a meshed-up personality. The textures of these two personalities are completely wrapped up together. It is difficult to know which one is operating, and which is on the skin.
Decisions taken under the influence of alcohol may sometimes be correct. But a decision taken under the influence of emotions shall always be wrong. It is wrong forever.
Ambition is the beast personality seeking control. To understand ambition, we must examine its underlying forces. These forces are desire and impulse1.
Desire versus Impulse
Human motivation is shaped by two powerful forces: desire and the impulse for sensation.
While they may seem similar, they stem from distinct origins. They carry different intentions and yield contrasting outcomes. Understanding these differences helps us make conscious choices.
What Is Desire?
Desire is a thoughtful longing. It is rooted in experience, imagination, or future-oriented goals. It reflects a meaningful pursuit of fulfillment, purpose, or lasting value.
- Grounded in Meaning: Desire emerges from past experiences, memories, or a clear vision of what we seek. It is shaped by reflection and realistic expectations.
- Guided by Anticipation: It involves expecting specific benefits or pleasures. This is informed by prior satisfaction or mental engagement.
- Purposeful and Controllable: Desire drives deliberate actions. These actions align with personal growth, values, or long-term goals. We can easily refine or redirect desire.
Craving a favorite dish after recalling its taste is a desire. Striving to learn a new skill for personal development is also a desire. Aiming to be in political office is not a mere desire, it is an ambition.
What Is Impulse for Sensation?
Impulse for sensation is an immediate, reactive drive. It seeks novelty, thrill, or stimulation. It often disregards consequences or past experience.
- Fueled by Restlessness: It prioritizes newness over predictable outcomes. It is driven by a need to escape routine or feel something immediate.
- Less Focused on Meaning: The focus is on the experience itself. It seeks distraction or excitement rather than a defined reward.
- Potential for Risky Outcomes: Actions may lead to compulsive or regrettable behaviors. The only goal is the thrill of novelty.
Trying a forbidden activity out of curiosity is an impulse. Scrolling social media for a quick dopamine rush is also an impulse.
The Blip of Achievement
Achievement of any kind remains a blip. A temporary high. A new Car. A new House. It gives sensation for a few days. We perceive it as pleasure. But it fades away. Like a blip on radar. It appears, stays for a few days and disappears.
The difference between ambition and the other two forces is crucial. Desire is anchored in meaning. It fuels purposeful actions that align with our values.
In contrast, the impulse for sensation seeks immediate gratification. This often leads to fleeting or regrettable outcomes.
Ambition blends these two forces into a drive for power. The ambitious person seeks to control the environment.
This drive is like the numbers game. We chase numbers to feed the beast within us.
But this chase remains an impulse for sensation. It never brings lasting satisfaction. It only leads back to the chase for the next blip of achievement.
The Desire to Become
Ambition is the element that makes humans beastly. Greed is another facet of ambition. Simply put, ambition is a desire to become somebody. It is the urge to become extraordinary and be bowed to by others.
This desire to be extraordinary is the most ordinary desire of all. But it remains vague till it gets specifications from Ambition. Ambition produces a cycle of anxiety and despair. The future target keeps shifting farther away. It gives no moment of respite.
Ambition is often camouflaged as necessity or need. It never permits a pause of satisfaction. Looking backward with a sense of achievement is treated as blasphemy.
The target is out there. March on. No rest.
If the soldier of ambition reaches the destination, they are too wounded to enjoy it2. They have left too many friends behind. The loneliness that fueled the journey becomes even more unbearable. They become wounded soldiers licking their wounds.
They celebrate success merely to mark the end of the misery of planning. The tyranny of the objective finally ends.
But once celebration ends, they are bored and miss the hoopla3. They surround themselves with flatterers because they have nothing else to do.
The Vocation Identity
We readily believe that identity created by our vocation will sail us through life. When we meet someone, we ask what they do for a living. We mean their vocation, not their way of living. Vocation becomes us.
The cry for identity starts in childhood when a child claims dominion over a toy. The need to look for applause takes root. Possessions like car and house are new toys. Work provides that. The work that was an escape from loneliness eventually leaves us lonely and wounded4.
We attempt to identify with a single role in life. We identify with causes, regions, religions, or languages. These causes occupy our thoughts and cripple the mind. We become unable to practice plain observation.
We pass each other without noticing. A casual chat or hobby without a cause is treated as a waste of time.
Life becomes a cause, and we become its martyrs. We live a terminal illness instead of living life.
Do that mean that we should not work? have no vocation? Far from it, vocation without ambition can give joy. We only need to try it. Work for the sake of work. Work without expectation of desired outcome.
The Dominoes of Karma
Karma is the most misunderstood word today. It is not a simple reaction. It is not an action that immediately invites a reaction from the universe. It is far more complex.
Karma is like putting up dominoes all your life. One day, those dominoes start to fall. Karma is not the trigger for the fall. It is the process of building the dominoes.
They will be built. No calculation can stop it, and nothing can prevent the fall. The fall will happen eventually.
The only question is how many you raised, and how many will fall.
The Care of the Body
Body is the vessel of the journey called life. The needs of the body are simple. There is no reason to deprive the body.
But moderation is the best policy for health. If we fulfill physical needs and ignore the chase of a bright future, we save trouble.
When a pressing thought arises, check it against physical needs. Does your body need it today? Does it need it tomorrow? Does it need it sixteen years after tomorrow?
The patient reader who understands this analysis will know the answer.
Genetics play a role in the decay of the body. Keeping good health requires watchfulness. We must keep a close watch on the body. We must eat carefully.
We can taste other things, but we must eat only what is needed. We can use the Fats in Food series as a methodical guide to right food5.
If we eat carefully, biological decay will be slow. It will accelerate only right before the end. If we do not take care of the body, life becomes a torture all the way to its final moments.
In life, rainbows rise on horizon and disappears in the cycles of life. How can a rainbow be of a single color? We shall discuss the cycles of life in next chapter.
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