Bits and Pieces

Meditations on Montaigne

53) Un Mot de Cesar

We never get what we want. It seems like a strange concept when wants are turned into things we can purchase. The thing you want is satisfactory only for a short time if at all. The trip you had to take can be highly memorable, but even then it rarely matches the expectations that incited it.

This may be the clue to unlocking the mystery of desire. When we travel and discover experiences beyond our expectations, both the good and the bad, we begin to understand that the defect is in our forecasts. We imagine ourselves obtaining some object of desire and this imagination is never brought to life, it never fully understands the complexity and flow of life.

But this is no reason to deny desire or to forever stay in place. When we experience enough pleasant differences, we see that nothing in life is what we expect. Delight comes from being just as open minded to the results of our decisions as we were when we took the initial plunge.