"[I]n order to enjoy, know, possess, and be everything, desire to enjoy, know, possess, and be nothing..." St. John of the Cross said that, or wrote that. This quote was taken from the spiritual classic "Divine Intimacy."
It's difficult to understand what St. John of the Cross means. Taking him literally is kind of scary, also I think it can be used as a sort of excuse for not doing anything. However how I've found a kind of peace and understanding of this quote in my own life is to just be who I am. I don't aspire to be Poet Laureate but I do aspire to be a damn good writer (p.s. I would NOT reject being Poet Laureate...that would be friggen SWEET). Perhaps it's better to aspire to be the fullness of who you are in honesty than trying to meet the mold of some external ambition like President or some shit. I mean there's nothing wrong with being President, but there might be something wrong with designing your life around that ambition.
I think the reason we're not supposed to do that is because, hey, it's a BOX. That's not new news. Don't put yourself in a box. I think it might be a possible symptom of fear of freedom. If we have a free will (which I think we do) then we have a hell of a lot more wiggle room than we give ourselves credit for. So lets do this. Lets be fantastic. Lets be ourselves in Christ.
Another slap in your face interpretation of St. John's advice is to not expect anything because when we expect something it automatically spoils what will happen to us. Whether you believe in Christ, the Universe, or some ambiguous glob of higher power I think it can be held true that expectations of events, people, and life just makes things less bearable and also less exciting.
When we expect things it kind of blinds us to what's truly a gift. Like on Christmas day, it's a lot more exciting to open up presents when you have no expectations. When you do have expectations it's a greedy miserable race to uncover what you hope you got and if you don't get it then it sucks! You cry and are bitter and you're definitely not appreciate of Mom and Dad who tried really hard, spent money on you, made sacrifices, etc. etc..
Expectations don't bring you together as a family in appreciation for one another and the gifts you've given one another and the thought that was behind them. It tears you apart. (I'm speaking of expectations as fabricated endings that we play in our minds - our hopes and desires for certain outcomes. They're not the same as standards, which I firmly believe in.)
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