If desire causes suffering, it may be because we do not desire wisely, or that we are inexpert at obtaining what we desire. Instead of hiding our heads in a prayer cloth and building walls against temptation, why not get better at fulfilling desire? Salvation is for the feeble, that's what I think. I don't want salvation, I want life, all of life, the miserable as well as the superb. If the gods would tax ecstasy, then I shall pay; however, I shall protest their taxes at each opportunity, and if Woden or Shiva or Buddha or that Christian fellow--what's his name?--cannot respect that, then I'll accept their wrath. At least I will have tasted the banquet that they have spread before me on this rich, round planet, rather than recoiling from it like a toothless bunny. I cannot believe that the most delicious things were placed here merely to test us, to tempt us, to make it the more difficult for us to capture the grand prize: the safety of the void. To fashion of life such a petty game is unworthy of both men and gods. .Tom Robbins
About This Quote
The poem quite clearly presents the author's opinion on why we suffer. The author believes that it is because we desire and because we fail to obtain what we desire, that we suffer. Now, if we can learn to acquire what we desire and not to desire what we do not obtain, then our suffering will cease. The author does not believe in the idea of God as a person who will reward or punish us for our actions, but rather as forces of nature. It is those forces of nature that make us suffer because we fail to obtain what we desire.
Source: Jitterbug Perfume
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