Keep discontent alive ( 30 Aug 2006 Wed)

Keep discontent alive
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Is not discontent essential in our life, to any question, to any inquiry, to
probing, to finding out what is the real, what is Truth, what is essential in life?
I may have this flaming discontent in college; and then I get a good job and this
discontent vanishes. I am satisfied, I struggle to maintain my family, I have to
earn a livelihood and so my discontent is calmed, destroyed, and I become a mediocre
entity satisfied with things of life, and I am not discontent. But the flame has to
be maintained from the beginning to the end, so that there is true inquiry, true
probing into the problem of what discontent is. Because the mind seeks very easily a
drug to make it content with virtues, with qualities, with ideas, with actions, it
establishes a routine and gets caught up in it. We are quite familiar with that, but
our problem is not how to calm discontent, but how to keep it smoldering, alive,
vital. All our religious books, all our gurus, all political systems pacify the mi
nd, quieten the mind, influence the mind to subside, to put aside discontent and
wallow in some form of contentment.…Is it not essential to be discontented in order
to find what is true?

Book of Life - August 30th