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The two kinds of desire, and one of the most important things I know

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Let me just bastardize some Buddhism for you guys, in the service of telling you one of the most important things I know. There are two kinds of desire. It’s hard to tease them apart conceptually. But that doesn’t matter too much, because it’s relatively easy to tell them apart experientially. They are tanha, and chanda. Tanha: Scarcity-based desire. Graspy, clingy. Feels like fighting life. “I don’t want this headache, let me tense my forehead until it goes away.” Perhaps if I get a little more social status, I will finally love myself. Sigh, I don’t really want to do the dishes, but I…

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