One of the three invariable properties of every living being is the desire for pleasure. This natural quality is inherent in every soul. In our real material life, this desire to enjoy can manifest itself in different ways, depending on what one identifies with.
If a person identifies himself with the soul, then humility becomes the key quality in his life. When a person begins to understand that he is not a body, but a soul and understands deeper in this issue - he learns what a soul is, he draws several interesting conclusions. The scriptures say that souls are parts of God that are not qualitatively different from Him. God is spirit and I am spirit. Therefore, when I begin to identify myself with the soul, I become naturally humble. There is not a drop of pride in me, because I understand that all living beings around me are the same souls, parts of God, like me. Such a person automatically begins to show such qualities in his life: righteousness, friendliness to all living beings. He begins to strive for truth, purity. She tries to be honest and learns to love everyone. That is, it manifests in its activity the eternal qualities of the soul.
How is the life of a person who has identified himself with the body. Identifying oneself with the body is identifying oneself with the roles that it plays in this world. By identifying with these roles, he becomes proud of himself. I am the best father or I am a successful businessman. This pride can then be extended to other roles. Not only is my family the best, but my family is also the best. My country is the best, my nation is the best. After all, my religion is the best. Religion is not necessarily a spiritual teaching. Religion can be any value system. Moreover, this religion is not considered by such a person as a deep faith, for him it is just a set of rituals. Such a person in various forms manifests cruelty and hatred towards living beings, not realizing that they are also part of God. He envies, lies to others and to himself, constantly feels injustice and feels lust. His senses control him. Even if he does not want all this, unfortunately, it will manifest itself in his life because of the false identification of himself with the body and, as a result, of his pride.
Let's go back to enjoyment. This one of the existing three properties of the soul manifests itself in two different people in completely different ways.
One who has identified himself with the body, experiencing constant lust, tries to gratify his senses. Which require more and more pleasure. The more you scratch, the more it itches. And each time more and more sophisticated, refined and even perverted pleasures are required. Which ultimately leads to the fact that a person is far away from the search for the meaning of life, from eternal values and begins to degrade. Since such a person depends on others for his pleasures, he is not free. He wants and demands from everyone to be loved. To be enjoyed, he was served. For example, a wife begins to demand love, money, and everything else from her husband. Or, on the contrary, the husband from the wife - obedience, so that she cooks tastier, tidies up cleaner. After all, he should be enjoyed. A person does not even think about what could be otherwise. His senses want to enjoy, the soul wants to enjoy, and he tries to do this, drawing out and demanding love for himself, trying to force others to serve him. Which brings him mostly only anxiety and suffering.
A person who has identified himself with the soul can also enjoy in this world. But his pleasures are much stronger, purer, more sublime. They are not comparable to the pleasures of a person with a bodily concept of life. The one who studies the question of the soul and begins to identify himself with it, gradually understands what the soul wants. A soul striving for eternal happiness is part of a complete whole. To achieve this happiness, the soul, as a small part of the complete whole, must serve this complete whole - God. Only this will bring satisfaction and happiness to the soul. A person who studies the scriptures, listens to holy people (and these are the only truly happy people in this world), begins to understand that serving God and other living beings, he receives the highest kind of pleasure. He does not want and does not require love himself, he begins to generate it by connecting to the source of love - God through prayer and spiritual practice. So he becomes such a guide, gives this love to everyone, regardless of whether he is a close person or not. From his family or not. His nation or religion or not. He never demands or wants to serve himself. He himself serves everyone and takes care of everyone, seeing a soul in everyone. Such a person is truly happy because God, who is also in his heart, is satisfied. Because this person acts and lives the way God wants. And God gives him everything he needs to be happy. This path does not know losses and defeats, because God protects such a person, fully protects him and leads to the most important, true goal of life.
