The cause of all suffering

We discover that fulfilling our desire – getting the job we wanted, getting the success we wanted, getting the sexual satisfaction we wanted – that that does not actually address this deeper ache, this deeper hunger, this deeper need that is felt as a pain. And then I think we begin to get quite complex. We begin to branch out into desires breeding desires, when we will experience a greater and greater alienation from the original need, the wound, the unmet need. Now, in that pattern of desire, which is pretty much the human condition. It’s what the Buddha focused on as the cause of all suffering.

Grace at Work by Laurence Freeman OSB