The cycle of action-impression-recognition-desire

This process of (a) recognizing that we are unfulfilled in some way, (b) beginning a search for the object that will fulfill us, (c) finding the object, (d) experiencing it, and then getting bored with it, has been given a name. It has been called the action-impression-recognition-desire cycle. To help understand this cycle, let me tell you a story.

Once there was a suburban family, and they were at home one spring evening. Amy, a little girl eight years of age, was playing with her dolls. Her daddy was sitting in his chair reading the entertainment section of the newspaper. Suddenly he put the paper down and said, in an excited voice:

Guess what, Amy, the circus is coming to town. Would you like to go to the circus?

Well, Amy had never been to the circus, and she had no idea what the circus was, so the word circus didn't mean anything to her. She was not really interested, but she knew her daddy loved her, so she thought that if he really wanted to go, it might be a fun experience.

That Saturday Amy and her daddy went to the circus, and it was a completely mind-blowing experience for her. There were lions and a lion tamer with a chair and a whip. There were elephants and horses and bare-back riders. There were trapeze artists and jugglers and clowns. And there was a Ferris wheel and a carousel, and cotton candy and soft drinks. And Amy loved it all. She loved it so much that for weeks afterwards she was still telling her mommy stories about the things she had seen and heard and smelled and tasted at the circus.

Eventually, as with any other experience, after a few months the circus faded from her awareness. Thanksgiving came, and then Christmas, and the circus was all but forgotten. And then, the following spring, one evening, Amy was playing with her dolls while her daddy was reading the newspaper and he said, casually:

Oh, guess what, Amy, the circus is back in town.

Instantly the word circus resonated with Amy's deeply stored memories, and a shiver went through her as all of her experiences of the circus came flooding back into her consciousness. Without a moment's hesitation she dropped her doll, jumped up, flung herself into her daddy's lap and cried:

Oh, daddy, daddy, take me to the circus!

What happened is really very easy to explain. Amy's original experience of the circus is the initial action. The memory of the circus stored deeply within her consciousness is the impression. When Amy hears the word circus and it resonated within her consciousness, reawakening the hidden, stored memories of the circus, that is the recognition. And, when Amy runs to her daddy and begs him to take her to the circus again, that is the expression of her desire... to again experience the thrill and excitement of the circus.

What is the value of this knowledge? What is the significance of this cycle in our daily lives? It is simply that when we have a desire, either to repeat an earlier positive experience, or to avoid repeating an earlier negative experience, the desire is awakened by the existence of previously stored memories that resonate with some stimulus in the present.

Psychologists who work in the world of advertising are well aware of how powerful these stored memories can be in getting us to buy their product, service or experience. It's called selling the sizzle rather than the steak and the goal of the advertising is to reawaken our positive memories of previous, similar experiences. An advertising message that resonates strongly and positively with a stored impression can be powerful enough to create the desire in us to have that experience again, and we will begin to scan our environment for a way to have the experience again, and thus satisfy the desire again.

There are those who believe that the cycle of action, impression, recognition and desire keeps us tied to the physical plane, keeps us incarnating over and over again. The Sanscrit word for action is karma, and so the cycle is sometimes thought of as the cycle of karma. Each time we perform an action to satisfy the desire, we reinforce the impressions that are stored deeply in our consciousness (the chit) and so we perpetuate the cycle.

Spiritual seekers have, for thousands of years, focused their spiritual development on breaking the cycle. Some believe that we break the cycle by denying our desires. The argument is that if we don't perform action to fulfill our desires, we won't reinforce the stored impressions. Over time the impressions will weaken and we will escape from the cycle. If it works, this must be a long, slow, painful process, but it is the way of the recluse, and monasteries and ashrams are filled with spiritual seekers who have shut themselves off from the world as a way to deny themselves any experiences which might serve as the recognition or trigger, resonating with previously stored impressions and giving rise to desires. For these seekers, the goal is a life of no desires, of desirelessness. These seekers live a very flat, dull, emotionless, lifeless existence.

There are other spiritual seekers who believe the easiest way to break the cycle is to destroy the stored impressions. If there are no stored impressions, there's nothing to resonate with, and nothing to give rise to future desires. This doesn't mean we have no stored memories; it just means they aren't powerful enough to resonate with any experiences in the present, and so they cannot give rise to future desires. There are many spiritual techniques for destroying stored impressions... many forms of tapas or spiritual austerity. There's meditation, guruseva (spiritual actions performed in service to the guru), japa (walking meditation), kirtan (chanting), pranayama (breathing), hatha yoga (special bodily postures), tantra (control of the sexual fire), kundalini (awakening the spiritual energy in the nadis... the subtle channels that parallel the physical spinal cord), darshan (audience with the guru) and many others. Some of these practices are designed to directly destroy the stored impressions, others accomplish the task indirectly.

Regardless, if the impressions stored in our chit (consciousness) are destroyed so they can no longer resonate with experiences in the present, and so cannot give rise to future desires, it can be said that the seeds of our future karma have been roasted in the fire of knowledge, and are no longer capable of sprouting future desires.

I favor meditation to accomplish this process, but I have heard it said that for one who is performing guruseva (spiritual service to the guru), meditation has virtually no value.