Why do we resist transforming?

Internally, first of all, we are seduced by all of these external suggestions. Then of course, in general, we can maybe take a slightly classical way of expressing it that each human being has a spiritual nature and an animal nature. Animal nature meaning the body, because as I said, the soul needs the body in order to undertake any action. So it's not that this is a bad thing that I have in animal nature. The difficulty is that these two natures, what is the right order?

Is the animal nature actually able to serve the spiritual nature or is it going to do its own thing and wants to become a bigger and bigger animal more and more so that it can consume every other animal around? And therefore, the difficulty is really largely, if you like, an internal one to each one of us. How to overcome the animal nature? Now, which is where the temptations from the devil come? The animal nature is naturally, we can look at any of the other animals in the nature. This is nothing. One needs to be having a very subtle insight.

You look at any of the birds, any of the creatures in the woods, always occupied with either food or with sex or with shelter, survival against other animals. So that's what the animal nature is about. And we have that too. So therefore, you can see this in so many, practically all religious traditions, sooner or later, at some stage more than other, historically, a great deal of emphasis on how to conquer the demands of the body. So more and more austerity or even less sleep or less sex or even complete continents and less food, all these things are encouraged. Also, on the other hand, we have similarly other teachings. For example, the Bhagavad Gita says, one who eats too much cannot be in yoga. One who eats too little cannot be in yoga. One who sleeps too much cannot be in yoga or who sleeps too little.

So, I mean, there is also the teachings which are more, if you like, wishing to find the appropriate balance. But you can find this in every religious tradition, some stage or the other. There has been more or less an extreme occupation trying to conquer the bodily needs or desires. So, because that's really one begins to see that the animal nature is somehow interfering or is opposing the demands or the needs of my spiritual nature. And all the things that I mentioned earlier, the distracting magnets created in the society, they are all actually appealing to our animal nature in one form or the other.

You can buy a bottle of wine maybe for $7, but I know at least one person I have met who would happily pay $200 for a bottle of wine without any difficulty. So, therefore, other people around him say, who would be very nice? Can I also have enough money so I can pay $200 for a bottle of wine? So, you see, these are not exactly that the body actually needs the $200. I don't personally, I am not sensitive enough to know much of the difference between these wines. But then there are lessons, this character actually takes lessons how to distinguish fancier wines from the other wines. So, you see, bodily needs are the ones which are then exaggerated, more and more exaggerated.

One can have a house which costs only $100,000 or yesterday somebody was telling me a house which was a little bit in danger here because of the expected, maybe heavy rain. He said it was $35 million. So, but I imagine their house is much more than that. So, in a way all those temptations are constantly, they are always appealing to our animal nature.