Scratching the Itch

It is hardest to cure a disease when the medicine we take itself causes the disease.

We scratch the itch, and the scratching only makes it worse, we try to quench our thirst by drinking salt water, and we make ourselves thirstier. This is what happens when we believe that the only way to end desires is to fufill them.

A different and liberating insight dawns when we begin to pay attention to this powerful energy in our lives.

--Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation