Pleasure and Spaciousness

So many of the people I talk with really believe that they want spiritual awakening, and with a little looking find out that what they're really after is pleasure. We think we want Truth, but what we usually want is to feel better. Which is perfectly normal. However, what I often see is that as soon as one feels better, the desire for Truth (or awakening) suddenly seems unimportant.
It is important that we strive to feel better, but mistaking the desire for spiritual awakening for pleasure is like mistaking a band aid for total health.
Pleasure is great, I encourage it...but to believe that pleasure, or feeling good, will last in the long run is to invite yourself over and over into suffering.
The happiness or fulfillment of awakening is much more like spaciousness. In open space there is a sense of clarity, openness, freedom, and of non-changing.
So let's be very very clear about what it is that we're after...
Do we just want one more good feeling?
One more experience?
Real spaciousness and what is discovered in authentic spiritual awakening is really the end of all that. It is the end of seeking one more good anything. It is the end of the drive to find more, better, or different experiences. This is what the Buddha was talking about when he mentioned Nirvana. Nirvana means 'Extinction' not 'Heavenly Candy Store'.
When we get clear on that, then we can finally shift our focus away from 'me', and what will 'make me feel better' onto real spiritual awakening and real insight. This is the wilingness to bear pain, to bear hardship, to bear suffering without running for a dose of pleasure.
Then, one's life can be used...
And with that comes no greater satisfaction.