The purpose of exploring it is to ultimately gain an understanding of it. Remember that you can let go of the desire- don’t let it control you. Desires can be so strong that they can become self-destructive as well as detrimental to others around you. They not only lead, but drive every facet of our life. The relationship to time is also important as ultimately the desires that control us the most are born of past experiences. If you have a history of stressful experiences, you may want to control your present situation to create a positive outcome or prevent a certain negative outcome. We often reach out to third parties in order to help us do this, much of our mental wishes to power symbols and third parties exist not out of piety, but out of desire to create change, or prevent loss.
This can cause unhappiness as we have less energy and more stress-related illnesses. Many desires are very subtle and often influenced by feelings of dissatisfaction and insecurity. For example, you might dream of winning the lottery. In other cases we may desire to control others or situations as a way to prevent personal frustration re-occurring. Ultimately all our thoughts, fantasies, and mental chatter are generated by our desires. Our emotions are likewise tied to desire; we get angry and frustrated and despair because our desires weren’t realized.
The mind produces desires like the liver produces bile. It is an exercise in futility trying to stop them, simply because that is itself a desire. Often we become afraid of desires, or try to control their expression which only causes more stress to the mind and body. It’s easy to fall into a groove in how we interact with our desires, but this can lead to depression and other problems.
Desires can ultimately be divided into long term and short term, so a spur of the moment desire to go buy something while shopping, as well as reactionary desires, are primarily short term, but may also be connected to long term desires. Long term desires are more lifestyle orientated, such as getting a university education. They can also be categorized into functional or intellectual and beneficial or harmful. Since the mind and body would greatly prefer to relax and do nothing, our biological survival depends on actions. Many of our emotions exist for survival, such as fear existing to make us aware of precipices, wild animals, poisonous things and other dangers. Greed for possessions such as extra clothing and shelter from cold weather or extreme heat are inherently connected to our survival. This body, in essence, is an investment of much energy and resources, the most efficient piece of software in the hardware of the body, is the concept of I. If we had no concept of self-importance, then we would not be inclined to protect and feed the body that we depend on. Likewise in a society where the idea of ego is muted (this applies both to primitive tribal communities as well as more modern societies), relationships between other people are more important because our survival and well-being is linked to cooperation. Whenever confronted by a choice, it is desire that resolves it, using knowledge (be it accurate or inaccurate) as a guide. Without a desire to make the choice and deal with it’s consequences, it would remain an unresolved conflict. On the other hand, we often try to avoid making a choice as the outcome would conflict with our existing choices and desires. The body can and often does overrule our mental desires. For example, if we want to party all night, we will feel very tired, and if we don’t stop to eat, we will feel increasingly hungry and uncomfortable. This poses a classic paradox to philosophy and ideologies, as in some cases the individual is praised and philosophies aim on developing the individual to realise their inner goodness and virtue. The alternative view is that the individual is selfish and it is through an enlightened society, or, all beings being equally dependent on each other as a means to change the individual to be a more noble being. Both, in essence are correct and incorrect at the same time, because human beings have both greed and generosity, love and hate, so all humans have both noble and corrupt virtues.
Sometimes the old metaphors are the best ones. Ancient philosophy tells us to rise above our troubles like the lotus rises above the mud that it grows in. To do this a person has to desire to act for their own mental wellbeing, but it can be difficult to prioritize this over other competing desires. It’s largely a question of balance. One desire is stronger than the other so our will power is not 100%. Through repeated observation and analysis of our desires and addictions(an extreme effect of desire), we can attain a healthier, more balanced frame of mind.
