Eros

Desire

“The opposite of anxiety is not calmness, it is desire...Anxiety and desire are two, often conflicting, orientations to the unknown...Desire takes one out of oneself, into the possibility of relationship, but it also takes one deeper into oneself...There is rarely desire without some associated anxiety...But desire gives one reason to tolerate anxiety and a willingness to push through it.”

Mark Epstein, M.D. (Open to Desire: The Truth about What the Buddha Taught)

Last evening, the “Seekers Group” discussed desire; a follow up to one of Oprah's and Deepak Chopra's meditations on the subject. Most of us think first of desire in sexual terms, and immediately feel a little dirty about it. In truth, desire is Eros, or erotic energy—the same energy that facilitate attraction and coupling, but it is many other things as well. Desire is the energy that gets us out of bed in the morning—in Chopra's words, desire is the seed of creativity and therefore, of existence and destiny. Desire gives us the juice we need to push through fear and anxiety. We wouldn't be here without it.

Like any other energy, desire can be used to good or ill. On the lower side, desire can lead to selfishness, greed, avarice. It underpins jealousy and resentment, even crime. But on the high end, desire leads to productivity, creativity and entrepreneurship. And, of course, to love relationships. Desire leads to bonding in relationships, and to our instinctual ability to care for and protect that which we love.

Religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Taoism and Islam have done much to denigrate desire. From “original sin” in the Garden of Eden, to Jesus' instructions to the rich young man to go and sell everything he owns and give it to the poor, the Bible portrays desire as the root of all evil. Certainly, it can be, but it is also the most life-giving of all human emotions. It is literally life-energy. Guiding that life-energy is either a pure heart with pure intentions, or an impure heart with impure intentions. One leads to life in all its fullness, and one leads to soul suffering. Our state of consciousness makes all the difference in which direction our desire-energy takes. Once again, we get to choose.

                                                            In the Spirit,

                                                                Jane