Desire: Our Emotional Power
May 3rd, 2007 by b.reeder
I believe desire is one of the strongest emotional forces that a person possesses. It can lead to irrational thought and action. Desire is an emotion that can override many others, and can take many forms. Desire is usually used in the context of romance, but can be thought of in other senses. Replace “desire” with “want”, and it can become a preference or a motivation.
I think the simplest way to break down desire is into three contexts.
Romance - physical
Preference - economic
Motivation - behavioral
Desire to me seems like an underlying cause for many actions we take. It can be both positive and negative, depending on circumstance and desired outcome. Because of this, I believe a healthy knowledge and respect of desire is necessary. It can be a tool, but it can also be a hindrance.
For example, I may desire to do something (ie. call someone, purchase something, go somewhere) even though I know it isn’t the best thing to do. But that overwhelming desire challenges my willpower and forces me to step back from my emotions. Only when I step back from my emotions can I have rational self-talk and understand the desire + situation. When we let this desire run rampant and take over our actions, we have lost that ability to step back and rationalize. It is then that desire becomes a hindrance.
Generally, desire is another word for want, connoting emotion: to long or hope for.
So why is desire so powerful, so overriding? How is it that desire lead to people doing things completely out of character? I believe it stems from our make up as humans. Long before we gained the ability to cognitively reason, we had the ability to react.
This ability was necessary to survive- our fight or flight mechanism is a function of it. And the strength with which we would react is derived from our emotions. That’s why, without knowing the reason, you may turn suddenly or duck when you hear a loud noise. It’s instinctive. And that instinct doesn’t come from cognitive thought; it comes from centuries of experience.
Those centuries of experience have formed the very core of who we are, and derived directly from these: our emotions. Part of our brain leads directly from our senses, through our emotions, to our nervous system. It doesn’t include our cognition. That helps explain our instincts, but how does this lead to our desires? Our desires are an emotional response, not a rational one. And with that, they can bypass/over ride our cognitive thought like our instincts do.
If we allow them to.
But desire is still an emotion, and should be treated as one. If we don’t take the time to step back and process our emotions, we can let them control us- and in turn begin to ingrain that as habit. But this is a choice. Desire is something we can use as a tool. When someone “goes with their gut”, it is them using their desire + instinct to make a decision. But usually this goes with many other factors.
This is how I see it. It is 11:30 pm on a Wednesday night and I’m tired, so take it for what it is. It is my personal opinion and should be taken as such.