The Nature of Desire

   By Silas Rose Aug 5, 2020

Sex is confusing even at the best of times. 

There seems to be no greater quagmire than the swamp of our conflicting emotions and amorous thoughts.  For this reason desire is often maligned as romantic folly or worse, an agent of our own undoing.

Let’s face it, we all want more pleasure and less pain because life is often painful.  We are constantly walking a razors edge between the two poles of experience, which is where desire comes in.

Desire connects us with the pain of our separateness, an existential form of suffering that is constantly running in the background of the mind.  It also offers the possibility of experiencing freedom from self concern, if only for a brief moment.

There is a certain futility in blindly following our desire.

When we become fascinated by pleasure or the object of our desire we often get more pain.  Perhaps this is why the French refer to orgasm as la petite mort, the little death.  

However, when we let go of grasping and relax in our own skin the true object of desire is revealed.

It is said the ancient gods of Asia and the occidental world were able to experience the pinnacles of bliss by simply holding hands or gazing into their beloved’s eyes.   

We are already complete, but sometimes it takes some empathetic touch to remind us of a union that need not be sought.