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In defense of desire



This is the fourth instalment of the Challenge me February, and this post was asked by the uber cool  Boheme Noir (hint: has one of the best eyes for shoes in the business. And am not saying this lightly!)
I can't decide how to write this post. On one side I feel very philosophical, even poetic, about it, and on the other I want to write a populist post, something that will reach most people. But whenever I start thinking about it my mind goes blank and the paths of my thoughts get scrambled.

I am thinking of all the names or aspects of desire. Of craving, of sex, yearning, need... all different names of a nuance of the same thing. Am thinking of the traps we set for ourselves using desire as the ultimate excuse. Am thinking of those brief moments of contentment once desire has been fed. Am thinking of places I got because of desire. And of almost tangible connection it created between me and some people. Then I remember that desire has been accused of everything, both good and bad, under the sun. Infidelity, jealousy, lies, stealing, murder, wars, or for just plain old not being content with what you got.

After all that, what I come up with is much less than with what I started... because all the zen in my head pops out and whispers to me " But why do you differentiate between you and your desire? Your desire is you" and at this point I am completely off the re countable path...
Desire baffles me and scares me.
The problem is it's strength and the feeling you have that it has a mind of it's own. That there is you and there is a desire for something and you blindly follow it. Once you release it, desire is the one who leads. This lack of control is at the same time frightening and liberating as you realize that if you let her, she will reach the desired place while you just go for a ride.
But once again, all this stands if you see desire and yourself as two separate entities. But what happens if you realize them as one. If you begin to understand that it is you who both drives the carriage and is in the back seat.