Is desire a good thing or a bad thing?

Question

Desire is what keeps all our minds in the earthly realm as it is the chain that links us to our possessions and that which we want to possess. It stops us from making choices of greater benefit to all when we are more concerned about protecting our own possessions and siezing what our hearts want.

There is no doubt that desire has its good points in being motivation that moves the world. Much of the good done in the world is driven by the desire to accomplish, attain, or an attachment to something or someone.

However a lot of destruction comes from desire in the forms of greed, wrath, lust, etc. Desire at even the smallest amount innate to human beings can easily grow and become uncontrollable and obsessive. No one is immune.

Is desire good or bad?

I will leave it up to the voters, but I want to give my last comments.

I agree that there is no good or evil. There is however destructive and constructive. It is destructive when your desire leads to the harm of anyone for all things are sacred and should not be harmed. It is constructive when it enlightens and produces for.

P.S. Means are judged on the same scale as the ends, but that is another topic.

Those who believe free-will and choices are what determines the morality of desire. The question is "Is there really a good desire?" The desire to preserve one's nation could lead to the destruction of all just as the desire to kill one person may save thousands. Can desire really be controlled? Our judgment is clouded by desire. Can the mind really make a clear conscious decision.

I hope we will all reflect on our own desires and contemplate whether we are clinging too hard and missing the big picture.

Answer 1

What do you desire? The pain of any one in God's blue jewel of a planet? Or do you desire the wealth and welfare of all on earth?
Desire is so subjective to your question.
Desire isn't evil or good, but what you desire is either evil or good.
Not desire itself.

Answer 2

It seems like you have already thouroughly answered your question. I was raised by an Iowa farm boy turned buddhist software programmer, and if you know anything about buddhism (and I imagine you do) you know that desire and attachment are linked to all of the unhappiness and misery in the world from the buddhist perspective. I think I agree with that position. However, I also agree that desire is a valuable motivating factor in both the lives of individuals and the evolution of society as a whole. Without desire its hard to imagine the world being anything like it is today, for better or for worse. As a relativist, I would suggest that applying a qualifier like good or bad to a concept like desire requires the lens of a solid moral compass. Which is better, contentment and calm, or progress and innovation? I value both.

Answer 3

Desire is not good or bad. When one gives away of ones self unselfishly then it will be returned, as if it were alive having life. If this is a desire, a choice.
If one fulfills a desire within onesself it is dead. It never leaves and stays for a while then dies. This is why it is said that true love never dies even though every living thing dies. The bottom line is humans have free will and choice of good and bad. Good or bad is a matter of what you desire.

Answer 4

Yes. It is.
It is like gun powder. It is.
The PERSON who has it determines what is becomes.
Gun powder can be used to kill or to level a mountain. To make "progress" or destroy. To make fireworks or machine guns.
Usually, it starts out happily enough, and then somone goes over board. It is in imbalance and being out-of-control, using any power to outdo others, that the trouble begins.
In the world, desire like gun powder can go either way, in the "spiritual" realm, neither is worth much.
All suffering is from desire. Some is worth it.

Answer 5

Why is it undesirable, this is a sturdy ingredient. for sure maximum stable issues have been grew to become into undesirable issues, and that's what you're bearing on. Sexual want on your marriage mate is a superb ingredient in God's eyes. pastime and lust too.. no longer something incorrect with them interior the main awesome condition. whether, human beings then prepare it interior the incorrect situations, and that's while it is going to become a concern. Even by way of guy's standards, we are able to understand that at situations, those could be held in examine.... no longer often every person could argue that we could continually have 'pastime/want/lust' on your workmates companion! God has easily set the traditional, given us those characteristics and features and as long as guy abides interior the area of his guidlines ... all is actual...

Answer 6

I think it is better to simply say that desire is a necessary thing and without its existence in some form or another you would not be here that is to say that if your ancestors had no desire to procreate...well I think you get the picture, so you tell me good or bad and does it matter.

Answer 7

Desire is good if you wish to excel in material world. If you are tired of wheel of samsara then you probably already know that desire and attachment are linked to all of the unhappiness and misery in the world.

Answer 8

Like everything else in the world, it is inbetween both good and bad....

But lets say it is good just because it is better to be happy about how things are :P

Answer 9

We have concluded there is no escaping desire.
What we’re looking for is graceful desire / attachment.

Answer 10

The "root" of desire is body identification. Mind "is" desire and impels the body towards its motive. Neither is truly "you".