Lust - an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.
Why do we do it? Oh, please!
“Self control and self mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation. Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete's muscles are for maximum efficiency without damage. Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control.”
To be fair, there is one good thing about the sin of Lust: it doesn’t last forever. Lust always tends to burn itself out over time. After a while lust becomes a habit and what pleasure it brought diminishes until we wonder what the attraction is. The problem is, we move on to the next thing that gives us a craving.
Of course we shouldn’t really limit Lust to sex. It also relates to sensuality – ie the craving for physical pleasure of all kinds.
Physical and emotional comfort, the best food and wine, the best looking car, the latest PRADA outfit are all forms of lustful craving.
But sexual Lust is certainly the one which is easier to interpret and is more readily understandable by most – because let’s face it – we all lust over someone at some point so we all know what we’re talking about here.
Or do we?
What’s one person’s acceptable lust is probably another person’s horror.
We all have our own level or type of lust which might be totally different to someone else’s.
So where do we draw the line? Who is right and who is wrong?
And if no-one is right and that isn’t the question, why then do so many people always pass judgment on others and try and stop them enjoying ‘their’ form of lust rather than someone else’s?
Isn’t lust an individual thing and it’s an individual’s right, so long as it doesn’t harm anyone or anything, to pursue his/her own happiness.
In other words, lust can be fine, and in fact, healthy, if it’s carried out under one’s own moral boundaries and it doesn’t affect those around you.
Spiritually you could in fact be better off.
Abstinence, self control, self denial or whatever it is that stops you from pursuing ‘happiness’ because you think it’s wrong, isn’t necessarily a healthy option, unless by totally immersing oneself in the joys of lust, you run the danger of it taking you over.
In other words, too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing.
So, as with many things in this life, everything in moderation is a good thing.
And that includes a little bit of lust now and then.
What/who do you lust after? Is lust a good thing or should we all be wearing the proverbial ‘boxing gloves’ to stop us following our deepest yearnings?
