What is Desire?

Desire arises without will, it is a longing or hoping for a person, object or outcome.  

What does desire mean?

Desire is an instinctive feeling of wanting something or someone. It means that you are in an ‘unsatisfied state’. Though sexual desire is the most discussed, and arguably the strongest driver of desire, you have other desires such as food, for autonomy, for knowledge, for recognition, for money and for human connection and comfort. 

What is sexual desire? 

Generally, no one really understands the full mechanisms of human desire. According to science, it is hormonally influenced with the release of estrogen and testosterone into the body. There is a theory that pheromones, a chemical produced inside the body but secreted externally may play a role in creating attraction. Psychological factors play a very important role in sexual desire. 

What do women desire? What do men desire?

The amount of relationship counseling websites, apps, books and services, claiming to hold the secret of what the other person desires is endless. Like all instinctive emotions, there is a universal physiological reaction affecting all humans but also a subjective experience and a behavioral response. In desire, it is that unique subjective interpretation that defies scientific and evolutionary theory. People’s tastes are diverse and sexual desire arises in same sex couples.  

What is emotional desire for food? 

When you replace a desire for something else with food, it is called emotional eating. You are replacing the feeling with another sensation, the gratification of taste. You may be stressed and need calming without even noticing that you are eating for comfort.  Food is central to social relationships and a whole gourmet art of cooking has arisen to satisfy desires for sensation. Food activates the reward pathways in your brain and is related to the release of the ‘feel good’ hormone dopamine. 

Desire and the advertising industry? 

The advertising industry has become extremely adept at manipulating human desires to make suggestions for satisfying these desires. For example, the perfume industry has exploited the theory of ‘pheromones’, that humans are attracted to each other through the secretion of a chemical ‘smell’ to suggest that a certain perfume will make you more attractive. 

The theory of five desires?

In Buddhism, and other Zen cultures, desire has been categorized into five types, the desire for food, money, recognition, sex and sleep.  Desires vary in intensity and develop with time, as sleep may be considered more of a need than a desire. A baby has simple desires. Maslow, an American psychologist, famous for developing the hierarchy of human needs and that people progress through five general stages in pursuit of their desires. These are the physiological reaction, the feeling of safety, then belongingness or love, esteem and self actualization. 

Is desire negative?

Desire is an instinctive human emotion, with a subconscious physiological element, a subjective interpretation and behavioural reaction. Desire can be positive or negative depending on the circumstances and the way each person filters the emotion through their soul, that part that is unique, based on beliefs, experience and character.