Dictionary definition: Feminine noun, derived from the Latin Luxuria. Lechery, sensuality, lasciviousness. It can also be defined as luxuriance in plants, or exuberance of sap.
According to the Catholic Church: Inordinate desire for sexual pleasure. Desires and acts are inordinate when they do not conform to the divine purpose, which is to propitiate mutual love between spouses and to beget offspring. It goes against the Sixth Commandment (Thou shalt not sin against chastity).
According to Henry Kissinger: There is nothing more aphrodisiacal than power.
In a Buddhist story: Chu and Wu returned home after a week’s meditation in the monastery. They talked about how temptations appear before man.
They reached the banks of a river. There, a beautiful woman was waiting to cross the river. Chu picked her up in his arms, carried to the other side and continued his journey with his friend.
At a certain point, Wu said:
“We talked about temptation and you picked up that woman in your arms. It provided an opportunity for sin to enter your soul”.
Chu answered:
“My dear Wu, I behaved naturally. I took that woman across and left her on the other side of the river. But you continued carrying her in your thoughts – and for that reason you are closer to sin”.
From a prostitute’s diary: I earn 350 Swiss Francs to spend an hour with a man. I am exaggerating. If we don’t count taking off clothes, pretending to be affectionate, chatting about something obvious and getting dressed, we will reduce this time to eleven minutes of actual sex.
Eleven minutes. The world revolves around something that takes only eleven minutes. It is because of these eleven minutes in a 24-hour day (considering that all make love with their wives, every day, which is truly absurd and a complete lie), that they marry, sustain a family, put up with the children crying, overdo themselves in explanations when they arrive home late, look at dozens or hundred of other women with whom they would like to stroll around Lake Geneva, buy expensive clothes for themselves, and even more expensive clothes for their wives, pay prostitutes to make up for what was missing without knowing what it is, sustain a gigantic industry of cosmetics, diets, gymnastics, pornography, power – and when they get together with other men, contrary to what the myth says, never talk about women. They talk about jobs, money and sport. There is something very wrong with civilization.
Lust and numbers (in 2002): William Lyon, of the Free Speech Coalition, estimates that just on the internet the pornography sector makes an annual profit of between 10 and 12 billion dollars (23 to 26 billion Reals), well over Microsoft’s profit. In 1999, the Video and Software Sellers Association found that the sale or rental of pornographic films was around 4.1 billion dollars (8.7 billion Reals), exceeding the majority of the very expensive films made in Hollywood (Source: Caslon Analytics Profiles)
The Tao Te King says: Keep the sensitive soul and the animal body in one compartment so that they cannot be separated.
Control the vital force, so that you will be transformed again into a newborn child.
When you banish mysterious visions from your imagination you may, then, become unblemished.
Purify yourself and don’t look for intellectual answers for the Mystery.
When discernment penetrates the four regions, perhaps you will not recognize what gives life and sustains it.
That which gives life does not claim any possession. It benefits, but does not demand gratitude. It commands, but does not exercise authority. That is what is called “mysterious quality”.
(next: Wrath)
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I have learned there is a difference between DESIRE and LUST…
Desire is pure and good. It’s foundation is based on ‘true’ love.
Lust is the opposite of that… that is sin, it is NOT born of love but of selfishness. It’s motives are self-centered.
There’s much that we can desire,enjoy and appreciate where love is the basis. keeping Love as what dictates our thoughts, words and actions is key.
Hi all!
You are The Best!!!
G’night
[quote comment="2876"]how do u overcome lust?[/quote]
By making the Holy Union of Body&Soul. Only then everything in life will get into the right place. When we become conscious, everything around us is clear; we know what to do, so we take from Life ONLY what we REALLY need – we dont crave for the things that have enormously grown up from our imagination ;)
lust is a confusing sin , if you you think of someone just like the beautiful woman from the the story of chu and wu then that is lust. but what if you think of something. like a place , is that lust ?? just because you think of something that is beautiful and you may be tempted by it , does that make it lust. is that not why we make beautiful things ?? to attract the eye ?? wether it be a person you love or a place you love , then i dont think anything can be classed as lust with out deep thinking for a long time. but dont think about it too long because that is greedy and other things need your attention.
how do u overcome lust?
A common way of dealing with problems today is avoiding them.
But sometimes, we find ourselves in situations where we cannot escape, where we have to face the demons head on.
If we have never done anything but avoiding them, we will not know how to deal with them when this happens. They will then take control.
I agree that emotions are not “real” in the sense that they are connected to thought. But that does not mean that avoiding those thoughts is the only way of killing the emotion. We also have access to the Sword of Reason. If properly wield, that mighty sword can slay any emotion!
Hey!
I didn’t know people stayed around here on these blogs after the party has ended! Ha! :)
You know Charlie, at least you are single. I think lust is perfectly normal, anyhow, but, if you were married, it might complicate matters. So, if I were you, I’d definitely rejoice in your lustful thoughts knowing that you are free to act upon them. Ha! Well, to the degree that you find willing partners, I suppose. ;)
Aditya, I didn’t mean to be so picky about the difference between sympathy and empathy. It was just an issue that had come up in my life at the same time I read your posting. And, I needed to write that for my own understanding. I admire that you are able to write and speak in more than one language! I can barely master English! Kudos to you in your use of Enlgish. Ha! See what I mean? I just wrote English wrong, unintentionally! ;)
Doug, I really liked what you said about emotions and the three broad categories of fear. Thanks for posting that. I am going to ponder upon that. Is your book in stores?
And to Mirjam (last but not least!), have you ever heard of ‘energy psychology’? It entails tapping or rubbing different parts of your body, in which certain accupuncture points are, while thinking of a trauma that has affected you. Within minutes, generally, the trauma is healed. It works THAT FAST! I have been seeing tremendous results, after using these techniques with many of my friends and in my own life. Look up ‘energy psychology’ online if you wish to read more about it and perhaps find a practitioner near you who is trained in it. I have been trained in it to a small degree and can offer some advice on it if you can’t find what you need online.
A few of the techniques which you can look up are called ‘Tapas’, ‘Callahan Tapping’ and ‘Frontal Occipital Hold’. It’s all real easy stuff to do, and I cannot emphasize enough how amazing the results are! I mean, you can see results INSTANTLY!
As you can imagine, traditional psychotherapy doesn’t acknowledge the validity of this field. But, people have found, as have I, that just talking about your problems and rehashing them over and over again is all fine and dandy, but it doesn’t get rid of the energy that sticks around in your aura, which keeps you stuck. It never really gets to the root of the problem. But, this does and I wish more people knew about it because it really is miracle-making stuff. End of endorsement! :) I’m getting to be as bad as Paulo, endorsing things! ;) No, Paulo, you will never live that HP ad down. Ha!
Here’s my address if you have any questions (or comments!).
dcanavanholmes@hotmail.com
Take care y’all!
-Deb :)
Dear Doug,
Emotions, feelings are often connected to memories. I cannot delete some part of my brain. The imprint will come to surface.
I know that when you feed an emotion, like fear, the emotion will grow. It will become an energy.
Mirjam
Mirjam,
Lust, like fear, is just another emotion.
From my book, Mental Mechanics: A Repair Manual.
“Can emotions exist apart from thoughts? Is fear a real entity? Does it have an existence of its own, like a tree, a dog, or a shirt? Are anger, loneliness, doubt, pleasure, or any other of the emotions any different? No! They are not! These are feelings we have only while we are thinking about “something”. This is very important and bears repeating. An emotion is a feeling we have about something only while we are thinking about it. When we stop thinking about it, the feeling goes away.
This implies that if we stop thinking about whatever is causing emotional distress, then we will be better immediately, or just as soon as the chemicals produced by the negative thoughts wear off. In fact, this is exactly what we should do, and what we can easily learn to do.
But we must first understand the mechanics of emotions, especially negative ones, to break the thinking habit which generates them and be free from their harmful effects.
All negative feelings are based in fear. There are three broad categories of what frightens us.
1.) We will lose something we already have.
2.) We will get something we do not want;
3.) We will not get what we think we want;”
Of the three things above, where does lust fit for you?
Sincerely,
Doug McKee
Still do not know what to do with lust.
The religion I was born into made me feel lust is the ultimate sin.
It invented lust. It said that love is lust. But it is not. It took away a very beautiful gift of life.
I am almost allergic of physical human contact.
Because of the rigid teachings in my childhood it is hard to be ‘free’, I often find myself in a prison.
It is very hard to receive love when one is used to receive pain instead.
It is difficult to understand love when people mix it with pain and lust.
It is difficult to love love then.
It is difficult to be and feel like a human then.
Thank everyone for sharing your stories. It makes it possible for me to speak about things, I am used to speak in poems, paintings, rituals.
It helps to accept my existance.
Thanx.
Dear Mr. Coelho,
I heard a new book is coming to conquer our hearts and souls. I love to go to bookshops when readings are organized. So i ask, would you take into consideration to come to Vienna – a city full of cultural highlights – it would be a pleasure to all your fans here and believe me, here you can meet many P.C.readers. Last days I wrote you an e-mail concerning a problem, why I can’t sleep now for weeks… Now I got the responsibility to rehabilitate my best friend after his tortured months. I think that many beautiful happenings can heal a broken soul in few weeks and I try to find in everything that my friend like a concept how to make his life better. I see, we all try to write about things that are so far away from our life and we don’t see (or don’t want to see) many little mistakes and negative things near of us that have to be cleaned. This “dark” happenings are like a virus and it grows faster than we can imagine and at the end we fall in deep depressions with only one question: “how could it happen”. But this question could be avoided so easy… I want to say to all readers: enjoy in collecting happenings from all over the world, but feel the 100% pleasure after adjustment in your surroundings…
Deb ! Hi !
I too meant empathy but not being great with your language I used the word sympathy, good that u pointed out.
Paulo !
Why do i consider Lust as the root cause of all Sins ! Is it because I find myself unable to break free of it !
regards
Aditya
dear Charlie,
thank you for your support.
i’ll be coming to the Uk for the release of my new novel (that is now online in my blog) in April.
In my agenda, you will have all the details.
Love
Paulo[/quote]
Thanks for letting me know Paulo. The Internet is indeed the gateway to the world! I will take a look at your agenda to find out when you are coming over.
I look forward to reading your new book and wish you every success with it.
Love
Charlie
[quote comment="1496"]Morning everyone,
Thank you for referring to me as a trouble-maker Deb – that made me chuckle!
Just seen the HP advert as well. Finally hearing your voice Paulo helps to re-establish the fact that you are another person on this planet i.e. flesh and blood (I realise that sounds daft!). It is just that your writing is so inciteful in its simplicity that I always wanted to read your work to give me help sometimes on my journey but I never wanted to follow it like a rulebook. In the same way I feel that we can all gain something from everyone’s comments on this blog.
Do you have any book signings/lectures in the UK sometime soon?
Liza, I loved your story. This person who gave you the book and the empty journal is clearly a very special person in your life. I wish you all the success in the world with your writing!
On the subject of Lust, as a single man, this is unfortunately a ’sin’ that is often sitting on my shoulder and whispering in my ear! I am doing my best to listen to it (I think blindly trying to block it out doesn’t help to understand it) but then make my own decisions about what feels good for me. I am also making sure that it doesn’t sit on my shoulder too many times in the day!
Charlie[/quote]
dear Charlie,
thank you for your support.
i’ll be coming to the Uk for the release of my new novel (that is now online in my blog) in April.
In my agenda, you will have all the details.
Love
Paulo
Morning everyone,
Thank you for referring to me as a trouble-maker Deb – that made me chuckle!
Just seen the HP advert as well. Finally hearing your voice Paulo helps to re-establish the fact that you are another person on this planet i.e. flesh and blood (I realise that sounds daft!). It is just that your writing is so inciteful in its simplicity that I always wanted to read your work to give me help sometimes on my journey but I never wanted to follow it like a rulebook. In the same way I feel that we can all gain something from everyone’s comments on this blog.
Do you have any book signings/lectures in the UK sometime soon?
Liza, I loved your story. This person who gave you the book and the empty journal is clearly a very special person in your life. I wish you all the success in the world with your writing!
On the subject of Lust, as a single man, this is unfortunately a ’sin’ that is often sitting on my shoulder and whispering in my ear! I am doing my best to listen to it (I think blindly trying to block it out doesn’t help to understand it) but then make my own decisions about what feels good for me. I am also making sure that it doesn’t sit on my shoulder too many times in the day!
Charlie
Aditya,
Yes, that is true about, well, I don’t know if sympathy is the right word, but perhaps ‘empathy’ when using honesty. That’s another issue that keeps coming up for me lately. The difference between sympathy and empathy.
When you empathize with someone you are understanding how they feel and can respect their feelings. It validates the person’s experience, but also lets them know that you are aware of the power that they have to lift themselves out of their current negative situation.
When you sympathize, however, you are feeling sorry for the person, and that can cause the person to feel justified in their negative situation, and keep them stuck in a victim’s role.
Empathy is more of a gentle kick in the ass, saying, yeah, you’ve got this stuff going on, but move along, move along. ;)
In practice, there is a subtle line between the two, and I often wonder if a victim type of personality wouldn’t even feel the difference between the two, as, when you are in a victim role, you constantly look for validation, and will find it in either sympathy or empathy, unless the empathic person is very skilled in getting their point across.
About Paulo’s ad for HP….if you go to his homepage and click on ‘agenda’, there is a link that brings you to his television ad.
It’s soooo cool! I love it! And, my heart just melts hearing his voice. ;) Check it out! :)
Take care!
Love,
Deb :)
Dear Paulo,
Approximately ten years ago, a friend who knew of my passion for writing presented me with a gift – a copy of “The Alchemist” and an empty journal. Inscribed on the inside cover of the journal was a note from my friend, saying she hoped that your book would inspire me to follow my dream of becoming a writer. Ten years on, and not only do I still treasure lessons learned from “The Alchemist”, I have also found inspiration in your other writings, and use that inspiration in my journey to find my voice as a writer.
I am currently reading “Eleven Minutes” and enjoying it immensely, both for the storyline and for your ability to make me think about concepts and ideas more deeply than usual. Reading your books always make me want to drop everything and write, and for me, that is one of the highest compliments I can pay to another writer.
Regards,
Liza
HI Deb !
I liked what u wrote. One special care must be taken while ‘being honest’ with others; we must be sympathtic and caring also. Many a times I have seen people hurt others in the guise of being honest. I loved the analysis by Clover. Too much focus need not be given on how of the expereinces, i feel, unless one wants to fiddle with experiences by interfering with its mechanism. What is important is the expereince and even more important the expereincer, that is you & me.
What HP Ad, don’t tell me that Paulo has started endorsing brands now !!!
regards
Aditya
Dear Paulo,
Absolutely LOVE the HP ad!! Very cool!! :)
Love,
Deb :)
Aditya,
Thanks for sharing that site with us. I like how it gives prescriptions for how to deal with our ’sins’. :) Very enlightening! I’ve seen some things in myself that I certainly need to work on. Not much, of course, because of my absolute perfection and all. Ha! ;) Pride?? Was that one of the sins?
I also like how the page mentions how most people (friends) won’t tell us the truth about ourselves, and how our enemies are important to us for that reason. But, then I thought about how when a stranger tells us something truthful about ourselves – something that we might not want to hear – that, since we have nothing invested in the relationship, we are more apt to deny it, become resentful and, remain stuck in our situation and in blaming others – remaining a victim.
That’s why it’s so important for us all to be honest with everyone in our lives. Only a true, good friend will tell you how fat you really look in that dress. ;)
I just felt compelled to mention that about honesty because it’s one of my passions and one of my wishes for the world.
To Clover: Thanks for posting those words from the other sites, too. The second one, in regards to our biological functioning, is what I’ve been obsessed with for a few years now, too. :( I’m so aware of how the hormones and functioning of this physical form really control us more than we think. Many people think we’re above animals and nature, and deny the impact that our physical body has on our feelings, emotions, thoughts, etc. When people think like this, it’s easier for them to dominate and abuse the world, rather than living in harmony with it. I think that people who are drawn to Paulo and this blog (all of us who are here reading this), are aware and respectful of the planet and other human beings. I wish we could all somehow get these messages out to the people who refuse to hear this stuff. It’s like we’re all preaching to the choir! :(
Ha! ;)
OK…I think I’ve completely digressed from the subject at hand again. But, it’s fun take side trips, isn’t it? :) Now let me just climb down from my soapbox… ;)
Take care, everyone!
-Deb :)
Debbie,
it’s just outrageous scary how we are manipulated
by the medical industry and our leaders… and how
we choose to be!
Feelings are necessary to learn, if they get too strong
it’s a signal there really is something we need to work
with instead of neglecting it!!
Aditya,
Paulo might very well come back on the virtues after the sins ;-)
(I hope ;-)
Hello all!!
I came accross a website yesterday that might shed some light on the subject sex/lust. I loved reading it. I had already heard gnostics speak of alchemy of sex, but here they take it to a new level, claiming the fall from the Garden of Eden came about after Adam and Eve practiced sex in the wrong, lust-full manner, instead of the lust-free intercourse, which is, in fact, a mystical union between 2 souls that leads to real perpetual bliss and paradise. It reads:
…Here are some concepts from the Gnostic Gospels that will intrigue anyone interested in the hidden potential of sacred sexuality. They say man was created in God’s image, that is, immortal, androgynous (whole), and not in a physical body (which they call, “the garment of shame”). They say that Adam and Eve gave in to temptation and engaged in physical reproduction. That led to a “separation” between them that was the start of our collective tumble into mortality. (How interesting that conventional sex does indeed lead to separation between the sexes because of the temptation, or reward, mechanism deep in the primitive part of the brain.)
The Gnostic Gospels say that Jesus came to reverse the Fall, and show us how to return to our primordial androgyny (“make the male and female one, neither male nor female”). They say that he was, in fact, the returning Adam, who came back to end the separation between the sexes, which he had begun. He accomplished this in the Sacrament of the Bridal Chamber. One of these gospels, the Exegesis on the Soul, describes that sacrament:
Those who are to have intercourse with one another will be satisfied with the intercourse. And as if it were a burden, they leave behind them the annoyance of physical desire and they do not separate from each other. They become a single life….For they were originally joined to one another when they were with God. This marriage brings them back together again.
(from: click in my name)
Also check out this article on the same webpage. It gives a more clear explanation on how these two different approaches to sex may affect our lives. Basically saying that following after our lust-full impulses leads us to more chemical unbalance and separates us from our partner. While the other sex practice leads to the complete merge of the two souls:
…Sex is governed by a primitive part of the brain known as the reward center. A good name for that center would be the ‘temptation center,’ as its biological function is to drive us to act impulsively when confronted with activities or substances that once furthered our ancestors’ survival or the passing on of their genes. (Sadly for modern man, this same center of the brain is very susceptible to temptations with which our ancestors never had to cope: fast food, internet porn, recreational drugs, and readily available alcohol, to name a few.) Put in Philip’s terms, it is the center that drives us to keep recycling ourselves through matter, the key element of the ‘demiurge’s design.’
The reward center is dominated by a neurochemical known as dopamine. It’s associated with all addictions. It shoots up at orgasm (or, for example, with the use of cocaine), plummets afterward…and changes our perceptions of the world dramatically. We’re likely to feel like we’re ‘in love’ when it’s high. When it drops, we ‘fall out of love.’ Subconsciously, we begin to associate our lover with this post-passion, neurochemically-induced sensation of lack and uneasiness. In other words, perfect love may cast out fear, but fertilization-driven love engenders it.
The upshot is that when we attempt a long-term, monogamous relationship, we’re confronted with a very powerful evolutionary program that works against us. It is present not just in humans but in mammals and birds; virtually none are truly monogamous. This program serves to increase the genetic variety of our offspring, and so their survival rate, hence its success — even though it often makes our lives miserable whether or not we manage to stay married. Yet statistics show that intimate relationships with trusted companions both increase longevity and protect health, which suggests that overcoming our biological imperative may indeed be wise.
Love,
Clover
Hi Charlie,
About the antidepressant drugs…yes, I know so many people who are on them. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one of them these days. And, they all say the same thing regarding how they just can’t feel ANYTHING anymore.
My life is like a roller coaster of emotions. One day I’m higher than the sky, the next day I’m lower than the crust of the earth. But, I wouldn’t change a thing because it let’s me know that I’m alive, baby! ;) Or am I just Manic-Depressive? Hmmmm, could be!! ;)
I’ve ranted before, here, about the need to be able to feel all of our feelings because that’s what will lead us to, well, as Paulo says, ‘our personal legend’. I understand that sometimes things are way too painful and that people might need to go on drugs for a short time. But, the doctors in my area put people on these things and tell them that they will need to be on them for life! And, the majority of doctors who prescribe these, don’t even tell people to get mental help in addition to the medication! That’s where I have a problem with the over-prescribing of these drugs.
Can you say ‘opening up a can of worms with Deb on this subject?’ ;) Ha!
OK…I’m done with my rant. How did I get here anyhow? Oh yeah, it was you, Charile, you trouble-maker! ;)Ha!
I have to get back to my roller coaster of a life now…I think I’m going down the wheee-hill now ‘Wheeeeeeeeeee!!’ Isn’t it fun?! Watch out those of you who are behind me, because I might puke! :)
Ta Ta For Now! :)
-Deb ;)
Hi Charlie ! Friends !!
The middle path does not appeal to me either, well what is the point of ‘all this’ if one is to live in the middle. Middle way may be for those ‘who have been there ! done that !!”. Yet there is a way out, we can enjoy the extreams of emotions without getting overwhelmed by them. Anyway – to each his/ her own.
yesteday I was surfing the net to look around for ’seven deadly sins’ and one of the pages was p[articulary good, at least it appeard so to me. In case anyone wishes to explore further here is the link (click in my name)
On this page, all sins and opposit virtues are listed. Quite remarkabley, the opposit for lust is ’self control’. I find myself in aggrement and i also see that self control is the key against other ’sins’ too, another pointer towards ‘lust’ being very fundamental to sins ?
regards
Aditya
It is an interesting, no I will say ‘amazing’, experience reading all these thoughts from all around the globe. Surely this is enough proof that there is a force inside us that is beyond our understanding. I am not sure whether my comments relate too much to what is being written but some of the thoughts did remind me of a couple of things.
The first is a joke.
‘A man falls off a cliff edge but just as he thinks he is going to plummit to his doom, he grabs hold of a branch half way down. He is left there dangling, with the waves crashing on to the jagged rocks below. He is a man of faith and is sure that, if he has a pure heart, God will save him.
After a while, he hears a cry from the top of the cliff “Hey, I am an abseiler. Let me get a rope and I will save you!”. But the man says ‘No’ because he has faith in God’s rescue.
Not long afterwards he hears a cry from below “Hey! I am a rock-climber. Stay there and I will climb up and save you!” But the man said ‘no’ because he has faith in God’s rescue.
A short time later, just as the man’s grip is loosening, a helicopter hovers in front of him. A voice cries “Hey! Hold still. I will throw over a rope and we can save you!”. But the man said no because he has faith in God’s rescue.
Eventually, the man looses strength and falls to his death. He ends up in Heaven and face to face with God, he asks “I have always been a man of faith. Why did you forsake me?” To which God replied “What do you mean? I sent an abseiler, a climber a heli…..
The other thing was a comment that a friend of mine made to me. He suffers from depression and has to take tablets. These drugs keep his emotions level. When I asked him how he felt, he said that although he doesn’t suffer from the huge lows anymore he also doesn’t experience the massive highs.
Perhaps living the ‘middle way’ isn’t always a good thing.
Sleep well