Necessary desires vs harmful desires
"One must not force nature but persuade her. And we will persuade her by fulfilling the necessary desires, and the natural ones too if they do not harm [us], but sharply rejecting the harmful ones".
- Epicurus, Principal Doctrines 21
Obviously, the harmful desires are the non-natural ones based on other peoples opinion. These are also called "groundless" by Epicurus. What makes them harmful is that they are obsessions and as such they will in themselves do damage to our peace of mind but they are also likely to lead us to damage our personal relations, our health, our job and our finances. Just look at Harvey Weinstein. From an Epicurean point of view, the fall of Harvey Weinstein was not caused by him having strong, unfortunate natural desires but by the fact that he grew up in a sick culture which teaches men that it is a good thing to "bang a lot of chicks". The desires which drove him to ruin is - from an Epicurean point of view - quintessential unnatural, harmful desires.
Thanks man.
Desieres can be killing. I am an eg heroin used. Been sober for al.ost 4years with two minor relapses.
The desire for drug will always be there. And every day i learn New ways til handel it.
Dont get me wrong. I am not craving for it every day. But of course ut is ok the back og my head some times.
The lack of one desire can easily change shape and get you into a nother desire. Like gambling,sex ,food & etc.
Interesting reading. Cool to follow you.
Have a great day mr. danmark
Thank you for sharing your story. I think Epicurus has a lot to teach us about the proper understanding of pleasure and desires and I intend to post a lot more about Epicurus here.