Passion

The cause of human suffering is found in the desires of the physical body and sense-dominated mind whose passions are worldly illusions. Ardent affections arise out of the emotions where there lies a single enormous appetite or acquisitive instinct and power called desire. Much of the force of desire can sometimes be directed towards one objective; it then becomes an all-consuming passion. This passion may be for a person, a thing, or an idea. It may be for freedom or a quality of life or it may seek an artistic vision. It may seek spiritual reality. In all its forms, passion seeks consumption, and thus annihilation of itself. Yet one passion may replace another, for this is the driving force for the personality; the appetite, desire or craving for life itself. Unexamined, it impels a person to chase one thing after another, often unsuccessfully, causing unhappiness and world-weariness. It creates the illusion that the satisfaction of passion by an acquisitive life will lead to contentment. The possibilities of seeing through this illusion, to detach one's self, particularly from objects, arises only after endless suffering and disappointments.

The insatiability of wants and desires poses a difficulty for standard economic theory, which posits that humanity's single goal is to increase or maximize wealth. If wants increase as fast as income grows, what purpose can wealth serve?

Only archaic, dualistic world views deny the positive nature of the life-force which expresses itself on the levels of the instincts, emotions and intellect. Human history would be impossible without, for example, the instinct for self-preservation, the reproductive and affective instincts associated with family life, and the acquisition of knowledge. All of these have their roots in desire, and the human race will have a history only as long as that desire is never sated.