Desires of the Body

Question:

Your meditation on realizing one's deepest desires may lead to the recognition that one desires deeply and passionately things of the body. Intellectually one knows these are temporal desires and one 'should' desire and strive for God and God alone. But the truth remains, confusion results.

Answer:

Desires are the force of evolution manifesting in our life, so the underlying intent of every desire is to bring real fulfillment, and union with God. We don’t need to eliminate desires of the body, but rather we need to listen to and satisfy the deeper drive underneath superficial desires, for that will always lead to greater awakening. Spirituality encompasses the entire range of life - body, mind, and spirit. Some desires through ignorance and habit have twisted the normal evolutionary intelligence in desire. These distorted desire patterns lead to further imbalance, such as eating disorders, drug addictions, or other unhealthy dependencies. These desires are really compulsions that are counterproductive and distract us from our path to fulfillment. In that situation one must discriminate whether the desire is coming from the part of you that seeks wholeness and harmony, or whether it is a pattern of imbalance that seeks to perpetuate itself. Then locate the deeper spiritual intent at the source of the desire and follow that.