Are Our Desires 'KILLING' Us?

Are Our Desires 'KILLING' Us?

Per se, DESIRES are NOT wrong, NOT that bad either.  BUT let's attempt to link DESIRES and DESTINY.  While DESIRE derives from the Latin word 'DESIDERARE', which means 'to long OR wish for', WHICH itself derives from the 'DE SIDERE'  [which means, 'from the stars', suggesting that the original sense is 'to await WHAT the stars will bring'.  True, DESIRES constantly arise from within us, only to be replaced by yet more DESIRES.  Without this continuous stream of 'DESIRING', there would NO longer be any reason to do anything.  As they say, life would grind to a halt, as it does for people WHO lose the ability to DESIRE.  WHEN things turn from bad to worse, an acute crisis of DESIRE corresponds to boredom and a chronic crisis towards depression.  Oh no. Are Our Desires 'KILLING' Us?  True, it is DESIRE that moves us and gives our life direction and meaning, perhaps NOT meaning in the cosmic sense, BUT meaning in the more restricted narrative sense📗📙📘

Nope, NOT all DESIRES are bad.  WHY?  It's simply because we were all born out of DESIRE and cannot remember a time WHEN we were without it.  We are so used to DESIRING that we are NOT conscious of our DESIRES, which only register with us WHEN they are very intense OR WHEN they come into conflict with our other DESIRES.  That's the paradox of DESIRE💥💥💥

So, HOW do we get around this paradox of DESIRE, that even the DESIRE to stop DESIRING is itself a DESIRE?  To get around this paradox, psychologists conceived that 'CESSATION OF DESIRE' via enlightenment, and NOT as the culmination of an intentional process BUT as a simple accident.  The problem with DESIRE is that if DESIRE is life, WHY should we then seek to control DESIRE?  For the simple reason that we seek to control life, OR at least our life, to make it more pleasant OR less painful, and more constructive as well😕😕😕

The thing is, all suffering can be framed in terms of DESIRE.  If unmet DESIRE becomes painful, so are fear and anxiety, which can then be understood in terms of DESIRES about the future, and anger and even sadness which can understood in terms of DESIRES about the past.  That mid-life crisis is nothing if NOT a crisis of DESIRE as well❎❎❎

Our takeaway:  If indeed DESIRE itself is hurtful, so are its by-products.  The accumulation of properties in life [DON'T get me wrong, all along I wanted things that way as well], cars and other riches robs us of our time and tranquility, both in their acquiring and in their keeping, NOT to mention in their losing.  BTW, I DON'T mean that we should shun riches,  merely that we should NOT set out for, or set store by, them.  Are our DESIRES 'killing' us???