Art and Science of Happiness-2

Nature of Desire 

As Published By

Mr. Anil K Rajvanshi, Ph.D.
Director
Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)

It is possible that as we make our brains powerful and expand the boundaries of our consciousness we may also desire more inputs and resources for it so that it can keep itself occupied. Thus a powerful brain will channel the desires into new avenues which will benefit the humanity more rather than our greed. In order to do so we must however first try to understand the desire emotion. Thus the questions like what is the socio-biological basis of desire or why do human beings have it and what is the nature of their fulfillment needs to be addressed.

Desire manifests itself in different forms – lust, aim, ambition, control, goal, etc. However, the driving force is the same – power, fame and money and I think it ultimately boils down to control and hence power. Some also call it an ego trip.

Desire is fueled by experience. A living being wants to experience the world. This is an inherent trait of all life forms. We are wired for experience. Urge for maximization of experience fuels the desire. Whether the desire is for sex, money, fame etc. it is driven by the same need to have experience.

As our brains develop (right from our birth) the neurons need to form the memory pathways. This process is accomplished by sensory perception where the inputs from the senses form the memory. We are hardwired to increase our experience and memories. This is the genesis of desire. Thus desire and brain are interlinked. As long as brain exists there will always be desire.

One of the outcomes of desire is possession. We feel a need to possess whatever we desire whether it is a person, object or even an idea. This possession helps in maximization of experience. As we absorb this “experience” through our senses, our brain processes this information. It is during this process that we “decide” whether our desires are fulfilled or not. Fulfillment of desires therefore helps us in releasing the “possessions”. Thus a powerful processor or mind can get its desires fulfilled quite easily without physically possessing the objects of desire. While on the other hand a weaker brain needs to possess lot more things for fulfilling them and this leads to greed. Thus to live a sustainable life it is necessary to have a powerful brain processor.

Desire is a useful and necessary emotion. It allows us to achieve something and be active. Without desire we will be lifeless, dead or like stones. However what we need to do is to channel our desires so that they get fulfilled without too much taxing of resources, materials and energy. For example a desire to invent a new process, to create a new thought or discovery does not require much energy or resources, say as that required for possessing too many cars or luxury items like a Global Jet, Ferraris, Mercedes, Bentley, A 100 feet yatch, Beach house Miami and Penthouse in Manhattan etc..! The desire for material goods which supply our needs and not our greed could be good for humanity at large and will lead to sustainability.

One of the possible ways to satiate the desire for possession of material goods is sublimating it via Virtual Reality (VR). As the technology for virtual reality systems evolves and VR becomes more realistic we will be able to take care of most of our desires with very little use of energy and materials. This will hopefully lead us to sustainability.

Satiation of desire requires energy and material resources and excessive desire leads to greed and hence to un-sustainability. The wisdom of “I” or ego keeps a check on the desires. If not, then the mind goes into an ever expanding spiral of greed and excesses. Unresolved desires produce memory knots or stresses which have the mechanism of always directing the brain to them and creating anger, frustrations and hence depression. This happens because the thought production is channeled or influenced by the existing memories. If the brain has more memory knots of unfulfilled desires then the new thoughts will be centered and focused around them leading to anger, frustration etc.

A stressed mind gets angry very fast. Anger is an emotion, which occurs when things don't happen the way we want. Thus a powerful processor or mind which can coolly and calmly look and evaluate all the possibilities (deep thought helps do that) may have better conflict and anger resolution capabilities than a shallow thinking mind. Thus insecurity and anger may be related.

The power of brain processor is increased by availability of its working memory. This can happen with cultivation of deep thought so that the dissolution of other memories and psychological knots takes place. As this memory increases, the absorption and digestion of inputs also get enhanced since the mind becomes hungry for more experiences and this increases our desires. As our desires increase both in quantity and quality the powerful brain/mind complex starts looking for higher purposes. This “mind opening” experience allows interaction of mind with external and higher dimensional knowledge space and allows us to access the existing information from it - the basis of most discoveries, inventions etc.

(To be contd....)