I wish to attack this matter of converse from several points of reason and logic. I invite all who read this to provide feedback: positive, negative, or otherwise. Please feel free to post your own opinions and views, I would much appreciate it.

The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man. – Madame de Stael
Why do we as a species act the way we do? Why do people do anything? What is the most base of motivators in an individuals life? Why does my roommate play World of Warcraft, my friend lie to his parents about the women in his life, and others I know whom involve themselves in sports, school, occupations, business, intellectual parties, social events, gangs, and all other associations, ideals, and walks of life?

Let’s start with an individual. Obviously all individuals are different, and different people are motivated by different things; however, it’s best to understand one before I even attempt to understand wholes. Let’s begin with myself. Why am I writing this note? I am writing this note because it allows me to express my thoughts and feelings in a healthy and productive manner. Why would I want to express these feelings in a good way? Because it brings me day-to-day and/or lasting happiness in my life, or other sorts of utility on a short term or long term basis. Why would I want to do that? Because it satisfies basic needs and wants that are apart of my emotional, spiritual, and physical well being. Why do that? Because it encompasses the drive for individuals to even exist in a world of natural selection, that is, the will to survive. Why do we want to survive? Why do we want to perpetuate our species? Where does this, this basic instinct to continue life, come from? It is the most solid and deeply rooted desire in our existence as a population, an organization, and an individual.

Assume for a minute that this train of thought is correct. There are three, inseparable units of a persons entity: physical, spiritual, mental. In this branch of thought, all three parts influence the other two when creating or subsisting desire. Consider an emotion. An emotion such as anger causes you to act in a specific way. You think (mental) angry thoughts, you feel (spiritual) resentment towards others, and you act and manifest (physical) the appearance of hatred in your body language. Some would say that your feelings are simply chemical imbalances and interactions from your body which create the effect of consciousness. That your mind is simply the whole function of your brain, and that the ideal of the “spirit” is an attempt for the brain to explain purpose, meaning, function, and emotional survival. I believe this second definition to be partly untrue; the first model is in my opinion a much more accurate attempt at explaining the essence of individuality and purpose, but form your own opinions as you will. Whatever your opinion, it is clear that these three things constitute what a human being is, because it has arisen in every culture to some extent, not just western ideology.

Another model to take into consideration is that the there is a spiritual part, and a physical/mental part. The physical and mental being basically like the first model but instead of separate categories, being divided into sub groups. (ex: physical, (physical, mental). The mind can be explained as a higher functioning output of “conscious” processes in our brain. The physical being the base instincts and feelings and the mind being a processed and consciously known output of logic applied as the actions your body takes on a conscious and unconscious level as the final result of output. The spiritual creates feelings and is a deep personal identity of your existence as more than just a lump of meat and potatoes. Whether you believe in God, many gods, no god, ethereal unity within all of life or only human life, or possibly with all matter, this is the reflection of spiritual identity [Of course me being LDS, I subscribe to a post of spirituality and I wholesomely lobby my feelings and thoughts as those of truth, these things being true to me. I would like the liberty of writing this as though my beliefs are truth, because to me, that is what they are]. Our conscience is a form of spirituality, a “gut feeling” is a form of spirituality. Spirituality is a topic covered by all persons, religions, governments, etc. It is apart of our very existence and influences us as well as the other two categories/sub categories.

Now we have a desire to live, a desire to survive, a desire to create, function, etc. Where does this desire come from? Survival and happiness, personal gain and utility. These things provide us desires. Things ranging from the instantly gratifying, to life long memories, pleasures, and joys. No one would do anything save it brought them some sort of utility. Does this mean that all we do is selfish? That there is no such thing as being truly selfless? Yes and no. We can do things for others, therefore giving ourselves and others utility. Some would say, “What about Christ? He was completely selfless and did all he did for others, and not himself”. This is true, but why did he do it? Because he loves us, and therefore, accomplishing things for us because he loves us brings him utility. He did it not for himself, but he wouldn’t have done it save it brought him joy. God himself has said “behold this is my work and my glory – to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (The Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:39). I view this statement as that it is his work and his glory (therefore it is his utility and pleasure) to bring us eternal life, the greatest gift and pleasure that we can possibly have. So God is not selfish, but he does act to bring himself, as well as us, utility and joy. So really everything we do is done to bring ourselves utility/pleasure/happiness/joy/justice/gratification.

This is my opinion and conclusion, that all desires are shaped by the physical, mental, and spiritual parts of our identity, and that we will ultimately act on desires to further our enjoyment of life and to bring feelings of worth and love into our lives, as well as feelings of sexual pleasure, gluttony, acceptance/popularity, substance, intellectual and physical superiority, and any other type of gratification (short or long term) that we may achieve through the fulfillment of these desires.

Now here’s a new question. How do you change your desires? Are they set in stone, and are we all destined to be what we are no matter what? Once again, this question is a yes and no answer. Some parts of us, such as heredity, are not within our power to change. These things that can not be changed will always uphold certain desires. Other things that we can change, such as education of opinions, being physically active, etc., will change our desires once we change them. If you spend time around the opposite gender (or the same depending on your sexual orientation), you will for sure eventually be attracted to them; you will have a desire to be with them. This is a physical desire that can never be changed. If you spend good amounts of time checking out porno, chances are you are going to want to bang the crap out of sexy peoples a lot more than the person who never touches the stuff. Why? Because the thoughts being processed through your mind will shape your desires, and the individual that keeps those thoughts to a minimum will rarely have the desire at the level of the individual who views it on a daily basis. How could you crave bananas if you’ve never tasted them? My point simply being, that thoughts (which are shaped by genetics, environment, friends, education, etc.) are a large part of what shapes our desires.

This is all extremely interesting to me, to the point that I would like to know what you, the reader, thinks of all this. I understand you may find my logic flawed. The point of this is not to prove who is right or wrong. I merely I want to discuss, that I may have a better understanding and come closer to that unattainable omnipotent force called knowledge. So please, tell me what you think, and if you have any input, I’d be happy to know. I hope this has been somewhat enlightening