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What is lust?

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
What is lust? How does it differ from a proper sexual desire?

I have always thought that lust was to sexual desire as greed is to the desire for money, or as gluttony is to the desire for food. When we lust, we want more than we need, or more than is good for us. Am I on the mark with this? What do you think?
 

Mister Emu

Emu Extraordinaire
Staff member
Premium Member
Hmm,

Lust -

Intense or unrestrained sexual craving.

An overwhelming desire or craving: a lust for power.
Intense eagerness or enthusiasm: a lust for life.

intr.v. lust·ed, lust·ing, lusts
To have an intense or obsessive desire, especially one that is sexual.

from dictionary.com emphasis mine.

I believe lust is a sexual desire that does not originate from a want for deeper relationship and procreation.
 

linwood

Well-Known Member
When we lust, we want more than we need, or more than is good for us.

Who determines what we need or what is good for us?
I don`t see it as being more than we need but as almost unbearable want.


I believe lust is a sexual desire that does not originate from a want for deeper relationship and procreation.

Agreed, when used to describe a sexual desire.
:)
 

Engyo

Prince of Dorkness!
The Buddhist definition would be that lust, when indulged, begets behavior which causes suffering. Whether this is sexual, or related to money, food, drugs, or what have you doesn't matter. The definition of whether or not the desire/behavior is healthy is determined by whether or not it causes (needless) suffering.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Engyo said:
The Buddhist definition would be that lust, when indulged, begets behavior which causes suffering. Whether this is sexual, or related to money, food, drugs, or what have you doesn't matter. The definition of whether or not the desire/behavior is healthy is determined by whether or not it causes (needless) suffering.
That makes a lot of sense to me, Engyo. Thank you.
 

linwood

Well-Known Member
The Buddhist definition would be that lust, when indulged, begets behavior which causes suffering. Whether this is sexual, or related to money, food, drugs, or what have you doesn't matter. The definition of whether or not the desire/behavior is healthy is determined by whether or not it causes (needless) suffering.

That is a different definition than I hold.
It would be viewed as different by most Christians too.

Thats not a problem but it would have to be defined in a discussion with anyone besides another Budhist.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
I take it, Tenshihan and Runt, that you know each other?

Back on topic: Are people today more prone to lust than they were when things were simpler?
 

Runt

Well-Known Member
Yes, he's my MUDD buddy...

I don't think people are more prone to lust today than in the past. Biologically, we are still the same as we were hundreds of years ago, so... However, I do think that today it is more socially acceptable to act on lust than it has ever been before...
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
What about the possibility that our consumer culture with it's massive advertising campaigns actually fuels lust?
 

Master Vigil

Well-Known Member
From a Taoist point of view, lust would be that which is uneccesary. And out of balance. Since lust is a craving, a want to have, it is almost like wanting a possession which is not necessary to living life like the Tao. Thats the best way I could form it a 1 o'clock in the morning. I hope it worked.
 

Runt

Well-Known Member
What about the possibility that our consumer culture with it's massive advertising campaigns actually fuels lust?
Or, what about the possibility that a society that covers its women from head to toe to conceal their form to prevent lust still generates lust by giving the mind a mystery and a desire to imagine what it cannot see?

Or, another example... would not a woman in a bodice with her cleavage hanging out everywhere incite just as much lust as a woman in a pair of tight jeans and a skin tight, lowcut spagetti strap midriff?
 

Tenshihan

New Member
Sunstone said:
I take it, Tenshihan and Runt, that you know each other?

Back on topic: Are people today more prone to lust than they were when things were simpler?
Where things ever simpler? Or by that expression do you mean when technology and science were simple? Science is a fundamental part of my belief; ergo, its provable platform is sometimes the only thing I believe in. I think the acceptance of sexually wanes and waxes through the generations. I define lust as a sexual because it is the scope in which I am affected by it. One generation will wholly accept open sexuality and the next generation will identify the problems the previous encountered. This digression will lead to each successive generation becoming more and more prude until an equilibrium in the total opposite direction has been achieved. Then the next generation will identify the problems of with closed sexuality and the whole process will reverse it self. Do you know there was lesbian poetry written in 1300s in the middle of the Islamic World? That is a far cry from their methods and ideals today.

Just something to think about.
 

Tenshihan

New Member
Runt said:
Or, what about the possibility that a society that covers its women from head to toe to conceal their form to prevent lust still generates lust by giving the mind a mystery and a desire to imagine what it cannot see?

Or, another example... would not a woman in a bodice with her cleavage hanging out everywhere incite just as much lust as a woman in a pair of tight jeans and a skin tight, lowcut spagetti strap midriff?
No I've been to the middle east and it is an almost a lust free zone except for the women in the freer parts who have absorbed western culture and started wearing tight clothing.
 

Runt

Well-Known Member
Good post, Tenshihan

Tenshihan said:
I define lust as a sexual because it is the scope in which I am affected by it.
Ever see something in a store that you do not need, but nevertheless want? I define this as lust as well... for me, desire and lust are synonymous; sexual desire is just one form of lust. I can lust after a piece of cake when I am not hungry. I can lust after a new pair of shoes when I've already got 3 perfectly good pairs at home. I can lust after someone else's car even though mine works perfectly fine. I think there are many situations in which one can feel lust.

Tenshihan said:
No I've been to the middle east and it is an almost a lust free zone except for the women in the freer parts who have absorbed western culture and started wearing tight clothing.
Let me get this right... if you were a young man in a culture where ALL women went covered in dark, baggy clothing from head to foot, you would not feel lust at the mere thought of what might be below those garments?
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Runt said:
Good post, Tenshihan


Ever see something in a store that you do not need, but nevertheless want? I define this as lust as well... for me, desire and lust are synonymous; sexual desire is just one form of lust. I can lust after a piece of cake when I am not hungry. I can lust after a new pair of shoes when I've already got 3 perfectly good pairs at home. I can lust after someone else's car even though mine works perfectly fine. I think there are many situations in which one can feel lust.
That's the sense in which I'm using "lust" too. It's sometimes called "greed" or "gluttony" or perhaps something else. But whatever it's specific form, to lust is to excessively want.
 

Tenshihan

New Member
Runt said:
Good post, Tenshihan


Ever see something in a store that you do not need, but nevertheless want? I define this as lust as well... for me, desire and lust are synonymous; sexual desire is just one form of lust. I can lust after a piece of cake when I am not hungry. I can lust after a new pair of shoes when I've already got 3 perfectly good pairs at home. I can lust after someone else's car even though mine works perfectly fine. I think there are many situations in which one can feel lust.

Let me get this right... if you were a young man in a culture where ALL women went covered in dark, baggy clothing from head to foot, you would not feel lust at the mere thought of what might be below those garments?
Yes, because you can't tell if its your grandmother or the girl next door. I do agree that I've felt those forms of lust, especially the cake.
 

Runt

Well-Known Member
Hmm... but if there is no lust in the Middle East... then what of the belief that when a man dies and goes to Heaven there will be virgins there for him? Is that not lust? I think lust is everywhere about equally; in cultures where the body is revealed and lust is almost socially acceptable, and in cultures where the body is concealed and lust is hidden and not acceptable.
 

Tenshihan

New Member
Sunstone said:
What about the possibility that our consumer culture with it's massive advertising campaigns actually fuels lust?
Yes, indeed it does. During ramadan, you become more aware of how many food commercials are on television. It is almost disgusting.
 
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