I’m fascinated by the idea that desire is a holy force — I’ve written about it in my upcoming book The Life Organizer and wonder about it in my own life most everyday. Here are some great musings from Free Will Astrology Newsletter by Rob Brezsny. If you haven’t bought your own copy of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings, do so right now. And read it every day after you read a regular newspaper or watch the news!

Excerpted from Free Will Astrology Newsletter, Copyright 2006 Rob Brezsny

WHAT IF YOUR DESIRES ARE HOLY?

Some religious traditions teach the doctrine, "Kill off your 
longings." In their view, attachment to desire is at the root of human suffering. 
But the religion of materialism takes the opposite tack, asserting that the
meaning of life is to be found in indulging desires. Its creed is,  "Feed your
cravings like a French foie gras farmer cramming eight pounds of maize
down a goose’s gullet every day."

At the Beauty and Truth Lab, we walk a middle path. We believe there are
both degrading desires that enslave you and sacred desires that liberate
you.

*

Psychologist Carl Jung believed that all desires have a sacred 
origin, no matter how odd they may seem. Frustration and ignorance may contort
them into distorted caricatures, but it is always possible to locate the
divine source from which they arose. In describing one of his addictive
patients, Jung said: "His craving for alcohol was the equivalent on a 
low level of the spiritual thirst for wholeness, or as expressed in medieval
language: the union with God."

*

Therapist James Hillman echoes the theme: "Psychology regards all
symptoms to be expressing the right thing in the wrong way." A
preoccupation with porn or romance novels, for instance, may come to
dominate a passionate person whose quest for love has degenerated into
an obsession with images of love. "Follow the lead of your symptoms,"
Hillman suggests, "for there’s usually a myth in the mess, and a mess is
an expression of soul."

*

"Mad! One must become mad with love in order to realize God. When a
person attains ecstatic love of God, all the pores of the skin, even the
roots of the hair, become like so many sex organs, and in every pore the
aspirant enjoys the happiness of communion with the Supreme Universal
Self." –Ramakrishna

*

Like all of us, you have desires for things that you don’t really 
need and aren’t good for you. But you shouldn’t disparage yourself for having
them, nor should you conclude that every desire is tainted. Rather, 
think of your misguided longings as the bumbling, amateur expressions of a
faculty that will one day be far more expert. They’re how you 
practice as you work toward the goal of becoming a master of desire. It may take a
while, but eventually you will get the hang of wanting things that are
really good for you, and good for everyone else, too.

Just for today, ask yourself every time you want something and every time you tell yourself you can’t have something, "What is the divine source of this desire?" I think I’ll talk about this on the podcast this week!