The unlimited appetite for carnal pleasures is called lust.
From the Latin luxurĭa , lust is the disordered and unlimited appetite for carnal pleasures . The term is usually associated with uncontrollable sexual desire, although, in reality, it can also refer to excess or too much of other types of things. Lust is linked to lasciviousness , which is the inability to control libido.
Religions often condemn lust. For Catholicism , lust is a capital sin , while Hinduism lists it as one of the five evils. Religion, in general, considers sexual desire in itself to be lustful, regardless of whether or not it belongs to the field of obsession . The moral condemnation of lust is linked, for example, to the prohibition of sexual relations outside of marriage.
Lust and possession
Lust is related, in other words, to possessive thoughts about another person. When this type of obsession reaches a pathological extreme, it can lead to sexual compulsions, abuse, and rape.
A theological principle affirms that the source of love is always God ; By loving God, you can love all human beings. When there is no love for God, however, there is no love for other people. Lust appears when you try to possess the other subject to obtain love, outside of God. It is, therefore, a dehumanization of the loved one.
The religious response against lust is the love of God and the recognition of the other being as an object of divine creation. Love of neighbor, therefore, is always love of God.
Religions condemn lust since they associate it with dehumanization.
The "normality" of sexual desire
Despite everything stated so far, the mere recognition of one's own needs is not always considered something negative within the Christian religion. Almost all sacred texts talk about the normality of sexual desire, so we should not feel bad for feeling it, but the important thing is not to put it into practice. In fact, Christianity points out that not recognizing it can negatively affect mental health and even enhance it.
Another piece of advice indicated for those who believe they have problems in this area is to accept them so that temptation does not take them by surprise. Be aware of this before going out or getting together with people who may be attractive to you to create a strategy that allows you to quickly focus on something else. At this point, it is also recommended to "look elsewhere" as soon as we find a source of temptation .
Intellectual stimulation and lust
For many individuals, lust appears during times of little professional activity or little intellectual stimulation. The body has much simpler mechanisms to achieve pleasure than reading a book or taking a course, and in the absence of movement it tempts us with this "quick and easy recipe." That is why it is also advisable to find a hobby that allows us to clear our minds while having fun.
Reading, especially sacred texts, is one of the most common pieces of advice from pastors to help those who feel tormented by lust. Memorizing verses or complete passages is also very useful, since in the worst moments we can repeat them mentally or orally to try to calm ourselves. In fact, religious people can remember God's laws and their obligation to comply with them in this way.
Pornography is one of the main causes of temptations to feed lust. Therefore, it is also one of the things that religion recommends eliminating from the lives of the faithful. Since the viewing of images and videos of this nature occurs in privacy, it is very difficult to control it, but with intense monitoring they often get those affected to redirect this energy into other activities.