On Effort: The Desire Trap

What does it mean to try? What does it mean to try to achieve something, be it a goal, characteristic, or state of being we wish to inhabit?

I do not seek to empirically prove that people are growing more unhappy and less fulfilled in the modern age in industrialized societies, this is a substantiated fact that is accepted as the basis for this work.

Many of, if not all, the days of our lives – we spend at least several moments in a state of longing for a gain yet realized or a reward in the distant future.  Perhaps we seek material goods or spiritual fulfillment. These desires burn deeply within us and highlight the realization that is in every human heart: “I am not yet who I am meant to be.” Yearning is the first step in effort. We have to want that which we seek. Herein lies the great trap of a wistful age, The Desire Trap.

In the age of manifestation, simple desire is presented as a near-adequate if not wholly satisfactory effort for that which we seek. Unfortunately, this is largely true in the modern era due to the merits of a prosperous society. You could live your whole life operating purely on desire and pleasure. Every need could be satisfied – which leads deeper into The Desire Trap. The “desire-fulfillment model” hits a hard wall when our desires burst forth from those of slaves. All desires possess two dimensions: the animal and the spiritual. For instance – love would be embodied in the animal dimension as lust, and in the spiritual dimension as agape. Even with material desires, it is still possible to break it up into these two categories. For instance – the desire for money could be embodied in the animal dimension as greed, and in the spiritual dimension as achievement or excellence. The “desire-fulfillment model” operates on the animal dimension, it is horizontal. Desires grow until minimal effort to quell them is obtained, then the cycle repeats, but the wound deepens and grows larger with every cycle. This model lends itself to the kind of “hedonic treadmill” that drives men into the ground, through the ground, and ultimately into hell. The kind of hell that is represented as a purely directionless and unmoored existence in this plane and eternal suffering in the next.  

Desire is not bad, per se. You will desire things no matter what and no matter your circumstances. The more important question to answer is what do you desire? Many of the desires of all people will inhabit the same spaces: love, money, power, and safety, just to name a few. Which dimension do we aim for within these desires, the animal or the spiritual? Herein lies The Desire Trap. The modern era not only rewards the animal dimension on a societal level, it is easier than ever to satisfy the animal dimension and it is only getting easier. As stated previously, as a species we will ALWAYS desire things. Being able to satisfy those lower desires will create feedback loops within us. If we have learned how to succeed, why would we change? The machinery of the human mind is unchanging across time – it is the inputs that are.

Desire is a tool, not an end. If the center of man’s universe becomes his own desire, his universe is flat. If desire is the end unto which the universe is centered, anything that could be desired becomes worthy of pursuit. If desire is the centering principle, there is no reason to strive for anything beyond the satisfaction of the desire. Your desires will naturally fall to the lower, more readily achievable dimension. The inputs in man’s machinery have been skewed – this is not how it is supposed to be. The knowledge that, “I am not yet who I am meant to be,” will remain forever and come back stronger and harder each time the dopamine high of the animal urge fades. You can chase the same ends and never feel like you are any closer to the finish line. This is The Desire Trap – letting desire become an end and not a means to an end outside of itself.

Desire and effort go hand in hand. When satisfaction of a desire is the ultimate goal, any effort is viewed as positive. Effort becomes another idol. Because any desire is worth satisfying in the universe centered on desire, any efforts to satisfy a desire are laudable and noble. This is another example of the inputs to man’s unchanging machinery being skewed. This is also why efforts towards the spiritual dimension can feel counterproductive to the man whose universe is centered on desire. Even though the intuition that resides at least in part in every man can point him a certain way, if his machinery is aligned to take him in the opposite direction, he will most likely stray. As stated previously, the “desire-fulfillment model” is horizontal, and to pursue the spiritual dimension of desire – man requires verticality, he requires transcendence.

If desire is the center of the universe, there is no true aspiration. Aspiration takes one outside of oneself. Aspiration is the beginning of transcendence. This is how man escapes The Desire Trap. So, we see that changing the center of the universe changes our prospects by introducing a new vertical dimension. Now the question of what the center of the universe is becomes even more important, the stakes are that much higher. Because you can aspire upwards, or you can now sink downwards as opposed to the directionless hell of the hedonic treadmill.

What should be placed at the center of the universe? The pivot point for all desire and thus all striving? It should be something good. In fact, it should be The Ultimate Good: God. If our aspirations are always drawn upwards towards The Ultimate Good, and not on a flat axis found within ourselves, our desires our not fulfilled in dopamine spikes, but in the meaning that begins to inhabit our very lives. “I am not yet who I am meant to be,” is still a pervasive realization, but one that there is now a path to answering. That refrain echoes in the heart of every man, but the answer to that call is not found within him, it is found outside of him. If man were able to get rid of this persistent yearning by himself, it would be logical for a man to place himself at the center of his own universe, but this is a point that only the most libertine, individualist thinker would make. It is false, per se, to anyone with a beyond-myopic view. This leads to the prevalence of The Desire Trap. In a society that denies The Ultimate Good, they cannot place The Ultimate Good at the center of the universe. However, man’s machinery is unchanging. They will keep all the trappings and cut out the Ultimate Good, leaving the desire for The Ultimate Good which can now be rebranded as desire itself. The central problem was that desire and effort were only the vehicle toward the center of the universe, not the center itself.

Stop yourself from spinning endlessly in The Desire Trap. Break the chains that have bound you towards your animal desires and yolk yourself to The Ultimate Good that truly lies at the center of the universe. Raise your eyes from the ground and look to the sky. Your wistfulness that comes from effort spent in desires that never are satiated comes from the myth that animal desires will satisfy you. It is the spiritual dimension that you do desire but you so readily exchange for the animal counterpart. Realign your universe and begin to see the fruits of your true desires, the lifelong quest to solve the “I am not yet who I am meant to be,” dilemma. You might experience less dopamine highs in the short term, but the meager portion of satiation that comes from your spiritual growth will be the first gift on your journey towards the center of the universe, The Ultimate Good, God.