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A problem with passion

“You’re passionate” rings as a compliment, a superlative in contemporary ears.

Passion is a problem in the sacred texts and counsel of Buddhism and yoga. There, passion is fever. Fever flames when the human system is out of balance.

Passion specified as enthusiasm rather than fever is presumably easier on us, if intense enjoyment is the feeling. Intensity and balance can coexist when pleasure links them. Pleasure as a natural state of being, as nothing special/everything special. Intoxications, entertainments, and amusements veer away from the kind of  pleasure that is as inconsequential as waking up in the morning and stretching in bed. Enthusiasm derives from the Greek enthousiazein, one of whose meanings is “to be inspired.” Inconsequential instants and details in the morning can inspire a whole day’s pleasure.

However, lest we become overly comfortable with enthusiasm, know that enthousiazein also means “be possessed by a god.” That may sound great to religious folk who go to church or pray to a divinity–being possessed by their chosen deity. When that happens, fundamentalism may be the cause or the result, and fundamentalist religion tends to be fevered. Physical characteristics of fever are headache, shivering, a high body temperature, and, in really bad instances, delirium. A fever is a sickness, in spirit as in body. Also, you’ve probably heard about possession by demons or the devil, whether you believe it or not, and you may have heard about wives being possessed by husbands, being literal chattel in some cases, being emotional property in others. Whether a god, a demon, or a spouse is your owner, you’ve got a problem: you’re lost to yourself. Valentines that read “I’m yours” and love songs that say “You belong to me” seem harmless, if familiarity breeds innocuousness. Yet “I’m yours” and “You belong to me” distill the passionate jealousies and possessiveness of lovers.

I like a passionate lover, one who inspires me with his enthusiasm for life and for me. I want to inspire a lover with my enthusiasm for life and for him. Enthusiasm that is excited, exciting, and unfevered and that is a balancing–not a balancing act–of peacefulness and excitement.

• June 17, 2010
• Filed under: Body and mind, Pleasure
• Comments 0