The Fruits of Desire

12/10/24

“Desire gratified plants fruits of life and beauty” - William Blake

Life evolves toward objectives in cycles of arousal, striving, gratification, and relief, perpetually reaching new heights. The modern psychologist might call this a cosmic hedonic treadmill, with nature showing its perpetual pursuit of novel pleasures and chronic aversion to pain. In the modern world, where there is easy availability of gratification that does not require much striving, the cycle is thwarted. Relief is shallow, and without a suitable refractory period, new arousals are not sensitively titillated. This over-accessibility to quick gratification is blamed for causing depression and hopelessness. I suggest that the inverse is true, that it is the hopeless who invent and abuse shallow rewards to self-medicate. An individual’s aspirations stand atop societal aspirations. A culture that enshrouds pleasure yet promotes degeneracy and abuses of life does not arouse aspirations in individuals that are worthy of struggle. Quick gratifications become the only hope to those treading their heads just above such a cultural bog.

Arousal is a spark of dopaminergic motivation tied to the projection of a possible pleasurable outcome. The arousal initiates a crescendo of rising tiers of stimulation that build pressure as the objective is approached. The tension is a growing intensity of motivation and desire as the objective becomes more and more possible. This period of striving toward an aim is characterized by rising testosterone that fortifies the body and mind to withstand the pressure, similar to what occurs during resistance training when the muscles are put under strain. Testosterone also has the function of sensitizing the dopamine neurons such that when the objective is reached, and especially when it has been sufficiently striven after, the flushing release of dopamine produces a euphoric climax. The climax is followed by a subsequent drop of dopamine and a rise of prolactin and serotonin. Prolactin helps to maintain a moderate tone of dopamine and protect from depression, and the rise in serotonin promotes a feeling of satisfaction with what has been achieved and disinterest in further goal seeking. This is the refractory period, the intensity of which is proportional to the intensity of the previous stages. During the refractory period, the dopamine system is resensitized, and from this new stillness, a small droplet of stimulation can cause noticeable ripples that arouse a new desire, beginning the cycle again.

This cycle of pressure and relief propels all life forward and is evident in the stages of pregnancy. After conception, testosterone gradually builds in the pregnant woman during nine months of anticipation until a fantastic flushing of dopamine occurs during labor. Labor is followed by a long refractory period of high prolactin that decreases libido and causes lactation. Conception, pregnancy, labor, and nursing mirror the same stages apparent in the pursuit of all goals and desires. The complete cycle produces the fruit of life.

In the case of addiction, there are frequent, shallow climaxes without adequate striving that would otherwise build pressure toward a single satisfying climax. Without a euphoric climax, there is no significant refractory period of resensitization. In this thin range of shallow dopamine fluctuations, frequent climaxes are attempted to maintain a low and fleeting sense of pleasure atop an ever-growing sense of pain and hopelessness that is characterized by chronically elevated prolactin. Modern psychologists suggest that unrestrained desire itself is the origin of this vicious cycle. Too many or too intense of rewards are thought to desensitize pleasure sensation. Gradually more advanced rewards are then needed to reach the same climactic feelings, ultimately reaching a pleasure threshold that cannot be surpassed and leading to depression. Boring living is advised to maintain high sensitivity of the rewards system. But life did not evolve to great heights by taming desires and evolution should not end with humans who tediously restrain passions in order to maintain contentedness.

The reason that addiction is so prevalent is not that quick gratification is so easily accessible but that the goals of human desire are not great enough to increase the amplitudes of pleasure and satisfaction. Only shallow climaxes are available within the societal norms. Some individuals have the inner intuition to seek goals far beyond cultural frameworks and these are the few people who stimulate philosophical changes that gradually push society forward. For the majority, quick gratification is sought out not because of excess desire, but because of a deficiency of desire. Addictions and perversions appear where true pleasures cannot be reached. It is the goal of society to make the greater moral and life-promoting pleasures available to the individual.

Sex should be the natural remedy to depression and addiction, were it that the social context allow it to be so. When sexual arousal and tension are sufficiently strong, high amplitudes of pleasure and satisfaction are experienced, which sensitize the individual to new arousals after deep refractory periods. With this broader fluctuation, quick and frequent gratifications are not sought. However, the combined hiding, commodifying, and shaming of sexual pleasure reveal the societal restriction on desire that individuals must struggle to overcome. Without the freedom to seek complete orgasm, individuals are not fortified with testosterone but are weakened and grasp for lame gratifications.

The same desire-energy that appears erotic in the material realm manifests non-erotically in the higher mind as intuition, creativity, and spiritual insight. When erotic tension cannot be or is not wished to be fulfilled in a physical way, it can and should be transmuted to power these psychic processes, such that tension is not stored within the body. Those seeking deeper wisdom can purposefully transmute this energy, but the power of desire can be so potent as to fuel both erotic physical and non-erotic spiritual gratification.

There is no impenetrable threshold of pleasure. Sex is the highest physical pleasure and can be perpetually satisfying. Beyond this, the mind rises in climaxes of spiritual insight that only could culminate in the full immersion with all that is. But even then, new desires are discovered that, when gratified, plant novel fruits of life and beauty.