Desire
Probably when you read the title, Desire, you immediately thought of sexual desire. Though I suppose sexual desire is one of the strongest desires of the natural man, it is just one of innumerable other desires. In this podcast, I want to talk about desire itself.
On the one hand, desire is one of mankind’s greatest enemies; on the other hand, desire is one of mankind’s’ greatest gifts. Imagine living in a world without desire.
One of my favorite utopian novels is by Samuel Johnson entitled Ressalas, Prince of Abyssinia, written in 1759. The children of the emperor were imprisoned in Happy Valley, a paradise surrounded by high mountains. Ingress and Egress we suspiciously controlled, and the inhabitants of Happy Valley were given everything their hearts desired.
The valley, wide and fruitful, supplied its inhabitants with all the necessaries of life, and all delights and superfluities were added at the annual visit which the Emperor paid his children, when the iron gate was opened to the sound of music, and during eight days every one that resided in the valley was required to propose whatever might contribute to make seclusion pleasant, to fill up the vacancies of attention, and lessen the tediousness of time. Every desire was immediately granted. All the artificers of pleasure were called to gladden the festivity; the musicians exerted the power of harmony, and the dancers showed their activity before the princes, in hopes that they should pass their lives in blissful captivity, to which those only were admitted whose performance was thought able to add novelty to luxury. Such was the appearance of security and delight which this retirement afforded, that they to whom it was new always desired that it might be perpetual; and as those on whom the iron gate had once closed were never suffered to return, the effect of longer experience could not be known. Thus every year produced new scenes of delight, and new competitors for imprisonment.
Everything was furnished to the children of the Emperor who, with good intentions, had placed them there to escape the evils of the world.
Here the sons and daughters of Abyssinia lived only to know the soft vicissitudes of pleasure and repose, attended by all that were skilful to delight, and gratified with whatever the senses can enjoy. They wandered in gardens of fragrance, and slept in the fortresses of security. Every art was practised to make them pleased with their own condition. The sages who instructed them told them of nothing but the miseries of public life, and described all beyond the mountains as regions of calamity, where discord was always racing, and where man preyed upon man. To heighten their opinion of their own felicity, they were daily entertained with songs, the subject of which was the Happy Valley. Their appetites were excited by frequent enumerations of different enjoyments, and revelry and merriment were the business of every hour, from the dawn of morning to the close of the evening.
Those who came from the outside were not allowed to stay long. Only the children of the emperor were permanent residents. Therefore, those who came into Happy Valley from the outside world, saw Happy Valley as paradise and did not want to leave.
The only unhappy person in Happy Valley was Rassalas, the oldest son of the Emperor. He was unhappy, but having everything he wanted, he did not know why he was unhappy. He describes his dilemma.
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