From the moment a person is born, they crave their mother’s milk. Every few hours, they cry desperately for milk and wail to ensure no one takes it away. As they grow, they start craving solid food, and later, toys. A child who possesses many desirable toys becomes a figure of power among their peers. This child, now holding power, does not take kindly to another child who appears with even better toys, threatening to usurp their position.
As secondary sexual characteristics begin to develop, a new kind of desire emerges—one that is different in both kind and magnitude. It is the desire to engage in pleasurable activities using specific parts of one’s own body and that of the opposite sex. This new desire is so intense that it torments most people for the rest of their lives, driving them to commit various shameful and unethical acts.
A man who dotes excessively on a woman, or a woman who goes to great lengths to please a man, may in fact be largely dominated by this desire. They fear being unable to fulfill this craving and think that a life without it is not worth living. (If it were truly love, wouldn’t the other person’s happiness be more important?)
From the same perspective, being a perfectionist who is utterly devoted to work, strictly adhering to exercise and diet regimens, carving out time for study and reading, or striving for a long and healthy life—all these could be seen as no different from a child’s greed for toys. In a society filled with people who know nothing but desire, the so-called “hard work” and “achievements” that are highly praised might simply be cases of “conspicuously fulfilling one’s desires.” Relationships in such a society might be nothing more than a mutual exchange of material and emotional desires—a “desire swap.” These relationships exist only insofar as one can help fulfill the other’s desires, or at least not hinder them. They are hollow, shell-like connections.
Who can I trust? In a world filled with children who throw tantrums, cry, throw things, hide, steal, and tear apart toys, who can I trust? How can I know if the person who eagerly approaches me is not merely being true to their own desires, wearing the mask of a socially admired image?
Perhaps the only person I can trust is a child who is content with the toys they have, who desires good toys but does not envy the friend who has them, and who, no matter how much they want a toy, would never lie to their mother for money or steal from a store. It is someone who acknowledges that they have the same desires as everyone else but refuses to fulfill even the smallest desire at the cost of their conscience. It is someone who loses and lets go of many things to live this way, someone who constantly battles with themselves. It is someone who prays to the heavens for the strength to become such a person. Perhaps no one else is truly trustworthy.
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