Your Mind and How to Use It: A Manual of Practical PsychologyAtkinson, William Walker
Science
Your Mind and How to Use It: A Manual of Practical Psychology
Atkinson, William Walker
Psychology
Desire is defined as "a feeling, emotion, or excitement of the mind
directed toward the attainment, enjoyment, or possession of some object
from which pleasure, profit, or gratification is expected." Halleck
gives us the following excellent conception of the moving spirit of
desire: "_Desire has for its object something which will bring pleasure
or get rid of pain, immediate or remote, for the individual or for some
one in whom he is interested. Aversion, or a striving away from
something, is merely the negative aspect of desire._"
In Halleck's statement, above quoted, we have the explanation of the
part played by the intellect in the activities of will. The intellect
is able to perceive the relations between present action and future
results, and is able to point the way toward the suppression of some
desires in order that other and better ones may be manifested. It also
serves its purposes in regulating the "striking of the average" between
conflicting desires. Without the intervention of the intellect, the
temporary desire of the moment would invariably be acted upon without
regard to future results or consequences to one's self and others. It
also serves to point out the course of action calculated to give the
most satisfactory expression of the desire.
While it is a fact that the action of will depends almost entirely upon
the motive force of desire, it is likewise true that desire may be
created, regulated, suppressed, and even killed by the action of the
will. The will, by giving or refusing attention to a certain class of
desires, may either cause them to grow and wax strong, or else die and
fade away. It must be remembered, however, that this use of the will
itself springs from another set of desires or feelings.
Desire is aroused by feelings or emotions rising from the subconscious
planes of the mind and seeking expression and manifestation. We have
considered the nature of the feelings and emotions in previous chapters,
which should be read in connection with the present one. It should be
remembered that the feeling or emotional side of desire arises from
either inherited race memories existing as instincts, or from the memory
of the past experiences of the individual. In some cases the feeling
first manifests in a vague unrest caused by subconscious promptings and
excitement. Then the imagination pictures the object of the feeling, or
certain memory images connected with it, and the desire thus manifests
on the plane of consciousness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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