We now understand how according to Rambam the עץ הדעת טוב ורע did not give them moral awareness where they had none before. Rather it transformed this awareness from one kind into another where our own subjective desires come into play.
Is desire more a good thing or a bad thing? What would life look like without your desires?
Due Monday, Nov 16th, 9am.
Is desire more a good thing or a bad thing? What would life look like without your desires?
Due Monday, Nov 16th, 9am.
Desire can be good or bad. If you desire to to something good it can be a good thing if you follow your desires, but if you desire something bad than it can lead you to doing bad things.I think life would be completely different if nobody desired anything because if we didn't desire anything we would all be doing the same thing. I think that what we desire and what we do about our desires make us into the person who we are.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Ruthie said in how desires can go either way. They can sometimes be good and sometimes be bad. It just depends on what it is that you are desiring. If it's a negative desire then it's not always good but can have a bright side because by overcoming that negative desire it can strengthen your yezer ha tov and therefore I feel that a world without desires would make everyone a dull person and not give us the ability to build ourselves in a positive way. Having desires helps make us who we are by either succumbing to the desires or overcoming them.
ReplyDeleteAmeerah Ali-
ReplyDeleteDesire can be a good thing or a bad thing. If you follow your Yatzer Ra then that is a bad thing. This is a case where following your desire is a bad thing. However if you follow your Yatzer Tov then that is a good thing. Then in this case it would be a good thing to follow your Yatzer Tov. However, one would not know if following their desires was a good thing or a bad thing until after they followed it. Then would they be able to determine if it was a good thing to follow their desire or a bad thing. I think a world where in life people did not have desire would not be a world where people lived their lives to the fullest. In life it is a major thing for people to make mistakes and overcome them and without desires we would not be able to do that.
Cynthia Lando: I think that we all agreed that human desires can be either positive or negative, it is just that sometimes it is difficult for us to differentiate. we do things like projection and make excuses for ourselves that blur the lines of what is a negative and what is a positive desire. If we wouldn't have any human desires than we would be like animals, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. We learned that animals only have the desire to do what HaShem wants them to do, wouldn't it be great to never sin? to never blur the lines? to never have a yetzer ha ra?
ReplyDeleteI think that desire could be a good thing or a bad thing. If we didn't have desire what would like look like? We would walk through life in a grey area. you wouldnt love the things you do or hate other things. Its also a bad thing causing us to sin because you really want something. Without desire would we have no yetzr ha ra? Which is worse having desires with a yetzer ha ra or no desires without a yetzer ha ra?
ReplyDeleteNoa Mobilio-
ReplyDeleteI agree that desire can be both good or bad. It really just depends on what you desire and whether or not you fulfill your desires. Following your yetzr ha ra is a bad thing but it's also life and you learn from your mistakes. Desires are what shape us as people and without them we'd be like robots.
Miriam F.G.-
ReplyDeleteI agree that desire is both good and bad. Sometimes our wishes can get us into trouble, like if we’d rather watch tv instead of doing our homework. But if we had no dreams, we would never do anything. We wouldn’t become astronauts, or actresses, or journalists. We wouldn’t take any risks to get what we want. We would likely just do whatever seemed the safest, or the easiest. We wouldn’t have skydivers, or stunt people, or firefighters. People wouldn’t be able to be themselves, they’d probably just follow what everyone else did. If we didn’t follow our desires sometimes, no one would do anything that they really wanted to do. Sometimes our desires create problems, and sometimes they can get us somewhere amazing. It all depends on the situation.
I also believe desire can go either way. If it is a positive desire, you are determined to do something good, or it will impact you positively. However, if the desire is bad, it can negatively influence someone towards something. Without desire humans would be abnormal and boring. Nothing in this world would happen because no one would have a desire towards it. Desire can be good or bad depending on how one acts on it.
ReplyDeleteTo me it seems that our desires define who we are and how we act. Many people will act on their desires. It is basically what makes us us. Life without desires is almost unimaginable. Desire is both a good thing and a bad thing. At times our desires are what's best for u, and other times our desires must be fought.
ReplyDelete