Perennial Wisdom Ep. 243 — The Philosophy of Desire | Perennial Wisdom
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Jul 16, 2025 A conversation about how desire shapes decisions, self-image, and emotions. Buddhism, Stoicism, Epicurus, and Aquinas are compared to show different takes on craving, control, moderation, and redirected longing. Listeners are invited to reflect on which desires are natural, controllable, or rooted in attachment.
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Desire As Teacher And Trap
- Desire drives actions, self-image, and emotions while also producing suffering when clung to.
- Buddhism teaches desire is not the enemy, but attachment to it creates the endless cycle of dissatisfaction.
Order Desires Around What You Control
- Stoicism locates suffering in desires focused on what we cannot control and urges reorienting desire toward virtue.
- Epictetus emphasizes disciplining desire by distinguishing what is within our power from what is not.
Subtract Desires To Be Richer
- Do subtract desires rather than endlessly add to possessions to increase contentment.
- Follow Epicurus: identify natural and necessary needs and limit pursuit of excess wants.
