The Forbidden Is The Most Desired

Версия на русском языке: http://www.proza.ru/2012/10/09/1079

       In order not to waste your time. Stop reading this, if you don`t want to read about yet another boring speculation concerning our mental and emotional health. I don`t have any pretensions to literary taste and skills. I don't claim my thoughts to be the ultimate truth and I don't expect everyone to share my opinion. I just got some pabulum for reflection in my own life and decided to share it with someone else.

           Nitinur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negate (*)

      It just so happens that we all have dreams, wishes and aspirations without which it wouldn`t be possible to consider us to be human beings. Once you find yourself at a certain life stage you will come to the conclusion that you need nothing anymore: you have succeeded in achieving all your goals and all your problems have already solved or at least they are surely going to be solved. As they say, everything is in the bag and there is nothing to worry about. You will probably stop and enjoy your achievements you managed to reach or you will continue your moving by inertia, realizing unfulfilled desires in the past which you couldn`t realize before cos of being low on your forces. You will act within the rules of morality in both cases.

      There is always the third direction of our aspirations which is not connected to the others two. There is no denying that you have never desired, at least, to capture this forbidden fruit`s aroma, if not to taste it. Yes, you have done it, otherwise, denying that you would go against your conscience. But here, once, you catch yourself thinking that all pleasure from realization of other cherished dreams fades against desperate desire to cross a certain line. Yes, we need to face these aspirations are wrong, they run counter to morals, otherwise we would speak about them aloud.

      At last you have desired the forbidden. I believe that means of struggle against temptation and a whole bunch of internal contradictions (on top of this struggle) are well-known to the people conceiving within the limits of religious and some ethnic canons, for which the process of internal self-suppression becomes a goal in end of itself on the way toward realization of their prime conception. But we who are ignorant of this internal struggle have to impose double standards trying to overcome our temptation. As they say, 'Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi' (**).

      Here we unwittingly come to the syllogism: to give in to temptation and to break norms of morals, hence to enter the conflict with ourselves (that is fraught with mentality infringements) or to break morals norms, means to come to double standards in order to avoid the conflict with ourselves. Hence, to give in to a temptation without harm for ourselves, means to come to double standards.

      Probably, this is yet another psychological defence mechanism, and certainly, a chance of committing a justified sin. We can find a lot of pros and cons of the way these things go but I think, there is no use. As one of the Greats said, 'Hoc est vivere bis, vita posse priore frui'.(***)

…intelligenti pauca

* "Nitinur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negate" - We always aspire to forbidden and we wish unlawful (lat)

** "Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi" - What is legitimate for Jove (Jupiter), is not legitimate for oxen (lat)

*** "Hoc est vivere bis, vita posse priore frui" - To be able to enjoy life means to live twice (lat)