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Lust is a psychological force producing intense desire for something, or circumstance while already having a significant amount of the desired object. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see
libido Libido (; colloquial: sex drive) is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, the sex hormones and associated neurotransmitters that act u ...
), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for redolence, when one is lusting for a particular smell that brings back memories. It is similar to but distinguished from passion, in that passion propels individuals to achieve benevolent goals whilst lust does not.


In religion

Religions tend to draw a distinction between passion and lust by further categorizing lust as an immoral desire and passion as morally accepted. Lust is defined as immoral because its object or action of affection is improperly ordered according to
natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
and/or the appetite for the particular object (eg sexual desire) is governing the person's will and intellect rather than the will and intellect governing the appetite for that object. Whereas passion, regardless of its strength, is maintained to be something God-given and moral, because the purpose, actions and intentions behind it are benevolent and ordered toward creation, while also being governed by the person's intellect and will. A primary school of thought on this is
Thomism Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed questions ...
, which speaks on the intellect, will and appetite, and draws from principles defined by Aristotle. However, the exact definitions assigned to what is morally definite and ordered toward creation depend on the
religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
. For example, differences between religions based in pantheism and theism will differ what is moral according to the nature of the "God" acknowledged or worshipped.


Abrahamic religions


Judaism

In
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
, all evil inclinations and lusts of the flesh are characterized by ''
Yetzer hara In Judaism, ''yetzer hara'' ( he, יֵצֶר הַרַע ''yēṣer haraʿ'') is the congenital inclination to do evil, by violating the will of God. The term is drawn from the phrase "the imagination of the heart of man sevil" (, ''yetzer lev-ha ...
'' (Hebrew, יצר הרע, the evil inclination). Yetzer hara is not a demonic force; rather, it is man's misuse of the things which the physical body needs to survive, and is often contrasted with ''yetzer hatov'' (Hebrew, יצר הטוב, the positive desire). ''Yetzer HaRa'' is often identified with Satan and the angel of death, and there is sometimes a tendency to give a personality and separate activity to the ''yetzer''. For the ''yetzer'', like Satan, misleads man in this world, and testifies against him in the world to come. The ''yetzer'' is, however, clearly distinguished from Satan, and on other occasions is made exactly parallel to sin. The Torah is considered the great antidote against this force. Though, like all things which God has made, the ''yetzer hara'' (evil inclination) can be manipulated into doing good: for without it, man would never marry, beget a child, build a house, or occupy himself in a trade.


Christianity


=New Testament

= In many translations of the New Testament, the word "lust" translates the Koine Greek word ἐπιθυμέω (epithūméō), particularly in Matthew 5:27-28: In English-speaking countries, the term "lust" is often associated with
sexual desire Sexual desire is an emotion and motivational state characterized by an interest in sexual objects or activities, or by a drive to seek out sexual objects or to engage in sexual activities. It is an aspect of sexuality, which varies significantly f ...
, probably because of this verse. However, just as the English word was originally a general term for 'desire', the Greek word ἐπιθυμέω was also a general term for desire. The LSJ lexicon suggests "set one's heart upon a thing, long for, covet, desire" as glosses for ἐπιθυμέω, which is used in verses that clearly have nothing to do with sexual desire. In the Septuagint, ''ἐπιθυμέω'' is the word used in the commandment to not covet: While coveting your neighbour's wife may involve sexual desire, it's unlikely that coveting a neighbour's house or field is sexual in nature. And in most New Testament uses, the same Greek word, ''ἐπιθυμέω'', does not have a clear sexual connotation. For example, from the
American Standard Version The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had ...
the same word is used outside of any sexual connotation: # Matthew 13:17: For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men ''desired'' to see the things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not. # Luke 22:15-16: And he said unto them, With ''desire'' I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I shall not eat it, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. # Acts 20:33: I ''coveted'' no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. # Luke 15:14-16: And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he ''would fain'' have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.


=Catholicism

= According to the '' Catholic Encyclopedia'', a Christian's heart is lustful when "venereal satisfaction is sought for either outside wedlock or, at any rate, in a manner which is contrary to the laws that govern marital intercourse". Pope John Paul II said that lust devalues the eternal attraction of male and female, reducing personal riches of the opposite sex to an object for gratification of sexuality.Pope John Paul II, ''Mutual Attraction Differs from Lust''. ''
L'Osservatore Romano ''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not ...
'', weekly edition in English, 22 September 1980, p. 11. Available at http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2tb39.htm .
Lust is considered by Catholicism to be a disordered desire for
sexual pleasure Sexual stimulation is any stimulus (including bodily contact) that leads to, enhances and maintains sexual arousal, and may lead to orgasm. Although sexual arousal may arise without physical stimulation, achieving orgasm usually requires physica ...
, where sexual pleasure is "sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes". In Catholicism, sexual desire in itself is good, and is considered part of God's plan for humanity. However, when sexual desire is separated from God's love, it becomes disordered and self-seeking. This is seen as lust. St. Thomas Aquinas differentiates between sexual intercourse within marriage, which is seen as meritorious through giving justice to one's spouse, and sins of lust which can themselves be differentiated in magnitude of immorality according to intention and action. For example, Aquinas says in the
Summa Theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main th ...
II-II, q. 154, a. 12 "I answer that, In every genus, worst of all is the corruption of the principle on which the rest depend. Now the principles of reason are those things that are according to nature, because reason presupposes things as determined by nature, before disposing of other things according as it is fitting." He uses St. Augustine as his source writing "Augustine says that 'of all these,' namely the sins belonging to lust, 'that which is against nature is the worst.'" Which St. Thomas clarifies means that they are greater than sins against justice pertaining to the genus of lust, such as rape or incest, in his statement "Reply to Objection 3: The nature of the species is more intimately united to each individual, than any other individual is. Wherefore sins against the specific nature are more grievous." Thus St. Thomas gives the order of magnitude of lustful acts as: "The most grievous is the sin of bestiality, because use of the due species is not observed...(Then) the sin of sodomy, because use of the right sex is not observed...(Then) the sin of not observing the right manner of copulation (or the unatural act or masturbation)... (Then) incest... is contrary to the natural respect which we owe persons related to us... Then, it is a greater injustice to have intercourse with a woman who is subject to another's authority as regards the act of generation, than as regards merely her guardianship. Wherefore adultery is more grievous than seduction. And both of these are aggravated by the use of violence." The Latin for ''extravagance'' (Latin: ''luxuria'') was used by St. Jerome to translate a variety of biblical sins, including drunkenness and sexual excess.
Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...
placed ''luxuria'' as one of the seven capital sins (it is often considered the least serious of the seven deadly sins), narrowing its scope to disordered desire, and it was in this sense that the Middle Ages generally took ''luxuria'', (although the Old French cognate was adopted into English as ''luxury'' without its sexual meaning by the 14th century). In Romanesque art, the personified Luxuria is generally feminine, often represented by a siren or a naked woman with breasts being bitten by snakes.
Prudentius Aurelius Prudentius Clemens () was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis (now Northern Spain) in 348.H. J. Rose, ''A Handbook of Classical Literature'' (1967) p. 508 He probably died in the Iberian Peninsula some ti ...
in his ''
Psychomachia The ''Psychomachia'' (''Battle of Spirits'' or ''Soul War'') is a poem by the Late Antique Latin poet Prudentius, from the early fifth century AD. It has been considered to be the first and most influential "pure" medieval allegory, the first ...
'' or 'Battle of the Soul' had described
Luxury, lavish of her ruined fame, Loose-haired, wild-eyed, her voice a dying fall, Lost in delight....
For
Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
, Luxuria was both the first of the circles of incontinence (or self-indulgence) on the descent into hell, and the last of the cornices of Mount Purgatory, representing the excessive (disordered) love of individuals; while for Edmund Spenser, ''luxuria'' was synonymous with the power of desire. For Gregory and subsequent Thomists, the 'daughters' (by-products) of Luxuria included mental blindness, self-love, haste, and excessive attachment to the present.
Marianne Dashwood Marianne Dashwood is a fictional character in Jane Austen's 1811 novel '' Sense and Sensibility''. The 16-year-old second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood, she mostly embodies the "sensibility" of the title, as opposed to her elder siste ...
has been seen as embodying such characteristics for a later age – as a daughter of Luxuria. The
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
defines lust as the idolatry of sexual pleasure, in all of its forms: contraception, masturbation, adultery, premarital relations, relations between persons of the same sex, etc, which destroys the human capacity of loving, that is, of the person to give herself to God and to others.


=Protestantism

= The evangelical Melvin Tinker states that: "The principle is clear isn't it, 'You shall not commit adultery'? How does the Pharisee handle it according to the minimum requirement method? He says, 'Sex outside marriage is OK for us because neither of us are really married. I am not sleeping with another man's wife, so it isn't adultery, she's my girlfriend'. Or it is also not adultery because 'I have not had sex with that woman.' to quote President Clinton's plea in the Monica Lewinski 'sic''saga. So he can abuse his position as President by messing around with a girl who is hardly younger than his daughter, he can engage in all kinds of sexual activities with her, but because he technically doesn't have intercourse he can hold up his hands and say, 'I have not had sex with that woman.' That is a Pharisee speaking. "But the maximum application method says, adultery doesn't just happen when you have sexual intercourse, it happens in your heart. However, the mistranslation is unfortunate at this point. In the Greek it says, 'If anyone looks upon a woman in order to lust, has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' That is an important distinction. I need to point that out because sexual arousal, sexual interest, sexual attraction are essential for the continuation of the human species... It is about looking in order to lust. The striptease show, the dirty movie or video, the internet pornography. That is becoming a real problem... And if this is a difficulty for you, then do talk to someone about it in confidence. You see, it is the intending to look in order to have that arousal that Jesus has in his sights."


Islam

In Islam, lust is considered one of the primitive states of the self, called the
nafs ''Nafs'' () is an Arabic word occurring in the Quran, literally meaning "self", and has been translated as "psyche", " ego" or " soul".Nurdeen Deuraseh and Mansor Abu Talib (2005), "Mental health in Islamic medical tradition", ''The Internati ...
. Muslims are encouraged to overcome their baser instincts and intentional lascivious glances are forbidden. Lascivious thoughts are disliked, for they are the first step towards adultery, rape and other antisocial behaviors. Prophet Muhammad also stressed the magnitude of the "second glance", as while the first glance towards an attractive member of the opposite sex could be just accidental or observatory, the second glance could be that gate into lustful thinking.


Indian religions


Hinduism

In the '' Bhagavad Gita'', Lord Krishna, an Avatar of
Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...
, declared in chapter 16, verse 21 that lust is one of the gates to Naraka or hell. In this ancient manuscript the idea behind the word 'Lust' is best comprehended as the psychological force called 'Wanting'.


Buddhism

Lust holds a critical position in the philosophical underpinnings of Buddhist reality. It is named in the second of the Four Noble Truths, which are that # Suffering ( dukkha) is inherent in all life. # Suffering is caused by desire. # There is a natural way to eliminate all suffering from one's life. # The ending of desire eliminates all suffering from someones life. Lust is the attachment to, identification with, and passionate desire for certain things in existence, all of which relate to the form, sensation, perception, mentality, and consciousness that certain combinations of these things engender within us. Lust is thus the ultimate cause of general imperfection and the most immediate ''root'' cause of a certain suffering. The passionate desire for either non-existence or for freedom from lust is a common misunderstanding. For example, the headlong pursuit of lust (or other " deadly sin") in order to fulfill a desire for death is followed by a reincarnation accompanied by a self-fulfilling karma, resulting in an endless wheel of life, until the right way to live, the right worldview, is somehow discovered and practiced. Beholding an
endless knot Endless knot in a Burmese Pali manuscript The endless knot or eternal knot is a symbolic knot and one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols. It is an important symbol in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. It is an important cultural marker in place ...
puts one, symbolically, in the position of the one with the right worldview, representing that person who attains freedom from lust. In existence are four kinds of things that engender the clinging: rituals, worldviews, pleasures, and the self. The way to eliminate lust is to learn of its unintended effects and to pursue righteousness as concerns a worldview, intention, speech, behavior, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration, in the place where lust formerly sat.


Sikhism

In Sikhism, lust is counted among the five cardinal sins or sinful propensities, the others being wrath, ego,
greed Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as status, or power. Greed has been identified as und ...
and attachment. Uncontrollable expression of sexual lust, as in rape or
sexual addiction According to proponents of the concept, sexual addiction, also known as sex addiction, is a state characterized by compulsive participation or engagement in sexual activity, particularly sexual intercourse, despite negative consequences. The c ...
, is an evil.


Indian spirituality


Brahma Kumaris

According to
Brahma Kumaris The Brahma Kumaris are a spiritual movement that originated in Hyderabad, Sindh, during the 1930s.Karmic philosophy, sexual lust is the greatest enemy to all mankind. For this reason followers do not eat onions, garlic, eggs, or non-vegetarian food, as the "sulphur" in them can excite sexual lust in the body, otherwise bound to celibacy. The physical act of sex is "impure", leading to body-consciousness and other crimes. This impurity "poisons" the body and leads to many kinds of "diseases". The Brahma Kumaris teaches that sexuality is foraging about in a dark sewer. Students at Spiritual University must conquer lust, to prevent sin, and in order to be closer to god. They describe the differences between lust and love:
In lust there is reliance upon the object of sense and consequent spiritual subordination of the soul to it, but love puts the soul into direct and co-ordinate relation with the reality which is behind the form. Therefore, lust is experienced as being heavy and love is experienced as being light. In lust there is a narrowing down of life and in love there is an expansion in being...If you love the whole world you vicariously live in the whole world, but in lust there is an ebbing down of life and a general sense of hopeless dependence upon a form which is regarded as another. Thus, in lust there is the accentuation of separateness and suffering, but in love there is the feeling of unity and joy...


Paganism

Few ancient, pagan religions actually considered lust to be a vice. The most famous example of a widespread religious movement practicing lechery as a ritual is the Bacchanalia of the Ancient Roman
Bacchantes In Greek mythology, maenads (; grc, μαινάδες ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, ...
. However, this activity was soon outlawed by the Roman Senate in 186 BC in the decree '' Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus''. The practice of sacred prostitution, however, continued to be an activity practiced often by the Dionysians.


In culture


Medieval prostitutes

Medieval prostitutes lived in officially sanctioned "red light districts". In Ruth Mazo Karras' book ''Common Women'', the author discusses the meaning of prostitution and how people thought the proper use of prostitutes by unmarried men helped contain male lust. Prostitution was thought of as having a beneficial effect by reducing the sexual frustration in the community.


In art


Literature

From
Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
to the works of '' les poètes maudits'', characters have always been faced with scenes of lechery, and long since has lust been a common motif in world literature. Many writers, such as Georges Bataille, Casanova and
Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...
, have written works wherein scenes take place at bordellos and other unseemly locales. Baudelaire, author of ''
Les fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publish ...
'', had once remarked, in regard to the artist, that: The most notable work to touch upon the sin of lust, and all of the Seven Deadly Sins, is Dante's '' Divine Comedy''. Dante's criterion for lust was an "excessive love of others", insofar as an excessive love for man would render one's love of God secondary. In the first canticle of the Divine Comedy—the Inferno—the lustful are punished by being continuously swept around in a whirlwind, which symbolizes their passions. The damned who are guilty of lust, like the two famous lovers, Paolo and Francesca, receive what they desired in their mortal lives, their passions never give them rest for all eternity. In ''
Purgatorio ''Purgatorio'' (; Italian for "Purgatory") is the second part of Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', following the '' Inferno'' and preceding the '' Paradiso''. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of D ...
'', of the selfsame work, the penitents choose to walk through flames in order to purge themselves of their lustful inclinations.


In philosophy

The link between love and lust has always been a problematic question in philosophy.


Schopenhauer

Schopenhauer notes the misery which results from sexual relationships. According to him, this directly explains the sentiments of shame and sadness which tend to follow the act of sexual intercourse; for, he states, the only power that reigns is the inextinguishable desire to face, at any price, the blind love present in human existence without any consideration of the outcome. He estimates that a genius of his species is an industrial being who wants only to produce, and wants only to think. The theme of lust for Schopenhauer is thus to consider the horrors which will almost certainly follow the culmination of lust.


St Thomas Aquinas

St Thomas Aquinas defines the sin of lust in questions 153 and 154 of his ''
Summa Theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main th ...
''. Aquinas says the sin of lust is of "voluptuous emotions", and makes the point that sexual pleasures, "unloosen the human spirit", and set aside right reason (p. 191). Aquinas restricts lust's subject matter to physical desires specifically arising from sexual acts, but he does not assume all sex-acts are sinful. Sex is not a sin in marriage, because sex is the only way for humans to reproduce. If sex is used naturally and the end purpose is reproduction there is no sin. Aquinas says, "if the end be good and if what is done is well-adapted to that, then no sin is present" (p. 193). However, sex simply for the sake of pleasure is lustful, and therefore a sin. A man who uses his body for lechery wrongs the Lord. Sex may have the attributes of being sinless; however, when a person seeks sex for pleasure, he or she is sinning with lust. Lust is best defined by its specific attribute of rape, adultery, wet dreams, seduction, unnatural vice, and simple fornication. Wet dreams: St Thomas Aquinas defined and discussed the topic of nocturnal emission, which occurs when one dreams of physical pleasure. Aquinas argues those who say that wet dreams are a sin and comparable to the actual experience of sex are wrong. Aquinas believes that such an action is sinless, for a dream is not under a person's control or free judgment. When one has a "nocturnal orgasm", it is not a sin, but it can lead to sins (p. 227). Aquinas says that wet dreams come from a physical cause of inappropriate pictures within your imagination, a psychological cause when thinking of sex while you fall asleep and a demonical cause whereby demons act upon the sleeper's body, "stirring the sleeper's imagination to bring about a orgasm" (p. 225). In the end, though, dreaming of lustful acts is not sinful. The "mind's awareness is less hindered", as the sleeper lacks right reason; therefore, a person cannot be accountable for what they dream while sleeping (p. 227). Adultery: One of the main forms of lust seen frequently during the Middle Ages was the sin of adultery. The sin of adultery occurs when a person is unfaithful to his or her spouse, hence "invading of a bed not one's own" (p. 235). Adultery is a special kind of ugliness and many difficulties arise from it. When a man enters the bed of a married woman it not only is a sin, but it "wrongs the offspring", because the woman now calls into question the legitimacy of children (p. 235). If a wife has committed adultery before, then, her husband will question if all his wife's children are his offspring. Simple fornication: Simple fornication is having sex with one's spouse for enjoyment rather than for bearing children. Fornication is also sex between two unmarried people, which is also a mortal sin. Aquinas says that "fornication is a deadly crime" (p. 213). Fornication is a mortal sin, but as Aquinas notes, "Pope Gregory treated sins of the flesh as less grievous than those of the spirit" (p. 217). Fornication was a grave sin such as that against property. Fornication, however, is not as grave as a sin directly against God and human life; therefore, murder is much worse than fornication. Property in this case means that a daughter is the property of her father, and if one does wrong to her, one then does wrong to him; therefore seducing a virgin or seeking pleasure from an unmarried woman is an invasion of a father's property. Seduction: Seduction is a type of lust, because seduction is a sex act, which ravishes a virgin. Lust is a sin of sexual activity, and "...a special quality of wrong that appears if a maid still under her father's care is debauched" (p. 229). Seduction involves a discussion of property, as an unmarried girl is property of her father. A virgin, even though free from the bond of marriage, is not free from the bond of her family. When a virgin is violated without a promise of engagement, she is prevented from having honorable marriage, which is shameful to herself and her family. A man who performs sexual acts with a virgin must "endow her and have her to wife", and if the father, who is responsible for her, says no, then a man must pay a dowry to compensate for her loss of virginity and future chance of marriage (p. 229). Unnatural vice: Unnatural vice is the worst kind of lust because it is unnatural in act and purpose. Many varieties of unnatural vice exist; Aquinas provides several examples, including bestiality or intercourse with a "thing of another species" (for example, an animal), incest, sodomy and "not observing the right manner of copulation".


In psychoanalysis and psychology

Lust, in the domain of
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
and psychology, is often treated as a case of "heightened libido".


See also

* Adultery *
Chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...
* Concupiscence * Desire * Fornication * Kam * Kama *
Libido Libido (; colloquial: sex drive) is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, the sex hormones and associated neurotransmitters that act u ...
* Masturbation * Pornography * Sexual attraction *
Sexual desire Sexual desire is an emotion and motivational state characterized by an interest in sexual objects or activities, or by a drive to seek out sexual objects or to engage in sexual activities. It is an aspect of sexuality, which varies significantly f ...
*
Sexual fantasy A sexual fantasy or erotic fantasy is a mental image or pattern of thought that stirs a person's sexuality and can create or enhance sexual arousal. A sexual fantasy can be created by the person's imagination or memory, and may be triggered auto ...
*
Taṇhā (Pāli; Sanskrit: tṛ́ṣṇā तृष्णा IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer ...


References


Further reading

* Froböse, Gabriele, Rolf Froböse, and Michael Gross (translator) (2006)
''Lust and Love: Is it More than Chemistry?''
Royal Society of Chemistry. .


External links



�� National Public Radio feature
"A New Look at Lust: The Secular View"


��'' Catholic Encyclopedia''
Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Sixth Commandment

Yeẓer ha-Ra
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The Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
''
Human Nature and Aquinas' Taxonomy of Sexual Sins
by Howard Kainz. {{Authority control Emotions Personal life Philosophy of sexuality Seven deadly sins Sexual attraction Sexual emotions