Pleasure, Horror, and Desire

85. Pleasure and Horror

The objects of both Love and Hatred can be represented to the soul by the external senses or by the internal senses and its own reason.

We commonly call good or evil what our internal senses or our reason judge to be suitable or contrary to our nature; but we call beautiful or ugly what is represented to us by our external senses, primarily by that of sight, which alone is more considered than all the others.

Hence arise two kinds of Love:

1. Pleasure

This is our love for good things

2. Desire

Our love for beautiful things

Similarly, 2 kinds of Hatred arise:

1. Horror

This is our hatred for bad things.

2. Aversion

This is our hatred for ugly things.

Pleasure and Horror commonly tend to be more violent than the other species of Love or Hatred.

This is because what comes to the soul through the senses affects it more strongly than what is represented to it by its reason; and yet they usually have less truth.

Thus, of all the passions, these are the ones that deceive the most, and against which one must be most carefully on guard.

86. The Definition of Desire

Desire is an agitation of the Soul caused by the spirits. It disposes the Soul to wish for things in the future that it represents to itself as suitable.

Thus, one desires not only the presence of absent good, but also the preservation of what is present; and furthermore, the absence of evil, both of that which one already has and of that which one believes one could receive in the future time.

87. Desire is a passion which has no contrary.

In the Schools:

• desire tends towards the pursuit of good
• aversion tends towards the avoidance of evil

But I think that the pursuit of good is the same as the avoidance of the evil.

This is because:

• the privation of good is bad
• the privation of evil is good

For example, we:

• seek wealth to avoid poverty
• seek health to avoid illnesses

The only difference is that:

• the desire towards some good is accompanied by Love and then followed by Hope and Joy.
• the desire towards avoiding evil is accompanied by Hatred, Fear, and Sadness.

These causes the desire towards avoiding evil to be judged as contrary to itself. But in reality, it is just one passion.