There is a belief that desire has been well-studied throughout history. What new perspective does this book provide?

In reality, if we compare desire to reason or intelligence, the stars of modern and contemporary philosophy, we have hardly scratched the surface. Romanticism did highlight the importance of desire, but it failed to conduct a thorough or meticulous enough reflection on the subject.  There’s still a lot to be said and to understand.  The book focuses on desire’s importance, meaning and the lessons it can teach us; it is not a blind force that drives us forward uncontrollably.

How much impact does desire have on the decisions we make?

A huge impact, it is decisive: we act according to our desires.  That is why it’s in our interest to know where we want to go and, therefore, understand and educate our desire. It is important to understand what we desire and know how to judge whether it is genuine. We can also learn to guide ourselves so that our actions reflect what we want and to learn more intelligently.

What kinds of decisions are most influenced by desire?

I would say more emotion-driven decisions that have short-termconsequences. In general, desire has more influence on our actions when there is less internal reflection or dialogue. It’s good to remember that this does not mean that actions driven more by desire are bad.  We are sometimes prejudice (due to Kantian origin, I believe) against our desires’ potential virtue. Of course,negative desires do exist, such as rage, violence or hate, but there are also very positive ones.

In the book, desire is presented as a key factor for social development.  What role does it play in building individual personality?

Desire is effectively crucial for society’s construction and evolution.  Research into past civilisations has shown us that they were driven by great desires, such as exploring divinity and the after-life in Egypt; knowledge and understanding in Greece; the legal system and infrastructures in Rome... But our personal desires also define us and shape our personality. They make us who we are. But the most reassuring thing is that we are free to shape them. I don’t mean to say it is easy, but it is possible and has enormous potential.

What about personal growth?

This is the most attractive aspect of this field: we can direct all our sentimental energy onto our goals and exercise inner harmony to attract every desire for the things we really want.  If we succeed in a project related to personal growth, we can educate our desires in our favour.  The desire to improve and learn is a positive inner force.  If we exercise it properly, we will see ourselves grow exponentially.

Are love and desire connected or are they opposing forces?

Love is a type of desire. But there are various desires that converge in love. There are different types of love, for example love between parents and their children, spouses, siblings and friends. This great diversity of affection can be accompanied by spiritual desires when it is true love for someone else; or more grounded desires when a desire for pleasure takes precedence.  There are cases in which desire and love might oppose each other, such as false love, when a possessive desire takes over.

In what way?

The need to possess is born from self-love, the need to feel confidentand dominate. True love seeks reciprocation, not possession. It is different, and a desire for reciprocation is not selfish.  Reciprocation is free and when we love someone, we want them to love us back; we want proximity.  But this has to come from free will, and if it’s not, it’s not reciprocated.  Eros love is the one that most strongly tends to seek reciprocal proximity, even intimacy.

Is there a connection between desire and freedom?

Of course. Freedom manifests in the form of deliberated or chosen desires.  Some desires are freer than others.  Those that depend more on the body and its state are more conditioned by our physical disposition, and therefore are not as free.  Deliberated and chosen desires, those that are fruit of what we genuinely want, are free desires.  Those are the desires we think about, that come from a decision, linked to principles and to the people we love.

In today’s society, how is desire constructed?

Unfortunately, I think that there’s an overbearing trend in our society to create desire outside the subject.  It seems that we increasingly desire what they tell us we need to desire.  It does not just happen in advertising, or at least not in the conventional sense. In our audio-visually stimulated society, under an ongoing barrage of influences, we are subjected now more than ever before to all kinds of messages that elicit ideas that we have not built ourselves, but that are fed to us. As such, the construction of our inner world is increasingly passive and less personal.  And therefore, our desires are also generated by the outside world; they do not come from within, nor do they grow from who we are. They are the result of everything we see in TV series, films, on social media and such. I think there is an inversely proportional relationship between the hours we spend looking at images (whatever they are and wherever we see them) and the authenticity of our inner self.  This means we run the risk of being unauthentic individuals whose desires are also dishonest.

How does a highly consumerist society such as ours, surrounded by constant stimuli, affect desire?

We are responsible for educating and steering our desires, so as not to become a victim from the excessive stimuli that otherwise become mandates.  We must build our own inner world where we are the gatekeepers who decide what comes in and what stays out; what we want to make our own, and what we don’t.  At the end of the day, the desires we adopt and cultivate define who we are and shape our personality.  But in order to start this process of self-construction, we need to know how to moderate external pressure.  We all need to do it, there’s everything to play for, such as the life we lead and the people we really are.

Do you think that in our hyperactive society, desire can fall to the wayside, or on the contrary, become a source of creativity?

I think both are possible and it will depend on the individual in question.  It will depend on how we react to our surroundings.  If we want our creativity to flourish, we need to limit the number of inputs we receive that make us passive members of society.  We have to know when to say enough is enough and find a healthy balance.  If we do not protect ourselves against a possible overload of incoming influences, we will inevitably become passive bystanders and destroy our creativity. Our brains will become saturated and our intellectual, imaginative and creative abilities will diminish.

To what extent is desire conditioned by culture?

There is a positive side to cultural conditioning. We are members of a society, so it is good that we share some desires.  Unity is reliant upon the collective and shared desire for harmonious coexistence. It is a positive thing that we all share a desire for solidarity, as evidenced in a very raw way during the pandemic.  We can choose whether to assimilate social trends or not.  It will depend on each individual and how they judge that cultural phenomenon.

How does social media influence desire?

It is potentially more influential than we might like, if we abuse it. We often forget that social media are designed to keep users engaged for as long as possible.  This means that they continuously awaken desires we didn’t even know we had. What’s more, their algorithms learn what we desire so they canoffer us just that and keep us online for longer. Social media can manipulate our desires if we do not use them responsibly or if we lack a critical eye.

Canwe live a fulfilling life without desiring anything?

No, it’s impossible.  A fulfilling life is based on desire and meaning.  Both aspects are fundamental. Desire without meaning is misguided; a directionless stab in the dark.  But knowledge without desire is poor and useless: it needs the drive of desire to be able to function. A fulfilling life is a life of abundant activity: loving, studying, helping others, listening, making choices, supporting, making mistakes, saying sorry, fighting for a cause, doing the right thing.