Dealing with desires

Human life can be said to be synonymous with desires. For it is almost impossible for any human to exist, but to not have desires of some sort. Even the followers of Buddhist school of thought whose goal is to become free from desires subtly cherish the desire for Nirvana or getting enlightenment at the cost of casting out every other form of desires possible. In fact desire goes hand to hand so much with life that I would not hesitate to say that to desire is to be alive. So understanding this one should not be bothered or worried about the mind having desires, but one should only be cautious about what desires one’s mind is having. It is perfectly fine for the mind to have some sort of desires, but it is not perfect for a person to try to fulfil every desire that he or she may have. It is not required to acquire objects of your every desire. Or in other words, it is not required to try to fulfil every desire. The reason is simple, an afflicted mind cannot only cherish desires of goodness and well being, but it will also go forward to cherish desires that can be harmful for a person from the perspective of harmonious living in accordance with the nature. One must understand this very basic thing about the mind that it is simply an apparatus for desiring or wanting without having the ability to brood over the consequences. It is the ability of the intellect to reason and analyse the consequences, not of the mind. So if the reigns of control are not pulled hard by the exercising of intellect, the mind in the form of a wild horse is free to carry away a person in the form of the driver to devastating ends.  Understanding this we must discern desires in terms of good and bad and while cheerfully cherishing good desires we must actively cast out desires that are simply bad for us. Desires are not the problem, it is how we deal with them that determines the consequences.