LUST

The fornication of the eyes is to look with lust; the fornication of the tongue is to speak lustful things; the fornication of the hands is to touch with lust; the fornication of the feet is to walk towards lust; the fornication of the heart is to desire evil. -Mohammed

When I look upon another person with lust, he is merely an object to me. My mind portrays him as something other than he is in himself. He is my fantasy and my illusion. To Jesus, this fantasizing is already a sin (Matt 5:27-28) because objectifying even in fantasy clouds the reality of this person from my heart.

Acting upon Lust turns to madness, impotent rage, and violence. Lust manifests in cruelty, extremes, licentiousness. The Buddha said, "Of all the worldly passions lust is the most intense. All other worldly passions seem to follow in its train". Even prudery is a form of lust, for the prude denies the sexual act its holiness, the natural and beautiful human way not only of procreation, but loving intimacy.

The contrary virtue of Lust is chastity - which many people equate with celibacy. However, celibacy is consecrated sexuality, sexuality's energies turned toward the love of God. Chastity is wholesomeness; sexuality as part of the whole of the person, without illusion, in the purity of true love, not for satisfaction of the self but for the good of that other person in relationship to others and to God.

Oh, God, save me from the madness of lust...