“To see a man fearless in dangers, untainted with lusts, happy in adversity, composed in a tumult, and laughing at all those things which are generally either coveted or feared, all men must acknowledge that this can be from nothing else but a beam of divinity that influences a mortal body.” — Seneca
Monk:
There are many famous stories of how love and lust have led to poor decisions and bad choices but the lives we have lived are more immediate than any parable. We have all made bad choices when it comes to lust and love. Not knowing the difference between the two, immaturity, or just maybe youthful naiveté, we have all in some moment been under the spell of one, or both of these emotions. Guarding against uncontrolled lust is laudable, but Musashi fails with this precept as he does not differentiate between the results of these two emotions in a person’s life. There is a difference between lust and love that is as large as the Pacific Ocean. This lumping together two different emotions into one warning shows a curious lack of understanding in the life philosophy of the famous swordsman.
Lust is an intense desire, and usually attributed to the sexual realm in modern thought, but it can also apply to power, fame, or several other matters too. Lust is also listed as one of the traditional “Seven Deadly Sins” used to
educate Christians as to what to avoid in order to live a better life. Being listed as one of the Seven Deadly Sins places lust in the pantheon of serious emotions and traits that can never lead to a good outcome; things that all good and well-intentioned people must all avoid. Nevertheless, lust is timeless and ever-present.
We all know that lust should be controlled, but it’s not easy.
In Dante’s Purgatorio, the penitent walks within flames to purge himself of lustful thoughts and feelings. In Inferno, un- forgiven souls of the sin of lust are blown about in restless hurricane-like winds symbolic of their own lack of self- control to their lustful passions in earthly life. The challenge is that the only time humans stop having the feeling of lust is when the first spade of dirt is dropped on our graves.
So, managing our lust is really about co-existence. It is about living with the desire, recognizing it, and acting is a manner that is appropriate anyway. Some religions and sages who agree with Musashi offer ways of dealing with lust, some offer prayer, others reconciliation, some counseling. Musashi, however, offers no lecture, no path, no tools, he only says, “Don’t.”
Mature love, on the other hand, is a choice. The act of love occurs before the emotion. Lust is the opposite; the emotion is set before the action. You can see how the reversal of these two acts and emotions, when switched, are very different animals. Decisions based in lust never seem to work out; they are not sustainable and are a quick path to downfall. On the other hand decisions made out of love are sustainable.
Love is a choice. Love is a verb, not a noun. Love is an action. And love requires that something of one's self must be given freely to others. This is not the world Musashi knew or built around himself. I have no answer, nor do you, but it should be pondered, “Was the swordsman biologically
capable of the act of love, would his brain allow such an act?” Some indications, such as his problems at home as a child, his lack of need for human companionship, a few other personality traits and actions give flight to the question of his physiological makeup and socialization.
For whatever reason, whatever pathology, Musashi missed the mark when he recommends that we should stay away from one of the most elemental of all human emotions, love.
Love isn’t an emotion per say, it is an action, a choice, one that we can and should all make.
Warrior:
I believe Musashi’s precept, “Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love,” comes from a pragmatic stance more than the Puritanical moralism such as may be found within the Christian conservatism in modern America.
I believe this because of the pragmatism found within the rest of his writings.
It is interesting that the United States military has specific crimes related to activities guided by lust or love. The first is Adultery. Holding service members to a higher ethical standard than people in civilian life, adultery is a criminal offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
The reason the military is strict about adultery is because such conduct is considered prejudicial to good order, to discipline, and could bring embarrassment and discredit to the Armed Forces. This is also why adultery in the military is prosecuted under Article 134, which is known as the
“General Article,” as it forbids any conduct that brings dishonor upon the armed forces, or conduct which is harmful to good order or discipline.
The military also uses Article 134 to prosecute cases of fraternization and Article 92 which prohibits unprofessional
relationships. This again is an attempt to prohibit actions of lust or love that have a reasonable potential to adversely affect the military by eroding morale, good order, discipline, respect for authority, unit cohesion, or by compromising the military mission itself. Notice that the military uses pragmatic reasoning to substantiate these crimes. While Puritans hold strict standards regarding all matters of sexuality based on their interpretation of the Bible and relationship with God, the military’s standards are based on good order, discipline, unit cohesion, and the mission. I could easily see Musashi drafting a similar Article if he were to govern a large body of troops.
It doesn’t matter if I look at my own past, or read through the history books, to realize that so much of what men do, and I mean men as in the male of the species, because of lust and love. Sure, women act on these emotions too, but men are much more prone to act without thinking due to these feelings. I can think of many instances where I let myself be guided by lust or love when I would have been much better off following Musashi’s advice, however I will be the first to acknowledge and admit that there has been much good done because of love. Maybe not lust so much, but indeed love can be a powerful motivator for good. But I don’t believe that is what Musashi was thinking when he wrote this.
Musashi was providing guidance to young men, like myself, who foolishly acted out of the feelings of lust or love. And because I remember the trouble I got myself into, sadly more than a few times, I have to agree with this precept for those kinds of situations and circumstances. Love and lust have turned many men into fools; men that would have been much better off had they refused to be guided by such feelings. Fortunately, most of us who grow older come to the same realization as Musashi, and stop allowing our actions to be guided by these emotions.
Teacher:
Men are very prone to being guided by feelings of lust. This half of the precept, at least to me, seems to be about self- discipline. We have to be in control of our actions. A person without self-control and a sense of duty is going to be a liability. And I don’t care which setting you care to place them in, battlefield, classroom, boardroom, marriage—their lack of discipline makes them a walking hazard to those in contact with them. In all four settings, discipline is going to be a key determining factor in the level of success to be attained.
For the second half, not being guided by feelings of love, I have to take issue.
At home, it is love that guides my decisions. Yes, sometimes as a parent one must make an unpopular decision, but this is going to be done out of love and not out of spite. Unless you are a really bad parent, of course… In the classroom, a teacher who does not have a love of learning will be very ineffective and, if they are not guided by a parental love for the students, they are going to seem phony to the students hence will be unable to reach or teach most of them.
So if the point of this precept is to recommend self-discipline as a central point, then I am on board with the precept 100%. But if it was intended to remove love from the equation of all decision-making then I have to strongly disagree, at least with the second half of the precept.
The biggest thing that kept me from ever becoming a full on Taoist was the lack of teachings about the importance of love. Love will hinder violence, self-interest, greed, lust, neglect, and many of the other ills which plague society throughout the world. Love is also a very powerful motivator. People who love others will often act out of
selflessness. This is a very rare human capacity; so rare indeed that it could be called a superpower. People are selfish by nature, with the exception of when they are acting out of love for another person.
Absolutely, do not let yourself be guided by lust, there is only trouble waiting on that path. But, you could do a lot worse than to allow love to be a guiding factor in your life.
Insurance Executive:
Many problems are to be had when one allows lust to guide their actions. Actually, the same can be said for love, but I’m guessing that lust—so often wrongly based and fleeting
—causes people and kingdoms the most grief. Ask Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby. Let’s look at love and lust as it relates to relationships.
One problem with lust is the more one is filled with it and consumed by it, the less the chance of them finding true and romantic love. There is a young man where I work who is hot on the trail of Paris Hilton. It’s Paris Hilton this and Paris Hilton that, 24/7. He owns every book and magazine about her, and every poster that depicts her image. He is a nice looking young man but I’m convinced it will be a long while before he finds real love, as everyone he meets cannot possibly compare to Paris and the distorted vision of what he thinks she is.
Lust is usually based on a physical attribute: beautiful eyes, a fantastic figure, and a walk that makes wild horses stampede. But these things are short lived and are often only surface deep. Another man in my office just went through a divorce. “She was a beauty,” he said. “But underneath that attractive thin veneer was a terribly ugly and awful person.”
It is said that lust can make a person crazy, while love can give them sanity. Was Musashi ever in love? I’ve never seen
it mentioned in all the stories about his exploits. One reference says he was a complex man who never married and never settled down. Other sources mention sons. All the tales of the swordsman say he was unwashed, dirty and smelly. So maybe this was one of the reasons he never found lasting love... Or might it have been his intense drive to be the warrior he became?
In his early years he was intent on perfecting his martial arts and in his later years he focused intensely on his writing, painting, and Buddhism. As someone turned so intently inward, maybe there wasn’t time left for love. Or perhaps he was so driven by these things that he truly felt love would only distract him from his pursuits and lead him away from what he felt was his destiny.
Perhaps he was a practical man and as such, love in all its mystery, distraction, mind bending, foolishness producing, and intense focus on someone other than oneself, didn’t fit into his internal world and his pursuits therein. Regardless, if he had never experienced it, perhaps he didn’t understand that love, in time, wasn’t about looking deeply into one another’s eyes forever, but rather looking outward together in the same direction. For all his accomplishments, that’s something important that he missed.
Businessman:
This is very sound advice for business ventures. To be sure, there really is no place in business for lust or love, save perhaps in the pornography industry, and then only superficially. In order to avoid unnecessary and often career- limiting or lawsuit-inducing complications such as allegations of sexual harassment, favoritism, nepotism, or creating a hostile workplace we all need to separate our work life from our everyday life.
Under state and federal laws, many employers are required to establish and maintain anti-discrimination policies that protect their employees. Even when not specifically mandated by force of law, it is a good idea to put rules in place that prescribe appropriate conduct in the workplace.
This generally means assuring that there will be no discrimination in recruitment, employment, working conditions, compensation, advancement, or termination based on a person’s race, creed, color, national origin, gender, past or present military service, or sexual orientation. Further, policies should safeguard against harassment of any kind based on any of the aforementioned personal characteristics as well as ban stalking, unwelcome physical contact, or solicitation of sexual favors for continued employment or preferential treatment.
Offensive remarks, obscene gestures, and inappropriate jokes may be proscribed as well, though we must be clear and unambiguous about definitions in such policies or the unintended consequences may create more harm than good. For instance, human resources policies at more than one large corporation stipulate that an employee can be fired for complementing someone on their appearance or attire. That may be well-intended, but it’s probably a little over the top… Nevertheless, there must also be a process for reporting, investigating, and adjudicating all allegations of inappropriate behaviors in a fair, objective, and timely manner.
Many corporations, colleges, and government institutions go a step farther and put special rules in place to keep people who are related to or seeing one another romantically from working within the same reporting relationship (e.g., work group, division, or other arrangement where one party has direct or indirect control over what happens to the other in terms of work assignments, advancement opportunities, or pay and benefits). This is not to say that we can never work
alongside a parent, child, spouse, or significant other, in some circumstances such as a family-owned business that might be perfectly appropriate, but rather that an ethical firewall should exist between the personal and professional aspects of our lives and due diligence should be undertaken to avoid any appearance of or actual improprieties.
As you can see, the workplace can be fraught with perils if we do not establish and maintain clear expectations around acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. The job, however, often extends beyond our office walls. For example, anyone who has ever attended a tradeshow or symposium will undoubtedly recognize the term “booth babe,” a slang that has grown up around the widespread tendency of vendors to highlight their wares by sending beautiful, often scantily- clad, young women to represent them to the public.
Gorgeous spokesmodels of both the male and female variety may be fun to look at, but anyone foolish enough to commit millions of dollars of their company’s resources simply because a hot chick (or dude) flirted with them for a while on a showroom floor is downright stupid. The same thing goes for accepting kickbacks or bribes, they may be a necessary evil in certain regions of the world, but they’re evil nonetheless. Purchasing decisions should always be made based on the merits of the product or service that we are evaluating, and then only after a thorough technical, financial, and contractual review. In other words, it’s a business decision. Lust or love should play no part in making it.
On or off the job, anything that impairs our judgment around those we find attractive should be treated cautiously.
Dangers can include things like going out for drinks with coworkers and imbibing too much, but certain less obvious behaviors like having an “office spouse” can easily become problematic too.[21] An office husband or wife is a co-worker with whom we share a special bond. Since many of us spend
more time at the office than we do at home, we can become very close to our coworkers. That’s not a bad thing per se, but the danger is that creating deep emotional connections similar to those found in intimate physical relationships can often lead to an intimate physical relationship, even when we aren’t actively trying to create one.
We may temporarily be caught up in the emotions of the moment, but to the extent possible the prudent businessman or woman must make decisions based on objective evaluations of relevant facts and data. We have a fiduciary responsibility to our employers, our employees, and ourselves, one that must be carried out with all appropriate diligence. In that vein, we categorically must not allow ourselves to be guided by the feelings of lust or love in our decision-making while on the job.