← [[f2a-session-03|The Harm That Inordinate Appetites Cause in the Soul]] | [[f2a-formation-2a-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[f2a-session-05|Counsels and Methods on How to Overcome Miseries]] → # Understanding "Voluntary" and "Natural" Appetites Freedom from all voluntary appetites, even the smallest, is necessary to attain divine union. Required Reading: Ascent, Book One, ch. 11 and 12; Ascent of Mount Carmel Reflections, pg. 53-54. “Those who do not allow their appetites to carry them away will soar in their spirit as swiftly as the bird that lacks no feathers.” (Sayings, 23) **Essential Points to Discuss:** • Having spelled out in vivid detail the privative and positive effects inordinate attachments can cause in the soul, John is careful to explain in chapter 11 that not all appetites (desires) are harmful, nor equally a hindrance to union with God (see A.1.11:2). John is not speaking of good, natural desires for God-given things — food, drink, good music, healthy friendships, etc. These are part of human existence. The concern here is attachments which take away the soul’s freedom to follow God unreservedly and instead cause one to stumble, to grow lax, and to be uncharitable. • Voluntary appetites that involve imperfections must be “put in order.” “That is, one must not give consent of the will advertently and knowingly to an imperfection…” (A.1.11:3). The word “knowingly” is important because “one will fall into imperfections, without having knowledge or control of them” (A.1.11:3). Of course, one cannot do much about imperfections or disordered appetites that one is not even aware of. First, they must be brought to consciousness. Note: It is the “disordered” that needs to be eliminated, not the appetites (desires) themselves. • When voluntary desires become habitual, they become an obstacle to union with God. As long as one is sincerely trying to serve God, scattered failings are not necessarily a hindrance to prayer, but habitual desires that are not resisted and conquered become a barrier to spiritual progress and divine union (see A.1.11:3). Some examples of these habitual imperfections are: the common habit of being very talkative; love of gossip (including electronic “gossip” through cell phones and the internet); a small attachment one never really desires to conquer, for example, to a person, to clothing, to over-eating (A.1.11:4), and in the modern world, attachment to TV, cell phone, internet, social media, and not having times of silence in one’s day. • John offers a telling image. “It makes little difference whether a bird is tied by a thin thread or by a cord… Admittedly the thread is easier to break, but no matter how easily this may be done, the bird will not fly away without doing so. This is the lot of those who are attached to something: No matter how much virtue they have they will not reach the freedom of the divine union” (A.1.11:4). • “If a small crack in a pitcher goes unrepaired, the damage will be enough to cause all the liquid to leak out… Accordingly, one imperfection leads to another, and these to still more” (A.1.11:5). • Resisting first movements (the first stirrings of temptation) “wins strength, purity, comfort, and many blessings” (A.1.12:6). Virtue is made perfect in weakness ([[2-corinthians-12#^2-corinthians-12-9|2 Cor. 12:9]]). John’s solution lies in looking away from self to Jesus who is the fullness of life; for, as John says, souls become like the things they love. • Mortifying inordinate desires does not lead to the elimination of desire, but rather the release of our deepest desire for God, which in turn, purifies, transforms, and integrates all natural desires (Ascent to Joy, pg. 55). Imperfections: From the viewpoint of their object, the diminutive is used: “small attachments,” “little satisfactions.” The problem lies not in the object but in the subject; that is, one’s attachment interferes with the dynamism of love and spiritual progress. Habitual imperfections, when known, recognized, and voluntary, impede one from reaching the freedom of union (see Glossary of Terms, pg. 770). --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-ocds-of2a|OCDS Formation II Year A]] > [[f2a-session-03|← Previous]] | [[f2a-formation-2a-handbook|TOC]] | [[f2a-session-05|Next →]]