"I count him greater who overcomes his desire than

he who conquers his enemies; for the hardest of

victory is the victory over self." Do you agree with
Aristotle's view ?
Aristotle's view given here has a big philosophical impact. This is to
say that to overcome one's desire is more difficult than to defeat one's
enemy. The battle against desire is difficult because it is inborn.

Let us now look a bit closer at the origin of desire because one wants
to own something, desire is born. One does not desire for things one
has not seen, tasted or experienced. Take a child, it desires to have a
thing which another child is having. It may be the instinct to own. A
drunkard wants to have more drink because he has tasted it already.
One who knows the value of money desires to own more. Foretaste is
the motive force of all desires.

A desire to show off, own material things, acquire wealth and for
an ostentatious display of power and grandeur is wrong. On the
other hand, the desire to learn, to serve one's own country, and to
serve one's own fellowmen can never be wrong. Desire to excel others
in one's own field of specialization is not to be deplored. Otherwise
humanity would not be progressing and would never have reached the
level it has come today. The Taj Mahal could never have been built,
had Shah Jahan been satisfied with the Fort at Delhi or Agra.
Siddhartha could never have become the Buddha, the Enlightened
one, if he had not desired to know the cause of the ills of the world. It
is a paradox in his case, more than in any other, that he could lay the
blame on 'desire' for the ills of the world. It is a paradox because the
very desire forced him in the path of penance. So desire for great and
good things cannot be condemned outright.

Desire is a double edged weapon and can lead a man to hell or glory.
Only the first aspect is being notified by Aristotle and he opines that it
is the hardest to overcome such a desire.

It is easier to defeat one's enemy when one can commandeer all the
forces and direct them against the enemy. The enemy's strength may
be known, his strategies are understood and the sources of his
supplies are known. Then it is easier to defeat the enemy. That was
how in the course of history several wars have been fought and won.

But in the case of desire, the fountain head of it is the self. How it
develops is a mystery. Why should one steal, covet another's wife, do
heinous crimes, the blame can be laid at the doors of desire.
Psychologically the ability to desire cannot be wiped of. They would be
an act of folly. But the desire must be turned to good directions and
use.

Simple cases of desire can be solved, like a child stealing because it

wants to have the same thing as its neighbor or friend has. The parent
can buy the same thing the child desires then the child would leave off
stealing. But in the case of grown-ups, it is by education, by
persuasion, and by appeal to the value of good conduct, one should be
made to give up wrong desires. In psychology, they call it counseling.
So, where desire surfaces to the detriment of one's name and fame,
counseling by friends and religious preceptors can help a great deal.
Appeal may be made to one's conscience. Will-power to resist must be
built up. In public offices, the officials make cheap money by what is
popularly known as graft or bribery. Desire is at the root of it. But if
the person concerned can be made aware of the pitfalls and the odium
that may be attached to him, more often than not he can be
redeemed.

It is easier to write about the dangers of desire and the need to

conquer it, but to overcome it actually requires great willpower. All
religions of the world have condemned this kind of enemy.

It is very difficult to draw the line between useful desire and bad
desire. One can get to know it through proper education, company and
conviction. Still one feels how difficult it is to conquer it and in so doing
shares the views of Aristotle.