Passion versus Desire
by Leo Galland, MD
In evaluating patients in my medical practice, I ask new patients to fill out an extensive health questionnaire that helps me gain insight into their lives and lifestyles, not just their symptoms and diseases. Occasionally I fill out the questionnaire myself, to help me take stock of my own life. Each time I take it, I realize how difficult it is to maintain balance between "wants" and "shoulds." There's always an abundance of "shoulds": things that have to be done or seem as if they have to be done. And usually, there's a neglect of the "wants": things I'd like to do but have trouble making time for. That seems to be the way most of us live. I find that I can analyze the shoulds, set goals and priorities, manage my time and be very productive. And I can often help my patients do the same. It's a rational process.
The real challenge is not in managing the shoulds but in realizing the wants. Making wants happen can be so frustrating that it makes you want to stop wanting anything. I spent years trying to deal rationally with managing wants, using the same kind of logical analysis that's so good for managing shoulds. Frankly, it doesn't work, because wants are totally different from shoulds and they confuse logic.
Once you get past the basic necessities of life-water, food, air and shelter-wants are created by two diametrically opposed impulses: passion and desire. Superficially, passion and desire appear very much the same and the terms are often used as if they're interchangeable. That's the real source of confusion, and the culture around us is designed to keep us confused. Everything you see or read, not only in ads but in self-help books, has been created to hide the essential and profound difference between passion and desire.
Passion comes from fullness. It flows out into the world, asking nothing more than to be allowed to express itself. Desire seeks to fill a void. It looks out into the world for something it wants to possess.
Wanting to play a sport can come from passion for the sport; wanting to win is a desire. That's simple, even obvious, but it can get complicated. Whatever you're doing, passion can lead you to want to do it well, because of the satisfaction intrinsic to doing something well. Wanting to excel, however, is a desire; it involves something external to your activity, a comparison with others.
For me, separating passion and desire in sports has been easy, because I have always enjoyed a variety of sports but never enjoyed competing. When I lived in the country, I looked forward to winter as a time to ski, and I worked hard at becoming an expert skier. When a friend asked me why I wanted to be an expert skier my response was simple: "It's more fun, you can do more things with more confidence." My passion for skiing and mountain biking and body surfing is fueled by the speed and rhythm of the movement and not really by anything else. If I were a competitive athlete, the desire to win might complicate my passion for the sport.
In other parts of my life, separating passion and desire has been more complex. My work as a doctor is driven by my passion for helping people heal themselves. Seeing people grow and become empowered through the process of healing is thrilling. But every day that I practice medicine, I confront a spiritual challenge: how much of my effort and perfectionism derives from my passion for helping people heal and how much derives from desire to excel or be recognized? The outcome for my patients may be the same, but the difference in intention can radically affect my own experience of my work.
During 2004, I spent hundreds of hours creating a computer database of interactions between nutrients, supplements and drugs. The process was agonizing and exciting at the same time. By the time I had finished, there was enough new information that I could have gone back to the beginning to start all over again. It was a bit like weather-proofing the Golden Gate Bridge. The workmen start at one end of the bridge and by the time they've gotten to the other end of the bridge, it's time to start painting all over again. Two impulses-two wants-drove my efforts: one was a desire for knowledge; the other was a passion for discovery. The desire for knowledge can never be satisfied. There's always more to learn. What you just learned becomes obsolete. New information comes to light. The passion for discovery can satisfy itself in a single day, over and over again. It's like hiking through a hidden valley that you've never seen before. The process fulfills itself.
Dr. Leo Galland
Dr. Galland is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the emerging field of Nutritional Medicine, and as a master clinician who has employed and popularized integrative therapies for prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. He has published several dozen scientific papers and textbook chapters, as well as three highly acclaimed popular books, The Fat Resistance Diet (2005), Power Healing (1997) and Superimmunity for Kids (1988).
Dr Leo Galland has received numerous prestigious awards for his medical contributions. Interviews, and articles on his work have been featured in many mainstream publications such as "Newsweek", "Reader's Digest", "Redbook", and many others. He has appeared as a medical expert on ABC's Good Morning America, PBS, Fox, and more. Dr Leo Galland has broad and extensive education in medicine and nutrition.In addition to his private medical practice in New York City, Dr. Galland directs the Foundation for Integrated Medicine ( www.mdheal.org) and Applied Nutrition, Inc., a medical software company (www.NutritionWorkshop.com).
