Desire is often thought of as a driving force in both spiritual and worldly pursuits. It propels us to seek, to achieve, and to grow. But what if our understanding of desire is misguided? What if, instead of being the engine behind our spiritual journey, it is something entirely different—a symptom rather than a cause? This dialogue between the questioner and Imogen Webber explores the deeper meaning of desire in the context of spiritual growth.

Q: I’m interested in the function of desire. I think I’ve misunderstood desire for a long time. I thought it was desire that carried me forward spiritually, that it drove me to each new stage of my journey.

There was a time during an intensive retreat you were leading. I remember you were starting to have people look into your eyes at the beginning of the session. It was during that time I started to have this feeling—this nagging sense—that I might have been wrong about desire. I began to wonder if there was nothing to do at all.

For so long, I viewed desire as an instrument of spiritual growth. It was what kept me striving and seeking. But what if that’s just a story I’ve been telling myself?

Imogen:

I am tempted to inject a completely different viewpoint here.

What if desire wasn’t the cause, but the symptom? What if it wasn’t personal, as in I desire, but rather an upswelling of life moving towards something? And then the personal small self takes ownership of that, saying, “Oh, I’ve got this desire, and I’m going to make it happen.”

For me, there’s nothing wrong with desire.

Historically, I used to come from the spiritual viewpoint that desire was somehow bad, that we chase desires out in the world and that’s not good. But I’ve come to a very different place with it. I now see desire as just another upswelling of life—the divine—coming into manifestation in that particular manner. There’s nothing wrong with desire, but we’re not the ones that desire or the ones that bring about the desire be fulfilled or not.

Q: I’m seeing an image of surfing. It’s like you’re saying the wave is coming into being, and we take ownership of that wave. But really, it’s just life moving us in that direction.

Imogen:

Yes, exactly. It’s like the wave—it’s not something we create. It’s coming into being, and we are experiencing it. Desire is like that wave. We often think we are the ones causing it, but really, it’s a symptom of life moving in a particular direction.

There’s a movement that happens, and we often label that as desire, but it’s really life expressing itself. We’re not the ones making it happen. In that way, desire becomes the symptom rather than the cause.

Q: So if desire is just a symptom of life’s movement, then what’s left for me to do?

Imogen:

From this point of view, there really is nothing to do. All that has drawn you to this point—every meditation, every satsang, every teacher, every practice—is an upswelling of consciousness waking up to its own nature. It’s all a symptom of that deeper movement.

The personal self tends to think it’s doing all these things—it’s choosing this teacher or that practice. But from the divine perspective, it’s all just happening. It’s all life unfolding the way it needs to, and desire is simply part of that unfolding.

Q: I think I’ve come to the end of thinking about desire the way I used to. I didn’t know how to approach it from another perspective. Thank you for this.

Imogen:

You’re welcome. You can try this perspective on and see how it feels. It’s like a marriage of the two viewpoints you were wrestling with: the idea that there’s nothing to do and the idea that there’s a movement of desire happening. When you remove the ‘desirer’—the personal self that takes ownership of the desire—you see that both viewpoints can be true.

There’s nothing to do, and yet desire is also being expressed. The desire is not the cause of your spiritual growth, but rather a symptom of life moving through you.

This conversation reframes desire not as a force to be controlled or fulfilled but as a natural expression of life itself. When we stop trying to take ownership of our desires, we can see that they are simply life’s way of moving us forward. Spiritual growth happens not because of desire, but alongside it. By embracing this perspective, we can relax into the flow of life, knowing that we are being carried where we need to go.

The ‘Conversations & Questions’ series comes from snippets of conversations taken from emails, 1-on-1 sessions, group meetings or in-person conversations. I take out any personal or sensitive content. Often these conversations have a universality to them that can be helpful to more than just one person.