Human Appetites. (rewritten)

It is worth keeping in mind that the main human appetites and propensities, in their particular forms, are really different expressions of desire. So if it matters that our desires be rightly governed, then it matters just as much that the specific appetites and propensities desire takes on, in the proper circumstances, be rightly governed too. The same is true of the affections. Like the appetites and propensive principles, the affections have desire as one of their essential and leading elements, and they also can run into excess.

(1) — The appetites are good when they remain in their proper place. But when they are not rightly regulated — when they are not kept to their proper occasions and objects — they become a source of serious harm. I believe it is generally understood that excessive indulgence of the appetites, the “lower passions,” as they are sometimes called, is the real source of inward moral impurity. This is a state of mind that, sadly, most people probably know from experience better than any explanation could describe. The way people speak about the appetites shows clearly what they think about this. Whenever the appetites move beyond their proper sphere and measure, people describe them as low, degrading, and polluting, and compare those who indulge them in that way to swine wallowing in the mud.

Our own consciousness also bears witness to this. When the appetites are fully subdued and kept in their place, the person who experiences them — at least as far as the appetites are concerned — feels pure in heart. But when this is not the case, there is not only guilt, but degradation. There is an inward awareness of what may be called, figuratively, a stain or blot on the mind. The soul knows, by its own experience, that it is not what it is at other times. 

A holy soul may be compared to a mirror into which God may look and see the features of his own character reflected. But when the soul yields to the improper influence of the appetites, that mirror becomes stained and darkened, and God is no longer seen in it.

The Sense of Inward Degradation

The appetites are good in their appropriate place; but when they are not properly regulated, by being restricted to their appropriate occasions and objects, they are the source of great evil. I believe it is generally admitted, that the undue indulgence of the appetites, the "lower passions," as they are sometimes denominated, is the true source of inward impurity; a state of mind, which it is to be feared most persons know by melancholy experience, better than it can be illustrated by any description. Men speak of the appetites in terms, which obviously indicate their convictions on this subject; they speak of them, whenever they operate out of their appropriate sphere and degree, as low, degrading, and polluting, and compare those, who thus indulge in them, to the swine that wallow in the mire.

There is also something in one's consciousness, which supports this view. When the appetites are entirely subdued and kept in their place, the subject of them, at least so far as the appetites are concerned, feels that he is pure in heart. But when it is otherwise, there is a sense not only of guilt, but of degradation; there is an inward consciousness of what may be termed metaphorically a stain or blot upon the mind. The soul feels itself, in the experience of its own state, to be very different from what it is at other times. The holy soul may be likened to a mirror, into which God may look, and behold the features of his own character reflected. But when it yields itself to the undue influence of the appetites, the mirror becomes stained and darkened, and God is no longer seen in it.

— The Interior or Hidden Life (1844) Part 2, Chapter 3.