the posire.
posire (noun): poison + desire = desire perceived as a source of torment
From 1970 to 2010, our natural resource consumption has more than tripled. Essential water reserves and forests rapidly shrink, all due to overconsumption. Such a phenomenon is undoubtedly a result of Mankind's toxic relationship with desire, causing us to crave more, produce more, and consume more. An ambivalent nature characterizes desire: it is as poor as it is rich. Indeed, Socrate highlights this theory by narrating the birth of Eros (love), child of Poros (resourcefulness), and Penia (poverty). Love is poor due to its constant lack and poverty, symbolized by Penia, and as rich since it always seeks to fill this lack, as expressed via Poros. Keeping Mankind trapped in a vicious circle of torment, desire becomes a poison: a posire.
“Desire” - Edvard Munch, 1907
IN DEPTH: Why can desire be considered a poison?
During Antiquity, desire was perceived as a deprivation. This conception of the term remains within the word itself - in latin, the term desire, "SIDE = star" and "DE = down from," expresses the nostalgia of a star that doesn't shine anymore. Why was desire understood so negatively? In his "Banquet," Plato recounts Aristophanes' myth and uses it to portray desire as a lack. The poet claims desire is the essence of Mankind since Man's hubris (excessive pride, violating the bounds set for humans) was his desire to climb the sky to attack the gods. Man's nemesis (punishment) was to be divided into two by Zeus, who supposed it would weaken Man. Humans are then left to wander the Earth, desperately looking for their other half (their “soulmate”) in order to feel complete again. This myth illustrates why the acquisition of desire and love so often feel like an addition, an improvement, and its absence like a loss.