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【Weekly Topic 2026.05.03】Understanding Desire
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Hello everyone, and welcome to another Weekly Topic. This week we turn our attention to something both universal and deeply personal: desire. Simply put, desire is a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. It might be a desire for a piece of chocolate, a desire to pass an exam, or a deeper desire to be loved and understood. Desires can be powerful drivers. They push us to study, work, create, and improve ourselves. Without desire, much of human progress might never have happened. However, desires also have a shadow side. When they become too strong or uncontrolled, they can lead to frustration, unhealthy habits, or even harm to ourselves and others. Throughout history, many thinkers and spiritual traditions have warned about the dangers of unchecked desire, suggesting that true happiness comes not from satisfying every want but from learning which desires to follow and which to let go. In today’s world, we are surrounded by messages that constantly create new desires: a newer phone, a more exciting lifestyle, a perfect appearance. It can be difficult to tell which desires come from our true selves and which are planted by the outside world. This week, let’s explore our own experiences with desire. What do you desire? How do you handle it? Where do you draw the line? The subquestions below are designed to help you share your thoughts. Looking forward to reading your replies!
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Subquestions: 1. What is one desire you have right now that you consider healthy? Why do you see it as healthy? 2. Have you ever desired something so much that it caused you trouble? What happened and what did you learn? 3. Do you think desires are mostly learned from society, or are we born with them? Can you give an example? 4. How do you usually deal with strong desires that might be harmful to you? 5. In your opinion, can a life without any desires be a happy life? Why or why not? 6. What role do advertising and social media play in shaping our desires today? Can you share a personal experience? 7. Is there a desire you once had but later realized was not important? What changed your mind? 8. If you could remove one common desire from all human beings (such as the desire for money, power, or approval), which one would you remove and why? |
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Expression Bag: https://zh.purasbar.com/post.php?t=36791
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It's surprising to come across this wonderful club. Thank you for your sharing. I've been learning English by myself for almost two years. I would like to talk about this topic! I think wanting to become a better version of myself is a healthy desire of me. That desire came up since I was a little girl. It drove me to behave better and focused on my study. That's why I got good marks at school. This desire filled my life all the time. It just like a regulator—always reminds me of improving myself and to learn something. But every coin have two sides. This desire also makes me feel stressed and anxious when I get stuck or run out of energy. During that period of time, my mind told me I need to do something, but my body didn't want to. That was suffering. I think desires are mostly learned from society, so is mine. Society full of competition. If you want to live a better life, you need to get rich, to be strong, be smarter or handle some special skills. |
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1. What is one desire you have right now that you consider healthy? Why do you see it as healthy?
The desire to take break whenever I feel tired, and to read. The former one prevents from over working and exhaustion. The latter is a way to improve myself. |
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2. Have you ever desired something so much that it caused you trouble? What happened and what did you learn?
A few months ago, I desired to write a novel. I raced ideas in my mind and put them down my notebook. However, I couldn't focus on my study any more, the homework put aside and grade slipping. Eventually I made up my mind to set it aside for now. lizhenxuan：But even now I still can't make clear whether study should overshadow so-called "side quests".
啊啊是谁都对：回复 @lizhenxuan：Welp, what would you think the question if the word "study" is changed into "exams"?
lizhenxuan：Exams are something useless in its own right but we have to pursue it in order to live up to others' expectation and prove we deserve the rescource we have. It's true that exams can access one's ability and point out mistakes but they mainly serve as a "filter" now. Nonetheless, to compare it with desires, I tend to choose exams when they conflict with each other. It's hard for me to be myself and dismiss people's whispers, and I do want to earn more resources.
lizhenxuan：回复 @lizhenxuan：Correction: rescource -> resource and assess -> access
啊啊是谁都对：回复 @lizhenxuan：Maybe your teacher think that being fully devoted to exams is student's responsibility (plus obey teacher's all orders)?
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3. Do you think desires are mostly learned from society, or are we born with them? Can you give an example?
Both. In my opinion we should focus on the desire born with us as they are usually pure and reflect our true selves. lizhenxuan：And troubles of wanting too much derive from social comparison.
啊啊是谁都对：Maybe the desire can be divided into two parts. The first part is that every beast can have. The second part is that only human have due to society.
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4. How do you usually deal with strong desires that might be harmful to you?
I'll tell myself to think them twice before I throw myself into them. |
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5. In your opinion, can a life without any desires be a happy life? Why or why not?
I don't think it can. There would be no feeling of happiness at all. |
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6. What role do advertising and social media play in shaping our desires today? Can you share a personal experience?
It can create desires, making people want to more. One day an ad of a online course planted a new aspiration in me that I should learn how to use Seedance but finally I dropped it. |
By the way, do you think it's easy to survive in this society?