Lust - Are religous boundaries realistic?

Lust is an emotion or feeling of intense desire in the body. It is considered a "hush" word in public even though all living beings secretly are lustful in one or the other way. But are the religous boundaries that are set really exist? Or is it just a grey area which is unrealistic?

 

 

 

Lust has as its focus pleasing oneself, and it often leads to unwholesome actions to fulfill one's desires with no regard to the consequences. Lust is about possession and greed. In every religion, there is one or more instances where it is being referred to as a sin and in some as a deadly sin.

 

Buddhism indicates that lust as a cause for suffering and has named as the second of the four noble truths.

 

Catholicism indicates lust as a disordered desire for sexual pleasure where pleasure is sought for itself isolated from procreative purposes. In Catholicism, sexual desire in itself is good, and is considered part of God's plan for humanity. However, when sexual desire is separated from God's love, it becomes disordered and self-seeking. This is seen as lust. Matthew 5:28, "But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

 

In Vhagavat Gita, it is mentioned that Hinduism too condemns lust. Lord Krishna, an Avatar of Vishnu has declared in verse 21, that lust is one of the gates to hell.

 

Prophet Muhammad also stressed the magnitude of the "second glance", as the first glance towards an attractive member of the opposite sex could be just accidental or observatory, the second glance could be that gate into lustful thinking. Islam does not advocate celibacy but it requires marriage to conduct sex legally.

 

So literally every religion does indicate that it is a sin. My question is how realistic is this in today's world? In a world full of sinners of some sort, how many of us do practice this in our lives? Is there a boundary to lust at all?

 

Every man and woman I have met in my life in some way or the other has committed the above sin. The words, actions and the thoughts of each individual are great examples of how lustful human beings are. In my opinion, lust is not a sin. How each person looks at it and extent to which it will be used to make someone uncomfortable is what should be the sin.

 

Religious intepretations are good and they guide and show route to a better living, but how much of it is makes sense or is realistic now? How much is it applicable now? How many of you talk about sex or hotness of a man or how sexy a woman is in your day to day lives. Yes you do not need to commit adultery to mark it as a sin against your life. I say that we all sin as per religous interpretation but what is contrasting is I personally think lust is not a bad thing in its entirety.

 

In my opinion, religous boundaries set on this are grey , unrealistic and unachievable. It is a matter of each individual's moral and ethics. No one can control it other than one's self.