As we grow on the spiritual path, desire and passion are understood in a new way. As William Blake wrote, "Those who enter the gates of heaven are not beings who have no passions or who have curbed the passions, but those who have cultivated an understanding of them." Instead of condemning all desire, we engage it with wisdom and sensitivity. We see the world as a play of desire, and the difference between unskillful and skillful desires becomes apparent. Some desires cause suffering, but others, such as the natural needs for familial love, food, and shelter, are healthy. The desire to learn, to understand, to serve God, can help carry us to awakening. We come to respect passion and ardor as human energies which can be associated with compulsion and grasping, but can also be directed toward commitment and integrity of being.
— Jack Kornfield, After the Ecstasy, The Laundry