So on through the whole list of desires both natural and acquired, we
have the benefits of their proper application and the sorrows and
discomforts of their abuses. “Place even the highest-minded philosopher
in the midst of daily discomfort, immorality and vileness, and he will
insensibly gravitate toward brutality. How much more susceptible is the
impressionable and helpless child amid such surroundings! It is not
possible to rear a kindly nature, sensitive to evil, pure in mind and
heart, amidst coarseness, discomfort and impurity.”
It is said that “the highest of our joys are found in the affections,”
but because the appetites and desires seem primarily intended for the
existence of our nature it does not follow that they are selfish. We
would never know that we needed to take food were it not for the
implanted appetite. We would never know that we needed to seek knowledge
were it not for implanted desires, nor would we ever be led to deeds of
love and sympathy were it not for the implanted affections.