908. How can we define the limit at which passions cease to be good or bad?
“Passions are like a horse that is positive or useful when under control, but dangerous when untamed. A passion becomes wicked the moment you lose control of it, and when it causes harm to yourselves or others.”
Passions are switches that greatly increase your powers, and help you carry out God’s designs. If you allow yourself to be ruled by your passions instead of controlling them, you become a victim of excess. The same force that can be useful ends up annihilating you.
All the passions are rooted in a natural sentiment or want. They are not bad in themselves, since they constitute one of the God-given conditions of our existence. “Passion” usually signifies the exaggeration of a need or feeling, it lies in the excess and not in the cause, and such excess becomes evil when it results in some kind of evil. Every passion that brings human beings closer to an animalistic nature carries them farther away from the spiritual nature. On the contrary, every feeling that raises human beings above the animal nature demonstrates the dominance of their spiritual side over their animal side and brings them closer to perfection.
