Temptation; conflict between duty (moral law) and personal inclination (desires)

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"All terrain erodes, including even the steepest slopes, and those of words do not escape this law of time. By dint of passing from one mouth to another (and from one generation to the next), some words are so old and oafish that they end up becoming nothing more than harmless pebbles, completely smooth and round, bland little gossip balls eventually. Such is the pitiful fate of the biblical word “temptation” in today’s usage: “Let yourself be tempted,” we say when offering another helping of a dish or when suggesting a pleasant outing. The extremely vague association of this pleasure with the transgression of duty, as if coming somehow from a past life or a lost underwater civilization, alone gives the word what remains of its spice."

In our world of market society, consumerism and "greed is good", we have trivialized the word temptation as Jean-Louis Chretien, a French philosopher so aptly put above. "Should I have that extra slice of cake?" "I am tempted to go on another trip this year." We have normalized temptation; at best, it comes to mean harmless indulgences, if you can afford them. At worst, "greed is good" as Gecko said in the 1987 movie, "Wall Street" glorifying greed and temptation.

Temptation is about Adam and Eve and the Forbidden Apple; of whether they lived in the Garden Eden or on earth; it is about the 3 temptations Of Christ after 40 days of fasting in the desert; it is about achieving power and wealth in unholy manners.

Facing our temptations is about confronting our desires vs duty: it is about moral dilemmas, and understanding ourselves. How we deal with temptations reveal who we are. It is about doing the morally right thing vs caving to immediate self gratification, our often unholy self interests, our dark sides.

So what is Temptation? What does the temptation of the apple to Adam and Eve signify? What do the 3 temptations of Christ represent? Should we avoid temptations or face them head on? Do temptations make you strong or make you weak? What temptations have you encountered in your life that you have struggled with?

What is Temptation to you?