Weaponized Desire vs. The Art of Desire (Corfu, Greece)

Have you ever thought of how you relate to desire?

You likely work with it in 1 of 2 ways:

• You suppress it…
• Or chase it blindly

Either leads to a mess.

In this episode of Engineering Emotions & Energy, Justin breaks down something deeper—The Art of Desire.

Recording from Corfu, Greece, after time in Rome, he shares a powerful realization:

Desire has been used throughout history to control people, shape behavior, and maintain power…

But what if desire isn’t the problem?

What if it’s actually one of your greatest tools—when you learn how to work with it?

Key Points & Takeaways

• Why desire itself is not wrong (even the “weird” or uncomfortable ones)
• The difference between:
  • Weaponized desire (control, suppression, manipulation)
  • Artful desire (creation, connection, expression)
• How history (Rome, the Vatican, modern systems) has shaped what you think you’re “allowed” to want
• Why suppressing desire doesn’t eliminate it—it distorts it
• The truth: you can want anything… it’s how you express it that matters
• How to move from:
  • unconscious reaction → conscious creation
• The shift:
  • from “Is this allowed?”
  • to “How can I express this without harm—and maybe even create something beautiful?”

The Core Invitation

You don’t need to become someone who “wants less.”

You become someone who wants better… more consciously… more creatively.

👉 Start noticing what you actually want—without immediately judging it

👉 Ask yourself: “How could this be expressed in a way that creates, not harms?”

Want tools to help you get clear, calm, and connected so your desires come from a better place?

Check out the Life Energy Activation Process (LEAP):

🔗 https://justinwenck.com/leap

📩 Reach out directly: podcast@justinwenck.com

📱 Follow: @JustinWenckPhD

Watch the full video episode at Justin Wenck, Ph.D. YouTube Channel!

Check out my best-selling book "Engineered to Love: Going Beyond Success to Fulfillment" also available on Audiobook on all streaming platforms! Go to https://www.engineeredtolove.com/ to learn more!

Got a question or comment about the show? E-mail me at podcast@justinwenck.com.

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Transcript

Justin Wenck: 0:00

Today, I'm going to be talking about not just desire, but the art of desire. And I'm bringing this to you from the port of Corfu, Greece. And this is after and inspired by a couple days I recently spent in Rome, Italy. So this is something you might not have thought about exactly the way I'm going to go over. So stick around, because it's going to be very important the art of desire. Let's get started. Are you ready to live a life with enough time, money and energy have relationships and connections that delight you? Are you ready for the extraordinary life you know you've been missing if so, then this is the place for you. I'm a best selling author, coach, consultant and speaker who's worked in technology for over two decades. I'm a leader at transforming people and organizations from operating in fear, obligation and guilt to running off joy, ease and love. It's time for engineering emotions and energy with me. Justin Wenck, PhD, so why the art of desire? And for those of you that have been, you know, listening to the show, watching it on YouTube lately, thank you so much. And you probably like, Okay, I'm waiting for the the next for the for number two on the six best values of 2026. It's coming. It's coming. These are all really either part of that series or supporting the series. Because in some ways, one of the things that makes values important is they should be supporting things that you want, yet, if you haven't thought a lot about what you want or how you want it, or where your wants come about from, or what's even allowed to want or desire, then it's going to be hard for your values to support that or make sense, or you might not be having the right values for The right desires. So I'm in Corfu, Greece, and the port on day five, I believe, of a 16 day cruise of the Mediterranean. So we just finished up the the Italian portion. And so the cruise started in Rome. So if you saw the last two episodes, and those were from Athens, Greece, right at the base of the Acropolis. So some great episodes. Definitely check it out on YouTube so you could see that. And as I just didn't have an opportunity to record an episode in any of the stops in Italy. Italy is a completely different vibe than than Greece. And so it's kind of been nice to be back in Greece, because to me, it feels like a little bit more mellow, little bit more relaxed, which is a little bit more my speed. So that's the behind. Is the the city of, I think it's the city of Corfu, or the old city of Corfu, because the island is also called Corfu. So just got back wandering around. It's the best weather so far on this and so it's just been really nice to get to be by the sea and enjoy some sunshine. These are things that I desire that really helped light me up and make me feel, I don't know, even more alive. Although, you know, just having a breath is a great way to feel alive, anytime you want to just take that breath and enjoy it. And so this is my first time going to Rome, and I really, my takeaway was for, you know, a couple things, the scale is off the charts, as far as, like, how large, like the Coliseum, the forum, the Vatican, and then also the crowds. And it's not even like peak season. They're just amazed at how many people are going to all of these, all of these sites. And I kind of realized that, you know, taking a tour of the Coliseum and understanding, sort of, you know, how the Roman Empire worked, and then go doing a tour of the Vatican and in Greece, and going to a lot of places in the world, even often it'll be like, oh, where's, where were the statues, where were like, you know, the things that supported the remaining structure, and often it's there in some museum somewhere else in the world. The Vatican is one of those museums that has some of the most amazing sculptures, paintings, tapestries from around the world. Because, you know, the the church has gone over the globe, and if there was something that was given or taken, it ended up often in the Vatican, especially if it was not in support of the Catholic Church. Because one thing that was very interesting was going to the Pantheon in Rome. That was. Uh, it was built, I think in, you know, I'm not the greatest with with dates, but around 100 ad plus or minus, 100 years for the pantheon of Roman gods. And I went there, I guess, like, I can't wait to see some great, great statues of Jupiter and Venus and other Roman gods, you know that were derivative of of the Greek gods, many of them. And get in there, and it took me a while to realize there's absolutely no nothing of of Roman gods, goddesses, any of that everything is in reference to something out of Catholicism or somebody that was a supporter of Catholicism, because the Pantheon was converted into a church, a Christian church, and that's how it survived as well as it did, yet didn't get by completely unscathed. Anything that was pagan got ripped out of there and often put like in the Vatican, stored away and then replaced by statues that were supportive of whatever the message of the time was, slash is, and then also, the other thing is, in the Vatican is, you know, there's all these known stories of, you know, you think like, well, this is the area where, like, the pope teaches mass, and all, you know, all The Cardinals and all this Holy, holy stuff. Yet it's, it's widely known that there were murders and tortures of all kinds, and even even orgies. There's documented orgies, I think it was like in 1500s or something, that took place within the Vatican walls. So all of this amazing art, of course, like the Sistine Chapel, got to see that, which was incredible, the work of Michelangelo, and then also his sense of humor, because he was actually forced into painting the Sistine Chapel by the, I believe the pope at the time. He didn't want to do it. He's like, I got, I got enough to do. I don't really want to be doing, you know this? And basically it was like, Well, okay, I guess you don't have to. We'll just burn down, destroy your your hometown. And he's like, okay, fine, I guess I'll paint the Sistine Chapel. And kind of one way he got got back was one of the frescoes on the ceiling is a picture of like God creating the the like the sun, the moon and the earth, I believe. And so it's, it's a picture of God looking at you, but then also God looking away. And the God looking away has his backside exposed, and that backside is where the Pope, or whoever's leading mass, they would have been right under that ass possibly getting pooped on by by the Creator of all that that is, or was, yeah, so there's it really brought up, you know, desire, and how really Rome, and, you know, ancient Rome, The Roman Empire, the Vatican, to me, sort of the phrase that kept coming up was weaponized desire, because you think of the Coliseum and like the movie Gladiator, and you know, the the fighting and just the blood lust that the crowd and to get them to cheer and having lions fight bears and all sorts of crazy stuff that it really was like, Okay, how can We utilize desire to control people, some things, some desires were allowed, right? Like the blood lust and then other desires were often suppressed, not allowed, right? Like, you know, certain sexual things not not allowed yet in private, they would be utilized. Because one thing that was also very interesting was the number of in like the 1500s and around the Michelangelo Raphael times like, you know, they had had, like their wife or their fiance, but also their concubine, and just the interesting aspects of different desires and how it was weaponized to exploit the people and get them to do whatever they wanted so that The those in power could remain slash, expand their power. And I think that's, that's why today's topic is the art of desire. Because a lot of people think like, well, you just, you just want what you want. It's like, no, no, the it's important to want, yet how you want. There's a nuance. There's a specialty to it, of one allowing yourself owning that you might want something. And then, how does it, how does it expressed? Because, like, again, the extreme case of of sort of Roman Empire times of like, you want to kill someone, so you just kill someone like that, really, or, you know, or you want to take over in the land, so you kill all the people in your way. Somebody wants to disagree with you, you have them killed. Basically, it's, it's desire, without any concern for how that impacts other people. And I think, you know, coming from the Bay Area, I think. That this, this, you know, weaponization of desire is something that is has continued because we look at the social media and it's basically, you know, desire, the algorithmic consumption, direction of our intention, is using, you know, our desires against us to keep us engaged, keep us in a state where, you know we're open to purchasing or we're open to agreeing or fighting or disagreeing, but we're not really, we're not really in control of maybe our our more refined desires, or our higher order desires, or the desires that maybe are not part of what's generally acceptable in our society, in our culture, and so I feel like we are. We're in a time where this weaponization of desire is becoming very, very apparent once again, and it's we're time to evolve into an era of the art of desire, where it's not just I'm going to do what I want at the expense of anyone around me. It's I'm going to allow myself to want anything I want, and those that I can fulfill in a way that is not harmful to others. So there's going to be wisdom mixed with it. There's going to be compassion mixed in with it, kindness, integrity, a lot of these values that we've been talking about on this show for this this year, they all support this art of desire. Because it's not just about, like, just I want it, like a like, like a baby. It's I want it. I got, I want to, I want to poop. So I'm going to poop in my pants. I'm going to poop on you. It's, you know, it's the adult. It's the elevated form of desiring, of like, okay, I want, I want to do something might get a little messy, all right, now, let me, I don't know. I think I'm just go with the poop. Me for that. Like, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna create a toilet. I'm gonna have a space, I'm gonna have a way to clean up afterwards, because there's really as a way to want just about anything and not harm anybody. And I think we're seeing this, you know, more more and more this is part of, like, you know, video games, because I think there is a little bit of, for whatever reason, where there's going to always probably be some people that like, they want to, they want to, like, kill and shoot and hunt, and that, yet, is there a way to say, Hey, it's okay to have that desire, if there was a time in human civilization, and maybe there still is going to be times where that is perfectly good, it could be beneficial. It can be helpful to, you know, the person those they care about. So it's not like we want to completely eliminate that yet, when there is not a like, oh my gosh, somebody's going to come, you know. Because the thing is, if it's like, the only way to satisfy that desire is to create, is to always be creating a war, then how are we ever going to get rid of wars? But if we can allow there that desire to get expressed and fulfilled without harm, then is there ever a need to really go to war in the traditional sense anymore? So I think you're starting to maybe see, what I'm getting about is there's absolutely nothing you can want. Absolutely nothing you would want that, in and of itself, is bad in the sense of it's funny, because what, you know, going into the Vatican, I think it was the big basilica there is it St Peter's Basilica. They actually had a whole bunch of confessionals available. And so I don't know Catholic, I just know what I know from from movies, but I really and from reading in school, and I believe that, you know, it's, it was considered a sin, just to just, just to think about it like, just, oh, I wanted, I wanted to steal from somebody, or I wanted to commit, commit a an act of lust, that just that, in and of itself, is a sinful thing, requiring confession that oh my gosh, I am Bad. I need to not have these thoughts. To me, that is complete nonsense. That's bullshit. It's okay to have the thought. It's the deed, it's the doing it. And often, if you suppress the desire, the desire just pops out in another way. And usually, again, that is because it's been weaponized. It's going to come out in a way that is not conscious, that is not aware, that is not kind, it's not going to be within integrity. So that's why it's important to own the desire. And then, okay, how can I work with this in a way that will not harm anybody? And then the true art is, okay, baseline, not harming yet so many desires are actually an invitation to create community, connection, love, respect, wonder, amazement, because that was one of the things was as going through the Vatican Museum and just seeing, you know, a room full of the most exquisite statues from so. Many of the greatest artists that ever lived. And going through these tapestry rooms and seeing these tapestries that are like depicting, like, amazing scenes from from the from all the ages, and then, like, the frescoes on the walls, like, you know, the Sistine Chapel is just some of the frescoes that you can see and recognize. Like, oh my gosh, the the desire that was manifested as art that is so gorgeous. And in some ways, it was a shame that all of this was placed into just this one location in the world, where the tour guide that I had, she said that somebody figured out that each item in the Vatican Museum, in the Vatican Museum, if somebody spent 30 seconds at each item. They would be there for 15 years, 15 years to view each item for 30 seconds. And some of these items, you could spend a day looking at it and just being in wonder and curiosity about the artistry, about the story, about just the the presentation, and so the fact that it's put in a place that no one person can even have the time or the space to even get to enjoy most of it, again, that's like where this desire is weaponized, where it's like we're taking all of the things that desire manifested as beautiful art, and we're keeping it away, whereas, when it's it's in places where people can come and get together and view and wonder and share and be like, Oh my gosh, this is like, beautiful, and I'm having an emotional experience because of this, or it's made me wonder this. What are you thinking about? It? Desire can be such a point of connection and community creation, and it can really bring people together. So this is why I'm saying that desire. It's time to bring the artistry back and stop letting it be something that's used against others and against ourselves. But it's time for something that is you own it and go, Okay, baseline, no harming, then what's the next level elevated even more is, how can this be something that can allow me to share gifts with the world, or elicit connection amongst my fellow humans, and just bring more joy to life? Right? Because that's really what it's all about. Because it's really about like, what do you want to do? Because in some ways, there's no point to anything. And on the other hand, even the most simple thing, it can just be a work of beauty, a work of art, like, if you just even start to think of just like a pencil, and all that goes into that, like that, that there is wood that came from a tree, and then there's there's the graphite in it that that, and that had to get put into a form to and then get put into the pencil, and then crafted, and then it gets sharpened, and then there's paint on the outside, and it has to go from wherever it's manufactured to you. And that can't get used to write the most beautiful poem that something as simple as a pencil can just be infinitely incredible and beautiful like that is the amazement of life, and that is the amazement of desire, and it's one of the key reasons of of why we're here is to experience the desire that can come to us. Because I truly believe that desire is often something that is usually when we're really calm, connected, clear, it's divinely inspired. It's something that comes from beyond. And if you have all these hang ups about, like, what's loud and what's not, what maybe you're meant to want, to want to create, to want to bring this world is going to be shoved down, and the world's in your life is going to be poor for it. So I'm very curious. You know, what are your thoughts? What's what? What do you what comes to your mind when you think of the art of desire, and how could you're wanting, you're desiring your creativity, you're creating in this world. And again, this doesn't have to be art. This can be a business. This can just be a relationship. This could this could be a process. This could be something like, you know, my my life, energy activation process, my energy practice. There's all sorts of things that we can create, right? But, you know, comes from a desire. Like, I got something that I want, I want to have in this world, and then I want to share it. And it could just even be an experience, like I want to experience, like a parade. So when it like interesting thing today is in Corfu. It's actually Easter. I'm recording this. That's Easter Sunday. You know, for most, most Christian traditions, Greek Orthodox uses another calendar. They use the Julian calendar, not the Gregorian calendar. So Easter is actually next week. So today is Palm Sunday here in Greece, and there was a giant procession of 150 villages. It seems like they each have a marching band. And so saw tons of marching bands marching through. And it was just, it was just like the weirdest. Best, but most amazing thing to just stumble in that and have all of these marching bands marching out, yes, just incredible. And somebody wanted that, and then somebody's like, yeah, I want to see what that is. And now that I saw it, I'm like, I'm so glad that I saw it. So there's something weird you probably want to create, to experience, to do, and there's going to be people that want to enjoy that with you in a way that is going to not have to harm anyone, not have to destroy anything in the world, not have to make anyone less than we really do. Have the wisdom, the ability, and maybe it's even like the duty, the responsibility, to desire in that way. Because this old way of I'm going to either I'm going to want and it's going to be destructive, or I'm going to suppress all my wants so that I can be, quote, unquote good. It's nonsense. That's that's not what it's all about. That era is over. It's going away, and now is the time of the art of desire. And I'm excited to, you know, create, create this new era with you. So I'm wondering what, what's coming up? What might you want to create? What have Yeah, what are your thoughts on this? So let me know. Make sure to write, you know, Justin Wenck, PhD, on the socials and podcast at Justin wenck.com and remember to like, follow, subscribe all that, because it really does help the show and share with somebody. And we still have these two remaining best values of 2026 to have. Number two will be coming up in the next episode. So you're going to want to want to you're not going to want to miss that because we've done the first four so Really hope you've been enjoying that. Let me know what you thought already, and with that, thank you and good day. Thanks for tuning in to engineering emotions and energy with Justin Wenck PhD, today's episode resonated with you. Please subscribe and leave a five star review your feedback, not only supports the show, but also helps others find us and start their journey of emotional and energetic mastery. You can also help by sharing this podcast with someone you think will love it just as much as you do together, we're engineering more amazing lives you Wenck.