Desire
Desire is conatus with consciousness — the human awareness of striving. It is one of the three primary affects.
In depth
When the striving of conatus becomes conscious — when you are aware of what you are driven toward — it becomes desire (cupiditas). Spinoza calls desire the very essence of a human being. It is not a lack (as in Plato) but an active force. We do not desire things because they are good; rather, we judge them good because we desire them.
Why it matters
This inverts the traditional view of desire as something to overcome. For Spinoza, desire is your nature expressing itself. The task is not to eliminate desire but to understand it and align it with adequate knowledge so that it becomes an expression of your genuine power.
Source references
- Ethics III.P9 Schol.