dresses and undergarments. It would be so much easier to continue burying his desire in convention would she only return! The root of dysfunction is the deadening of our passion. When you deny your deepest self, your desire is going to turn rogue. Denial of our desiring self is the root of all evils in our world. It isn’t desire that’s sin. Our sin is the denial of desire, the restriction of our fundamental yearning for the full expression of ourselves in every dimension of our lives.
When we conduct our everyday lives as if it were Lent, we are the walking dead, in need of an Easter resurrection. Desire is basic to being. To be alive is to desire. If you didn't desire, you'd die, since the life force functions through desire. In Chocolat, you see the count sitting at his work desk, and his secretary has put some food there. Nothing too tempting, just basic sustenance. Finally, starving, he is forced to eat. Again and again, you see the tension between the count's religious belief that he should deny himself, and his longing for food, conviviality, the fullness of life.