Valentine’s Day (or Lupercalia, if that’s your preferred festivity) is coming. So let’s talk about the spotlighted sin for the week: lust.

Lust is another one of the seven allegedly deadly sins. And it is a powerful feeling, so much so that the churches are so frightened of losing control of the people to it that they attribute sex addiction, or hypersexual disorder to it in order to frighten their congregations from it. But as with any emotion or feeling, it is perfectly natural and healthy to feel lust, and attempting to suppress it can have unwanted consequences.

Sex, lust, and love all go hand in hand. One should be having lustful feelings for a significant other, or you’ll have a hurt and insecure partner on your hands. Sex is also an important aspect of bonding with your partner; sex releases the hormone oxytocin, which makes you feel loved and connected with your partner (not that sex is the only way, or the best way to bond with a boyfriend or girlfriend; eating pizza and peanut butter M&M’s while watching bad horror movies on Netflix together is also important).

In the broader sense, lust contributes to the propagation of the species. Not that that is a priority at the moment, when so many places are dealing with overpopulation. But lust, in part, makes the act of reproduction something we want to do, not just something we’re driven to do by instinct.

Because if you’re going to do something, you might as well want to do it.