\section{Longing's Shadow}

\lettrine{L}{onging} even has a Shadow. Not counterfeit Longing, but genuine Longing aimed at objects that cannot bear infinite pursuit. Fame, greed, sexual misuse: these have the full phenomenology of Longing. The horizon keeps moving. The insatiability is real. The person is genuinely consumed.

The difference is in what the pursuit does to the pursuer. Genuine Longing deepens its subject --- opens capacity, widens the self, makes the person more rather than less. The Shadow grinds the person down while expanding their hunger. Same structure. Opposite direction.

Fame is a bad infinity. It expands without deepening. Greed works similarly --- wealth beyond any conceivable use has the structure of Longing: insatiable, horizon-shaped, consuming. But it cannot give what is being sought, because what is being sought --- significance, invulnerability, proof of worth --- is not purchasable. The horizon keeps moving because the object is the wrong object.

These are Longing's Shadow in the metallurgical sense: same weight, wrong substance.

And genuine Longing without wisdom is not automatically noble either. The Grail Quest doesn't just build cathedrals --- it depopulates kingdoms. Longing will spend you. Desire at least is on your side --- it's trying to keep you alive. Longing has no such obligation.

The distinction: genuine Longing, however costly, tends toward the real. The dark infinity tends toward a void that calls itself satisfaction.
