16 lines
1.4 KiB
TeX
16 lines
1.4 KiB
TeX
\section{Longing and Desire: A Developmental Arc}
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\lettrine[lraise=0.15]{T}{he} Greek framework also offers a developmental arc worth considering: Erōs/Longing grows out of Epithymia/Desire. The same energy that begins as attraction to a beautiful body can become love of Beauty itself, love of Wisdom, longing for the eternal:
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Epithymia $\longrightarrow$ (transfigured) $\longrightarrow$ Erōs
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Desire is usually about resolution. It wants closure, discharge, satisfaction, relief. It belongs largely to the economy of the body and the species. That doesn't make it evil. It makes it cyclical.
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Longing is not fundamentally trying to restore equilibrium. It is not asking: How do I get back to `normal'? It is asking: What do I do when the `normal' is not enough? That's the real hinge. Longing is not merely the organism trying to stay alive. It is the being trying to become more fully itself.
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That is why Longing gives rise to science, philosophy, cathedrals, music, pilgrimage, mathematics, poetry, mysticism, sacrifice, civilization itself.
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No one builds the Parthenon because they are peckish. No one discovers non-Euclidean geometry because they need to regulate blood sugar. No one composes symphonies or develops Relativity because they are trying to get back to biological homeostasis.
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Those things arise from something like an excess in the human being --- or a wound that cannot be closed by appetite.
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