26 lines
1.4 KiB
TeX
26 lines
1.4 KiB
TeX
\section{Desire Seeks Equilibrium}
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\lettrine[lraise=0.1]{N}{ot} all inner pull is the same.
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There's a difference between ``desire'' and ``longing.''
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Desire arises from lack, seeks resolution, and returns the organism to equilibrium. Hunger, thirst, the need for warmth and reassurance: these are cyclical, returning, necessary. Even sex is fundamentally about maintaining the ongoing survival of the species.
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Desire keeps life going. It is not lesser.
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It is foundational, the grammar of incarnation.
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Desire preserves the creature and the species. That is no small thing.
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Longing is different in kind, not in moral rank. It does not seek equilibrium. It does not close the circuit. Desire is cyclical --- it recurs, is gratified, subsides, and returns. Longing is teleological --- it points beyond the present toward something not yet attained.
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\medskip
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Desire keeps the organism going. Longing pulls the soul forward.
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Desire says enough, for now. Longing says: not yet.
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\medskip
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The difference between ``Desire'' and ``Longing'' contains most of what this book is about.
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And crucially: Longing is never finally satisfied.
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There is always another horizon. This is not a defect. It is the shape of the thing itself --- and it is precisely this horizon-shaped quality that builds cathedrals, composes symphonies, unravels the secrets of the Cosmos, and impels human beings beyond the edge of the Known.
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