47 lines
2.1 KiB
TeX
47 lines
2.1 KiB
TeX
\section{The Spectrum of Longing}
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\lettrine{N}{ot} everyone is seized by capital-L Longing,
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and this is not a deficiency.
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The weaver who loves the cloth,
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the farmer who is one with the soil,
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the parent whose whole horizon is the family they nurture
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— these lives are not lacking.
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Longing is alive in them,
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but its radius is shorter,
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contained within the given world.
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Growing crops, weaving cloth, caring for a family
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— these tasks are essential and worthy.
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The village could not function otherwise.
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The spectrum isn't simply ``has \slash doesn't have Longing.''
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It's better framed as:
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how far outside the village does your particular Longing pull you?
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Most people find satisfaction within their given world
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— family, craft, community.
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That's not absence of depth — it's a blessing.
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That's Longing with a shorter radius.
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On the other hand, the person genuinely seized by capital-L Longing
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cannot be fully assimilated — not because they're superior,
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but because the thing pulling them won't let them settle.
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This is not a promotion --- more like conscription.
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It comes with costs the weaver is spared:
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difficulty sustaining ordinary life, difficulty being understood,
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the sense that one is living in the wrong time and place.
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And sometimes there's a literal cost — the stake is not always metaphorical.
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Capital-L Longing isn't a reward for being more spiritually advanced. It's more like a calling that arrives whether you want it or not. The weaver with lowercase-L longing who loves their craft and their family, and finds that enough --- that's a complete life. The person with capital-L Longing didn't choose the longer radius. It chooses them.
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Which is why ``Longing makes you a better human being'' is not the right frame.
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It's more like: it's a different load-bearing capacity.
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Or a different assignment.
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And it's not either\slash or --- it's a spectrum.
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A spectrum that spans from the person whose Longing is
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entirely at home in the village,
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to the one the village can barely recognize as belonging to it.
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Both ends of that spectrum are human.
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Both are necessary.
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The difference is not in worth, but in radius.
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