Books/2026.04-Longing/latex/chapters/se_TheGreeksAlreadyKnew.tex
2026-06-30 08:19:02 -07:00

12 lines
681 B
TeX

\section{The Greeks Already Knew}
\lettrine[lraise=0.15]{T}{he} ancient Greeks already made this distinction, though we have largely forgotten it.
Epithymia (``eh-pi-thu-ME-ah'') is the appetite: hunger, thirst, the urge toward pleasure and relief.
It is exactly what we mean by Desire.
Erōs (``AIR-ohs'') is of course where we get the word ``erotic.'' But to the Greeks it was not merely sexual attraction.
Erōs meant so much more than ``sex.'' It was more like the drive to create, to bring forth. For them, sex is but one tree in the forest of Erōs.
Epithymia is precisely what we have been calling ``Desire.'' Erōs is precisely what we have been calling ``Longing.''