The Longing is the Answer

Photo by Christian Lischka SJ on Unsplash

I’m reading a lot into different global mystical traditions and finding these circular statements that I want to scoff at, but then get lodged somewhere underneath my mind where they seed, sprout, and eventually emerge as understanding. Like this one: “The longing is the answer to the longing.”

Could it be possible

in a world of inadequate abundance

where the human constant is longing —

we are connected by our mortality, and by our desire—

could it be that just to want,

to feel the separation of skin from earth from sky from water,

and to long for all these things to touch and meld and burn together —

could it be enough to satisfy

our elemental wantingness?