Cornelius Plantinga Jr. points out in Engaging God's World that “what's remarkable is that these longings are unfulfillable.” No matter how far one goes to satisfy one's longing, it will remain. In the end, only God can satisfy our longings. Plantinga speaks of St. Augustine, and explains how we must discover, as Augustine did, “the one good that would not fade away, the one good that would not crumble if he leaned on it with the full weight of his love.” I think that our longing is one of the things that is best in man. Without it, we would rarely, if ever, do, say, or write those things which most ennoble us. Would we really care about preserving nature if its beauty did not tear our hearts with inexplicable joyful pain, or sehnsucht? Our search for beauty is really the search for God.
There is terror, though, in the promise of fulfillment. This longing is such a large part of us that life without it can seem dull and myopic. The joy seems to be in the pursuit, not the success of attainment. I think that this misconception occurs because all of our experience is with lesser things that cannot satisfy, so their promise is always greater than reality. God, however, is greater than we can ever comprehend, so our finitude can never exhaust his infinite joy. All of our longing will be satisfied, although as C.S. Lewis says, we will always continue further up and further in.
“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” - Psalm 16:11
I'd never thought about it but our imaginative games and role playing as children is really clearly a manifestation of that longing. It's a pity that we tend to be less able to express that longing as we leave childhood. I also really love your last paragraph because the longing is such a deep part of us. Lewis talks about joy not only being what it is we long for but the longing itself as well.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you pointed out how you think that our longing is one of the best things in man. I never really thought of that before. But when I think about it, I know you make a good point. Where truly would we be without our longings? It is because we know the difference from right and wrong that we are able to know that there is hope of something new that is to come...something good. How beautiful life is when we have something good to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteAn important thing that you touch on in this post is the temporary element of all the things we long for. Beauty is fleeting, friends move away, loved ones die. But God is always constant.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with how you ended your last paragraph. I would say that their would be no terror at all in finally fulfilling our deepest desire to be with God. His presence will never stop fulfilling us and it will never disappoint. I can remember many times as a young kid at Christmas being sad with the last gift opening, but more so at the end of the day. Sad that the longing of the past month was finally over, but I know that God will satisfy us in some inexplicable way that will never cease to amaze.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you pointed out that longings seem to be one of the best parts of man. I think that this comes from the way God created us. He created us for himself and thus we long for him even though we see this longing manifested in so many other things. I never really thought about how the prospect of fulfillment can be a scary one. It is defiantly food for thought. I think life on this earth would be terrible without longings because they are the motivation behind many good things. It is comforting to know that God is greater than we can comprehend and that he will one day fulfill our longings in ways that are beyond our current minds.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your personal examples of ways you have expressed your longings. I think almost all of us have had times when we have pretended to be someone or some place else as a way to show longing for something. As you correctly identify that something is God. I also really enjoyed the quote from Augustine you used as well as your example of our search for beauty as actually a search for God.
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