{"id":14077,"date":"2021-03-14T23:03:31","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T03:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=14077"},"modified":"2023-03-13T23:11:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T03:11:19","slug":"the-votary-of-the-blue-flower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=14077","title":{"rendered":"The Votary of the Blue Flower"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nFor the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ~ Romans 8:19-23<\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n\"Blue
\n<\/a><\/figure>\n

\nAnd every day there were what are called the Green Hills; that is, the low line of the Castlereugh Hills which we saw from the nursery windows. They were not very far off but they were, to children, quite unobtainable. They taught me longing — Sehnsucht: made me for good or ill, and before I was six years old, a votary of the Blue Flowe<\/strong>r. ~ C S Lewis<\/strong>, Surprised by Joy<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sehnsucht<\/h2>\n

\nThe fullness of existence, life’s true richness, does not consist solely in health and happiness but in an ever expanding range of joy and sorrow; and the broader the range, the richer life becomes. ~ Valentin Tomberg<\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Besides the Green Hills, Lewis describes similar experiences and reached a conclusion:<\/p>\n

\nJoy comes from an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. And anyone who has ever experienced Sehnsucht will want it again.… I doubt that anyone who has tasted it would ever exchange it for all the pleasures of the world. … It is a desire for something longer ago or further away or still about to me.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The satisfaction of every desire, beyond physical needs, is not necessarily energizing. One common example is sexual desire, for which there is the time of energized anticipation which enhances all the senses. That all ends in the spasm, as Marcus Aurelius called it. That is why the French refer to the orgasm as la petite mort<\/em>, the little death. Life force is spent, there is exhaustion with nothing to look forward to, apart from endless repetition of the same.<\/p>\n

To the common mind, the unsatisfied desire should bring sorrow, not joy. That is because our emotional life is poorly developed, actually, according to Western esoteric teachings, the least developed soul faculty. As one develops the emotional center, a deeper feeling of joy and sorrow may emerge. Ibn Arabi<\/strong> composed a series of poems on longing, mixing joy and sorrow, such as this one:<\/p>\n

\nGentle now, doves
\nof the thorn berry and moringa
\nthicket, don\u2019t add
\nto my heart-ache your sighs.<\/p>\n

Gentle now,
\nlest your sad cooing
\nreveal the love I hide,
\nthe sorrow I hide away\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kahlil Gibran<\/strong> wrote on this topic:<\/p>\n

\nSome of you say, \u201cJoy is greater than sorrow,\u201d and others say, \u201cNay, sorrow is the greater.\u201d<\/p>\n

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.<\/p>\n

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The one who is incapable of, or afraid to face, his sorrow, will never feel great Joy.<\/p>\n

True Love and Friendship<\/h2>\n

Aristotle famously distinguished three types of friendship:<\/p>\n