Longing, joy and the existence of God

Images like that of an island paradise awaken a particular longing in many of us. Having satisfied the physical needs in our culture, we become aware of a deeper hunger. We thirst for something that will really satisfy.

We may have food and drink, education, a meaningful job, a romantic relationship and a nice house. But still, there is some kind of desire left in us that has not yet been satisfied. That longing is the focus of this article.

1. Human longing in the history of ideas

If we turn to history, we find that the German Romantic writers in the 18th century actually had a name for this mysterious longing. They called it Sehnsucht. Sehnsucht signifies an intense longing that is not satisfied. In the eyes of the Romantics this object of longing was never found.

Tracing the etymological roots of Sehnsucht, we find a certain way of thinking about human longing that links together Plato with the Christian medieval writers and German Romanticism. There is a historical tradition, making use of the themes and images to speak about human longing.

Sehnsucht - an unsatisfied desire for an unknown object - has three facets: an inner emptiness, an outward quest for fulfilment and a bittersweet sense of joy from above.

a) Longing as an inner emptiness

This is an important theme in Western thought - humans are portrayed as in-complete creatures. Somehow we can't seem to be satisfied, there is something missing. We have lost something significant, but we can't quite tell what it is.
Plato described human nature as a leaking bucket, as soon as you've tried to fill it, it's empty again.

Another way of understanding this inner sense of emptiness is being separated from paradise. Religious historian Mircea Eliade has observed a universal 'nostalgia for paradise'. Through history the idea of 'paradise lost' is central to Western thought. We are seen as exiles from the Garden of Eden. Outside that place, we are not fulfilled, but empty. The medieval writers picked up the imagery. We have lost the glory of God, that is the source of our longing.

Therefore, the inner emptiness cannot be repaired by anything but God. Blaise Pascal famously remarked that there is a God-shaped hole in the heart of man. However, when we are separated from God because of our sins, we try and fill our lives with all kinds of created objects. A monk called Bernhard of Clairvaux, writing in the 12th century, says: 'If you would see a starving man standing with mouth open to the wind, inhaling draughts of air as if in hope of gratifying his hunger, you would think he is a lunatic, but it is no less foolish to imagine that the soul can be satisfied with earthly things.'

b) Longing as an outward quest for fulfilment

Secondly, according to this tradition in Western thought, human life is best described as a search for fulfilment. Our day-to-day life, fundamentally, is seen as a quest for something.

In German Romanticism the idea of a distant fulfilment that is out of reach was symbolised by a blue flower. The poet and writer Novalis told the story of a young man who had a dream at night. In his dream he saw a blue flower that was immensely attractive to him. As he woke up he longed to see the blue flower again, and he left his home to try and find it.

Another image of this quest for fulfilment is that of a pilgrimage. Augustine spoke of an inner restlessness, resulting in an outward quest for a better place. 'You have made us for yourself and therefore, our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee oh God'. Human life is seen as a journey through the wilderness. In this life, we are looking for another place. We have not yet found our true home.

We long for life to be a land flowing with milk and honey. But it isn't. Therefore, many modern writers are preoccupied with a sense of alienation and homelessness. Our inner emptiness brings about an outward quest for fulfilment.

c) Longing as moments of bittersweet joy

This third aspect of human longing is harder to define.

Often the experience is described as seeing something that is so beautiful that it hurts. It might be sitting by the sea, or being in the mountains, in the woods, watching a beautiful sunset, and suddenly being struck by a sense of joy and sweet longing, but at the same time, there is a feeling of sadness, that there is something missing in life.

For others, this experience of a bittersweet longing can come when listening to a favourite piece of music, when travelling, reading poetry, or being with friends, eating and laughing, just having a good time. It is at the happiest, most beautiful and enjoyable moments in life that this deeper sense of longing and melancholy suddenly comes to the fore. Our inner emptiness is laid bare by the scent of the blue flower.

The medieval writers knew a lot about this experience. In the 7th century Gregory the Great talked about the compunction of the heart, caused by God. This sense of longing, later referred to by British Romantic writers as 'Joy', was seen as arrows shot from God into the heart of man. The arrows caused melancholy, nostalgia and joy at the same time, because they were reminders of a lost paradise, but also caused a longing to be re-united with God.

2. Human longing in contemporary culture

If we use this historical understanding of human longing to analyse our own culture and daily life, what do we find? C.S. Lewis, who showed great interest in this theme of longing, spoke about Sehnsucht in a radio talk in 1942. He said:

'Most people would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. [...] There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality.'

Using a framework from Lewis's writing, I'd like to suggest that there are three different ways for us to handle this longing. I refer to these attitudes as the Optimist, the Pessimist and the Realist.

First, the Optimist, who says: If only I could find a better object for my longing, I would be satisfied.

The optimist continues all though life to think that if only he tried another woman, a more exotic destination, a bigger house, or a better job, then he would really find that mysterious something he longs for. He is on a restless quest for fulfilment, hoping to attain the blue flower.

Waiting for life to begin is a common attitude for optimists. If only, or when I get married, buy a house, get that position, become rich or famous or thin, then life will truly begin. Then my inner emptiness will finally be filled.

This way of life is to a great extent encouraged by the consumer culture, simply because there's money to make on our longing.

Most of us have something we build our lives around, but a problem for the optimist is that he or she is haunted by disappointments. Why? Because we constantly need greater portions of what we desire.

As Bernhard of Clairvaux has said: 'It is natural for a man to desire what he reckons better than that which he has already, and be satisfied with nothing which lacks that special quality which he misses. Thus, if it is for her beauty that he loves his wife, he will cast longing eyes after a fairer woman. If he is clad in a rich garment, he will covet a costlier one; and no matter how rich he may be he will envy a man richer than himself. Even if his desire for possessions would be fulfilled and he had the whole earth to himself, he would not find any final satisfaction...'

Therefore, the blue flower is never found, the leaking bucket is never filled.

Next, the Pessimist, whose attitude to longing is to say it is an illusion. Our longing cannot be satisfied. We are all searching for that unreachable something when we are young, but as we grow older we know better than that.

The Roman philosopher Cicero in this sense was a pessimist. He said that he wished that we could all die when we were young. Why? Because then we would not live to see our hopes, dreams and ideals crushed by the harsh realities of life. We will never find the blue flower.

A successful author was once asked what he would have liked to have been told when he was young, that he now knew to be true. He answered: 'I wish someone had told me that when you reach the top there is nothing there.'

If the optimist represents a Westerner's attitude to longing, the pessimist may be said to express an eastern approach to longing. In eastern religions desire is seen as an illusion, resulting in suffering. Thus the goal of human existence is to quench every desire.

The pessimist's strategy is to avoid the optimist's disappointments by suppressing his longing. The pessimist learns not to expect too much of life. In doing so, he or she does not demand that objects satisfy, but tends to be disillusioned and a bit cynical. Pessimists miss out on many things in life, because they are no longer on this quest for fulfilment.

Thirdly, the Realist's view. The realist takes a middle way between the optimist and the pessimist. The optimist is right in saying that we need a better object to quench our longing. However, the pessimist is right in saying that we can't find this object on earth. The realist says: experience tells us that no created object can ultimately satisfy us.

But neither, says the realist, is longing an illusion, as the pessimist thinks. If all our natural longings have an object that corresponds to them in reality, it is plausible to suggest that Sehnsucht is also pointing to a real object. C.S. Lewis explains:

'A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.'

Therefore, we can enjoy all kinds of things in this life, but not expect that they will satisfy us ultimately. That is the best way to relate to pleasure and joy.

3. Pointing to God?

Some thinkers have developed this line of reasoning as an argument for or a sign of the existence of God. The idea is that Sehnsucht, defined as 'an unsatisfied desire for an unknown object', is actually a desire to be united to God, someone who is greater than the things we have known so far.

This argument contends: if all our longings are linked to a real object, and we can't find anything that matches Sehnsucht on earth, then this longing is pointing to an object outside creation, God.

Objections

I would just like to look at two objections to this argument, one from the optimist and one from the pessimist.

From the optimist: 'How can we know that there is nothing on earth that will satisfy us when we have not tried all things? Perhaps I will be satisfied when I reach that goal or attain that object?'

St. Bernhard said that the best way to search for the object of our desires is to use our imagination to make a journey through the reality. If the things I now have can't fulfil me, would a better version of the same kind of things really make a big difference?

If I had a pint of beer at the best pub in Greatham, I would enjoy it (I know because I've tried). But the beer, I'm afraid to say, did not come even close to satisfying my deepest desire, Sehnsucht. Then, I don't need to visit every single pub in England (though that would be nice) in order to know that beer can't satisfy my deepest longing.

In other words, we don't need to go through every single object in the world in order to know that certain things, although they are good, do not satisfy Sehnsucht. We can draw that conclusion in our mind.

Furthermore: is it not actually the heroes of our culture - the rich and famous and beautiful and successful - that often express and testify to being deeply dissatisfied? Those who seem to have everything that money can buy still feel empty.

Now, from the pessimist: 'Longing is not pointing anywhere. It is an illusion, made up of wishful thinking.' This is the Great Projection Theory.

First presented by Ludwig Feuerbach and used by people such as Marx and Freud, the projection theory claims that a longing for meaning, eternal life and ultimate satisfaction leads us to invent the idea of God. Religion is a projection of naive dreams and desires that have no correspondence in reality. Religion is the opiate of the people. It is wishful thinking that functions as consolation in a harsh world.

Marx said that if we could create a perfect society, these longings would go away. Others, following Freud would say that if we sorted out our sexual life, these longings would disappear.

The projection theory

Just because we have a longing for God to exist, of course, does not mean that God actually exists.

This argument can easily be misleading. Because, on the other hand, just because we long for something to exist, that does not mean that that object automatically doesn't exist. I may long to go to Bahamas, but that doesn't mean that such a place therefore doesn't exist.

The projection theory builds on the presupposition that God does not exist. This was a common opinion among intellectuals in the days of Feuerbach, Marx and Freud.

But they observed a longing in history for something transcendent. However, since there is no God, our longing for God is a hallucination. Therefore, the basis for the projection theory is a circular argument. It says: how can we explain why so many people believe in God when actually there is no God?

On the other hand, if we start by presupposing the existence of God (which has been and still is the dominant view in history), Feuerbach's longing for God not to exist may equally be explained as wishful thinking. He may have reasons to desire that.

Furthermore, if we apply Occam's razor to these two theories, I would argue that the simplest explanation is that just as all other longings, Sehnsucht also has an object. That is easier to assert than to build up complex theories about projection and wishful thinking.

Finally...

Some 2,000 years ago in Palestine Jesus of Nazareth longed for water. He met a woman drawing water from a deep well. They started talking and Jesus said to her: 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'

One of the most basic teachings of Christianity is that God chose to come to where we are. Instead of expecting us to find him, he comes to us.

So why can't we attain this object that we long for, why don't we experience God's presence? The Old Testament says that it is our sins that separate us from God. If humans were meant to relate to God, its not surprising if we are lacking something when apart from God.

But the New Testament opens with the statement that Jesus is the one who has come to take away the sins of the world. That means that we can start a relationship with God again by putting our trust in Jesus. Then God will lead us on ways that are meaningful but seldom comfortable, fulfilling but seldom easy.

Lastly, a point that C.S. Lewis made: The thirst of the traveller in the desert does not mean that she or he will find water. However, does it not mean that the traveller comes from a species that quenches their thirst with water? Similarly, our longing for God does not mean that we will automatically be with God. But I believe it is a sign of a human need for God, and an invitation to relate to God.

I have a wedding ring. My wife has written her name on the inside of the ring. Maybe human longing can be understood in a similar way, it's like a name written on our hearts, and we need to discover to whom it points.