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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate


Registered: 09/20/05
Posts: 8,775
Last seen: 3 days, 14 hours
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Yearning
#27042601 - 11/16/20 05:40 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I find yearning to be a very noble and worthy sentiment. In my mind it's romantically distinguished from lust, desire, frustration, envy, jealousy, ravenousness, gluttony, and other less lofty emotions, although it could be said that it partakes of all of those emotions and others.
I have spent a lot of my life yearning, or trying to cover over the feeling of yearning. I think both covering up and avoiding yearning, and giving in to the sickly sweetness of yearning, can lead to depression, malaise, a kind of spiraling toward darkness and death even as a part of oneself gazes up at the heavens.
In some cultures yearning in the religious sense is revered and children are given the name "yearning", with connotations that it is a yearning for union with or knowledge of the divine.
For brief periods in my life where I felt everything was going pretty well - however one quantifies that - some combination of having certain things one thinks one wants, not noticing aging and illness too much, making mom and dad proud - a part of me missed the deep drama of yearning (which in my case was related to a constellation of phenomena that I've called PTSD, obsessive compulsion, major depression and other names). I can write poetry better when I'm in the space of yearning, as opposed to the space of doing alright, of having enough. I can be more creative - at least I think I can. Maybe I just haven't explored what it'd be likely to have a longer, more permanent and healthier incorporation and transcendence of that way of being - in other words not just regressing back into it as soon as an opportunity (failure, heartbreak, anger, boredom, re-emergence of addictive patterns) presents itself.
Is yearning worthwhile? Is that even an interesting question that's relevant to anything in our shared reality?
What, if anything, is it best to yearn for? A lover, a family, stability, joyous union, the touch of the creative muse, the whisper of the divine in one's ear, the bottom of the ocean, the farthest galaxies?
When do you yearn and why?
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,532
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Re: Yearning [Re: Lion]
#27042684 - 11/16/20 06:28 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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i yearn for awareness of totality, when it's interrupted.
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Yellow Pants


Registered: 05/14/17
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I think of yearning as a compulsion toward something imagined and never was. It’s an excitement of the imagination. Emotional capability mixed with a lack of opportunity.
Because being insensitive doesn’t allow for free flow of the emotion and imagination. And yearning is about a lack of reality.
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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate


Registered: 09/20/05
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Last seen: 3 days, 14 hours
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Quote:
Yellow Pants said: I think of yearning as a compulsion toward something imagined and never was. It’s an excitement of the imagination. Emotional capability mixed with a lack of opportunity.
Because being insensitive doesn’t allow for free flow of the emotion and imagination. And yearning is about a lack of reality.
Well said and interesting reflection. I like this formula, emotional capability mixed with lack of opportunity - imagining worlds that might be - lives for oneself that it seems there's no good reason one shouldn't be living - and yet...
So yearning is poetic but without substance? Is yearning then somehow an inauthentic or lesser emotion in your view?
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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Yellow Pants


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Re: Yearning [Re: Lion] 1
#27043481 - 11/17/20 08:50 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Substance as in a lack of materialism I would say definitely. How can you be in yearning if you actually have it in front of you?
Imo yearning is the concept that encapsulates the condition you are in. Is it lesser to be imaginative and emotional about something you aren’t? I don’t think so you said it yourself that your more creative in such a state.
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,532
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is it not the residue of desire? - the trailing clenching of wanting, or of wanting more when it's gone.
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laughingdog
Stranger

Registered: 03/14/04
Posts: 4,828
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Re: Yearning [Re: Lion] 1
#27043847 - 11/17/20 01:04 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Lion said: I find yearning to be a very noble and worthy sentiment. In my mind it's romantically distinguished from lust, desire, frustration, envy, jealousy, ravenousness, gluttony, and other less lofty emotions, although it could be said that it partakes of all of those emotions and others.
I have spent a lot of my life yearning, or trying to cover over the feeling of yearning....
. I agree its a nice word.
. It may be worth noting however that we all learn to walk and talk without, much thinking about goals; or for that matter any lessons. We see this even more starkly in the case of animals. Many documentaries show baby Zebras ( & so on) standing within minutes or seconds after birth.
. In the case of humans, there is even, the capacity to become bilingual, without any knowledge of grammar, if the exposure to multiple languages happens between birth and age 6, the closer to birth the better. Later in life no matter how great the yearning many of us are simply very poor at acquiring new languages.
. Like wise I have no musical ability at all. Yearning would simply be an exercise in self torture. So while perfecting a skill we do have can feel rewarding, and lead to hours of happiness, but poorly directed desire most likely gets us into trouble, sooner or later.
. So some yearning ok, wisdom more basic.
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Yellow Pants


Registered: 05/14/17
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Quote:
redgreenvines said: is it not the residue of desire? - the trailing clenching of wanting, or of wanting more when it's gone.
Residue? I’m not sure what you mean. I thought desire is also an internal condition where there’s a stimulation of sorts where actuality isn’t providing. Yearning as an extension or residue of that.
Yearning might be associated with something that is understood to be impossible. Desire as something more tangible. Like the past or a imagined state that is perceived to be outside the scope for reality like a late night party with Jenna Jameson when you’re in the mood. It just isn’t going to happen. Good for creative energy maybe not so much if not understood for what it is.
If desire runs out of gas and yet there is still a longing for it when it’s understood to be outside of ones grasp. That’s how I think of it. “Residue” seems to not give it enough credit imo. A yearning has endured.
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Rahz
Alive Again



Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,230
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Yearning seems sad.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate


Registered: 09/20/05
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Re: Yearning [Re: Rahz]
#27043942 - 11/17/20 02:12 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rahz said: Yearning seems sad.
I think yearning has several qualities constellated around it, most or all of which must be in play for it be yearning. Sadness is one of them.
But as I said in my original post, yearning in some cultures is associated with religiosity, devotion, and nobility - so it's like the emotional vehicle one uses to transcend one's latent, self-associated sadness (my sadness, my failures, the cruel way the world has treated me). Also, whereas sadness feels heavy and is associated with pulling or weighing one down, yearning in my mind is something that's alive, buoyant, like a valence of energy pulling one psychologically and emotionally toward the object of yearning.
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate


Registered: 09/20/05
Posts: 8,775
Last seen: 3 days, 14 hours
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Re: Yearning *DELETED* [Re: Lion]
#27043974 - 11/17/20 02:33 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Post deleted by Lion
Reason for deletion: .
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,532
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Re: Yearning [Re: Lion] 1
#27044527 - 11/17/20 08:13 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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romanticism is full of that residue of desire. yearning fits romanticism to a T, in any culture.
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sudly
Darwin's stagger

Registered: 01/05/15
Posts: 10,798
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Re: Yearning [Re: Lion] 1
#27048273 - 11/20/20 01:53 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
lion said: I can write poetry better when I'm in the space of yearning, as opposed to the space of doing alright, of having enough. I can be more creative - at least I think I can. Maybe I just haven't explored what it'd be likely to have a longer, more permanent and healthier incorporation and transcendence of that way of being - in other words not just regressing back into it as soon as an opportunity (failure, heartbreak, anger, boredom, re-emergence of addictive patterns) presents itself.
I yearn for accrued knowledge. I yearn for aesthetic pleasure in my backyard. I yearn for crisp sweet potato slices and teriyaki drumsticks.
I yearn for what my impulses are.
I yearn because I want to improve the efficiency of the task at hand. I want more space in my garden, free from tall weeds. I want teriyaki chicken to fill me for the night, I want to accrue my knowledge of plants to assist in the efficiency of my coworkers work.
What is best to yearn for? I think it's what ever is plausible, whatever you know how to do. Whatever you believe you can learn to know how to do. You can yearn for things that are completely possible to do.
Sometimes when something is completely possible to do, it is doubted, unbelieved, not thought of as possible to do.
We make it work. We make it well, we make the things we yearn for if we initiate our chase, prepare for the challenge ahead, finalise the task, and patiently wait for accomplishment.
-------------------- I am whatever Darwin needs me to be.
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,532
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Re: Yearning [Re: sudly] 1
#27048366 - 11/20/20 05:10 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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best to unyearn and be calm
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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate


Registered: 09/20/05
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Last seen: 3 days, 14 hours
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Quote:
redgreenvines said: best to unyearn and be calm
Do you prefer unyearn rings or fries as a side?
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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Rahz
Alive Again



Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,230
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Re: Yearning [Re: Lion] 1
#27048573 - 11/20/20 08:52 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Lion said:
Quote:
Rahz said: Yearning seems sad.
I think yearning has several qualities constellated around it, most or all of which must be in play for it be yearning. Sadness is one of them.
But as I said in my original post, yearning in some cultures is associated with religiosity, devotion, and nobility - so it's like the emotional vehicle one uses to transcend one's latent, self-associated sadness (my sadness, my failures, the cruel way the world has treated me). Also, whereas sadness feels heavy and is associated with pulling or weighing one down, yearning in my mind is something that's alive, buoyant, like a valence of energy pulling one psychologically and emotionally toward the object of yearning.
I agree it's not a simple feeling. I don't have religious yearnings, though I do yearn and don't consider sadness an entirely negative emotion, at least not usually existing in a vacuum so yes yearning contains a component of hope and is not just sad.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,532
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Re: Yearning [Re: Lion] 1
#27048654 - 11/20/20 09:48 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Lion said:
Quote:
redgreenvines said: best to unyearn and be calm
Do you prefer unyearn rings or fries as a side?
I am very fussy about fried food oils, but I do fry using olive oil and I love potatoes and unyearns fried, battered, salted and any bliss you wish.
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Grapefruit
Freak in the forest


Registered: 05/09/08
Posts: 5,744
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Re: Yearning [Re: Lion]
#27048854 - 11/20/20 12:08 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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My opinion on yearning is that it's a waste of time that can lead to truth. Like picasso said art is a lie that can help you see truth or something like that.
Basically I think it's a lie because you would grow at a faster pace if you just resign control and realise there's really no end to this shit. One more enlightenment just leaves you hankering for another and if there is a final one it's just the being able to come to the feeling that you're already fine and able to walk the tight rope that we call life, that's faith.
Also yearning can lead to some pretty bad places and extra cognitive dissonance imo. So while I can understand the beauty in it and so on it's not for me.
But I'm not one to tell another man what's valuable. We're all in very different circumstances as well as paradoxically being in circumstances that are very alike.
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Here's something for you though Lion.
From Max Coopers album, "Yearning for the infinite"
Went to see this live at the Barbican in London and it was the best concert I've ever been to, they projected 3d procedurally generated visual in a panorama right across the stage and walls of the building, never seen anything quite alike.
-------------------- Little left in the way of energy; or the way of love, yet happy to entertain myself playing mental games with the rest of you freaks until the rivers run backwards. "Chat your fraff Chat your fraff Just chat your fraff Chat your fraff"
Edited by Grapefruit (11/20/20 12:17 PM)
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