A Brief History of Want: Longing and Its Place in Cosmos and Consciousness

Human beings have a complicated relationship with want. For some traditions, desire, want, or longing sits right at the heart of creation itself, providing the spark that sets the universe in motion, and is inherent to what it means to be human. Yet unchecked want has also resulted in untold suffering for people and planet. Renunciate traditions have put forth practices and philosophies designed to get rid of the want altogether. But is getting rid of want even possible? Is longing inextricably part of the fabric of reality, and to deny it is to deny existence itself? In times like these when we face unprecedented global crises, perhaps we need to harness this primal want in service of life and nature rather than deny it. In this episode we follow the fascinating history of one Sanskrit word — Kāma, desire, longing — in order to shed light on humanity's intricate relationship with want, ultimately finding ourselves at the feet of the Goddess of Longing herself, whose temple and traditions speak to a universe that is built upon a deep substrate of longing, and who encourages us to harness longing rather than deny it. Support the show