The practice of attending to what we deeply long for—in civilization, in relationships, in ourselves—as a window into what we actually value and how to allocate our limited energy.
Mirabai's entire spiritual practice was animated by longing—for Krishna, for union, for freedom, for authentic life. Rather than transcending longing, she investigated it ruthlessly. What does my heart actually want? When she could not have what she longed for, longing became the teacher. It revealed what mattered. It stripped away what didn't. In anticipatory grief for civilization, longing operates similarly. We long for a world that may not be available: stable climate, thriving ecosystems, just societies, functional institutions. Rather than suppressing this longing (which creates depression) or endlessly pursuing it in denial (which exhausts us), we can investigate it. What specifically do I long for? What values live in that longing? How might I honor those values in the world that is actually emerging? If I cannot have ecological stability, what can I have? Connection to place. Participation in restoration. Community with others who grieve and work. Mirabai shows that longing, met with honesty rather than either grasping or suppression, becomes a compass. It points toward what deserves our limited energy and love in a time of profound constraint.
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