THE VALUE OF YOUR LONGING AND BELONGING
By Arthur Chang
Poet David Whyte remarked, “Longing is the
transfiguration of aloneness.” It is said that mastering the art of being alone
means acknowledging the longing for connection. This is the need to belong to a
larger group. To do this we must then orient ourselves to our central yearning—the
connection, while developing the greater gentleness and less judgement that
makes this possible.
Humans tend to live isolated, fragmented lives,
without realizing how vital it is for our longing to take us out of our
solitary cocoon to develop the butterfly evolution of our person-hood. Our longing allows us to connect with others
in the world with a sense of love and meaning. Our longing forms, for our
isolated selves, a bridge between our longing and belonging. We will bring into
the self from the world out there, a greater connection with the whole and a
sense of belonging that transforms us. This vital activity heals the hunger of
the heart by providing the antidote to aloneness, which wreaks havoc on the
healthy development of our heart by stunting its growth into full human hood.
When we fail to reach out, we are prone to diseases,
intolerable of differences, impatient with the pace of growth, finally losing
the eternal values of love, kindness, patience, flexibility and goodness. In as
much as we live isolated lives, we desire to be relational in this relational
world. The creative tension between our longing and belonging will provide just
this.
Blessing
May you master the art of being alone by acknowledging
your longing for connection to the larger world. May your then experience a
deeper sense of belonging to the world in which you live.
