The structures of our world bring the architecture of belonging to expression. In order to be, we need to belong. At work or among people, your social mask is on. When you come home, you are back where you belong, in your safe, sheltering space. Outside in the world you have to temper your longing and obey convention. When you come back home, you can relax and be yourself. This recognition is caught in the old phrase “A man’s home is his castle.” At an exhibition in London some years ago, there was a minimalist Zen painting suggestive of great presence and shelter. Over the painting was the caption “All the holy man needs is a shelter over his head.” The shelter of home liberates creativity and spirituality. When a person has lived in institutional spaces, there is great joy in privacy and celebration in the shelter of belonging. In a world where privacy is being eradicated, it is wonderful that we still have the shelter of our own homes, though modern technology has punctured that privacy.
All belonging is an extension of the first and closest belonging of living in your own body. The body is a home which shelters you. All other forms of belonging continue this first belonging. You can see this continuity of belonging in the rooms you inhabit, the places you live, the office, the church, the shop, the pub, etc. Each one of these spaces presents a different style of presence in the diverse architecture of belonging through which our lives move. A different level of belonging is offered and required in each of these spaces. Different longings are met and mirrored in each of these different spaces. You always live in a space that frames your belonging but is yet unable to fully reflect your longing. This ambivalence gives such vitality and passion to human presence.
In the Heart, the Ache of Longing
The human heart is never still. There is a divine restlessness in each of us which creates a continual state of longing. You are never quite at one with yourself, and the self is never fixed. There are always new thoughts and experiences emerging in your life; some moments delight and surprise you, others bring you onto shaky ground. On the outside, your body looks the same. Your behaviour, work, home, and circle of friends remain consistent and predictable. Yet behind this outer façade, another life is going on in you. The mind and heart are wanderers who are always tempted by new horizons. Your life belongs in a visible, outer consistency; your inner life is nomadic. Hegel says, “just this unrest that is the Self.” Your longing frequently takes you on inner voyages that no one would ever guess. Longing is the deepest and most ancient voice in the human soul. It is the secret source of all presence, and the driving force of all creativity and imagination: longing keeps the door open and calls towards us the gifts and blessings which our lives dream.
Longing belongs to the word family associated with the word “long”; it suggests either a spatial measurement or a temporal duration. The crucial point here is that longing is a quality of desire which distance or duration evokes. In other words, your longing reaches out into the distance to unite you with whatever or whomsoever your heart desires. Longing awakens when there is a feeling that someone or something is away from you. It is interesting that the word “desire” comes from the Latin “desiderare,” which originally meant “to cease to see.” This suggested a sense of absence and the desire to seek and find the absent one. Another possible root of “desire” is “de-sidus,” “away from a star.” When you are in a state of desire, you are away from your star. Your heart yearns for the light and luminosity that are now absent. While we are in the world, a large area of the heart is always in exile. This is why we are suffused with longing. Deep down, we desire to come back into the intimate unity of belonging.
Celebration: When the Moment Blossoms
Celebration is one of the most intense and delightful forms of human presence. It is lovely to be able to celebrate. Some people never celebrate anything. They have no time. Others are too serious ever to think of celebrating. Some feel there is nothing to celebrate. Such people are prisoners who slog away in a secure and predictable routine. There are few surprises, and no surprise is allowed to interfere with the onerous burden of endurance and commitment. There is no time out for play or devilment. Other people are wonderful at celebrating. Even a small event can be an excuse for a celebration. There is a sense of joy and happiness in celebration. It is interesting that sadness generally drives us towards solitude, whereas joy draws us together in celebration. Nothing does your heart so much good as real celebration. Laughter loosens all the tension in you. When you dance and sing, your soul lifts and the lovely light of the eternal lifts you to a new lightness. Hegel said something fascinating about the True as a passionate festivaclass="underline" “The True is thus the Bacchanalian revel in which no member is not drunk; yet because each member collapses as soon as he drops out, the revel is just as much transparent as simple repose.”
When we celebrate, we joyfully acknowledge and recognize the presence of some person, thing, or achievement that delights us. The desire to celebrate is the longing to enter more deeply into the mystery of actuality. Longing is no longer directed away towards an anticipated future. Now, the present moment has blossomed. You really want what you have. You know the blessings and gifts that are around you. Celebration is an attentive and gracious joy of presence. When you celebrate, you are taking time to recognize, to open your eyes and behold in your life the quiet miracles and gifts that seek no attention; yet each day they nourish, shelter, and animate your life. The art of belonging in, with, and to your self is what gives life and light to your presence; it brings a radiance to your countenance and a poise to your carriage. When your heart is content, your life can always find the path inwards to this deep stillness in you. Rilke said this beautifully: “Hier zu sein ist so viel,” i.e., To be here is so much. Real celebration is the opposite of contemporary consumerism. In fact, consumerism gradually kills both the desire and the capacity to celebrate. The turbo motor within the consumerist spirit ensures that enough is never, ever enough. The mind becomes slow and heavy; the effort to think differently is too demanding; the least stir in that direction already has us out of breath. Our minds have become obese.
Functionalism Kills Presence
Some forms of technology extend human presence over great distance and bring the absent one nearer; the telephone and fax machine do this. Most technology, however, attempts to explain life in terms of function. Increasingly, when we approach something new our first question is never about the surprise of the thing but about how it functions. Our culture is saturated with information, which stubbornly refuses to come alive with understanding. The more we become immersed in technology, the more difficult it is to be patient with the natural unevenness and unpredictability of living. We learn to close ourselves off, and we think of our souls and minds no longer as presence but more in terms of apparatus and function. Functionalist thinking impoverishes presence. The functionalist mind is committed to maintenance and efficiency. The priority is that things continue to work. You can often experience this in your professional life. You are called to the director’s office for a chat. Whether you are to be promoted or demoted, you feel you are not being seen. What is at stake is what the system either can get out of you or no longer wants from you. If you have staked your identity on belonging to that system, you are now in deep trouble. There are so many disappointed people within companies and corporations and public-service jobs, people who were once idealistic, but then reached the threshold of recognition where they discovered they were being treated as mere functionaries. They then lost confidence and belief in themselves.