We long for something deeper; something more, a higher and more noble authenticity. We masquerade in the mask of our wholeness knowing all along that it is but a charade; that we are part of larger whole with whom we yearn to be re-united. A shard of a shattered vessel whose hidden sparks seek to be uplifted and absorbed into the one even as they retain their sacred separate identity. “As the gazelle yearns after the stream of clear water, so does my soul long after you, my God.”
Kalonymous Kalman of Piacezna teaches in his book Holy Fire, “in response to our yearning for God, God longs and draws closer to us.”
However, teaches Kalonymous Kalman, this divine-human parallel is incomplete. At first, God’s closeness to us corresponds only to the measure of our ability to yearn for God and to elicit such closeness. Yet, as we continue to yearn for God, God overwhelms us. The divine yearning is more than just reciprocal. God’s yearning is larger than us. We are unable to contain God’s great yearning for us. Our yearning only begins the process.
The master from Piacezna teaches that longing is the matrix of God’s revelation to us. Our longing for God elicits our ability to experience God’s longing for us. Ultimately, however, God loves us so much, that his yearning and longing for us overcomes and overwhelms even our great yearning for him. Perhaps, the greatest comfort for the one who longs is to know that he is longed for as well and even more than the one for whom he longs.
Dr. Marc Gafni
The Dance of Tears
(in press)