In Chassidut the notion of longing became essential to the Chassidic understanding of the universe. For my teacher Mordecai Lanier, Teshuka, meaning innermost desire, is the most important spiritual guide. In contradistinction to Jewish moments of piety, which tried to use the mind and will to overcome desire, the master of Izbica teaches that stripping away the superficialities to access the innermost desire of our souls is ultimately the only reliable guide on our spiritual path.
Taking this one step further, the great teacher of both non duality and God in the second person, Levi Isaac of Berdichev, teaches that not only is holy yearning a spiritual guide, but all yearning, all desires, are spiritual guides, for in the end, all yearning is really yearning for the one. All roads seek to bring us back to our source. To our highest integration and one-ness. And even when on the face of it our innermost desires seem to be for that which is base and not yet holy, a deeper reading of the script of our lives will reveal that in fact, whenever we kneel, we are always on our knees to God. Whenever we yearn we are ultimately yearning for integration, for one-ness, for divinity.
Dr. Marc Gafni
from: The Dance of Tears
(in press)