Never to get lost is not to live, not to know how to get lost brings you to destruction.
Rebecca SolnitRead
We treat desire as a problem to be solved, address what desire is for and focus on that something and how to acquire it rather than on the nature and the sensation of desire, though often it is the desire between us and the object of desire that fills the space in between with the blue of longing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Desire is often viewed as a hindrance rather than an intrinsic part of our experience.
In this quote, Rebecca Solnit reflects on how desire is frequently perceived as a problem that needs to be resolved, rather than a feeling that enriches our understanding of what we truly want. By focusing on the object of our desires and the means to obtain it, we sometimes overlook the significance of the longing itself, which colors our experiences and connects us to our aspirations.
Themes
DesireLongingMotivationAspirationPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of desire in relationships, this quote can highlight the importance of understanding our feelings.
More from Rebecca Solnit
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If sorrow and beauty are all tied up together, then perhaps maturity brings with it not what Nabhan calls abstraction, but an aesthetic sense that partially redeems the losses time brings and finds beauty in the faraway.
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The object we call a book is not the real book, but its potential, like a musical score or seed. It exists fully only in the act of being read; and its real home is inside the head of the reader, where the symphony resounds, the seed germinates. A book is a heart that only beats in the chest of another.
Rebecca SolnitRead
Cities have always offered anonymity, variety, and conjunction, qualities best basked in by walking: one does not have to go into the bakery or the fortune-teller's, only to know that one might. A city always contains more than any inhabitant can know, and a great city always makes the unknown and the possible spurs to the imagination.
Rebecca SolnitRead
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