A human being is constantly looking for something and waiting for something. And when he or she finds something, or something expected is realized, it turns out that it is not quite what he or she was looking for. Based on this experience, a conviction comes forth that life is about seeking, not finding. And yet it stands in clear contradiction with the Gospel assurance: “Seek, and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” It is the same with love. We fall in love, but over time the object of our love unfolds a face unknown to us before, and our love dissipates somewhere. Can one comment on this? And must it remain this way?
According to the Rosicrucians, this great urge for seeking, or the constant expectation that results from the painful sense of lack of something essential, comes from the memory of lost perfection speaking in our heart. This memory can be explained by the presence of a relic of immortality in the human heart. Thus: in a mortal man there is an immortal element which feels uncomfortable in this world of the perishable and demands a return to the imperishable. And therefore no achievement acquired in the transient world can satisfy him. He expects only one thing: to recover the long lost state.
Same with love. No mortal can stand up to our ideal. Because our heart demands an ideal, as if it knew that it exists and is somewhere to be found. But not here, where everything must perish sooner or later. So there must be a perfect world somewhere, and that’s what we’re looking for, that’s what we long for. Will this search be crowned with finding? Will our longing be satisfied?
In this context, it is worth quoting a short excerpt from Jan Amos Comenius “Unum necessarium” (The One Thing Necessary)[1]:
Why do we lose heart, thinking that these innate desires for better things will come to nothing, and that the perpetual attempts of men to finally attain their hoped-for success will fail? Indeed, if God and nature make nothing in vain (which the philosophers observe and hold for an infallible axiom), why did it please God to sow such deep-rooted desires in the human heart if he never wished them to be full grown? It is absurd to think this could be true…
This fervent assurance, which meets the longing heart, is very comforting.
[1] Jan Amos Comenius “Unum necessarium” http://moravianarchives.org/images/pdfs/Unum%20Necessarium.pdf
