Human longing isn't the problem, the speaker says, but where it points. Aim it at God and you get peace and purpose. Aim it at a spouse or career and you get jealousy, control, and restlessness instead.
Finding your true purpose can only be found in God. The capacity to long for something, to be moved by something, to give your whole self to something, that capacity isn't broken. It's actually working if you think about it. It's working exactly as God designed it. The problem isn't that you long too much. The problem is where the longing is pointed. One of the early teachers in that tradition put it like this, and I'm going to say it in our language so that we can understand it better, not his. He said that the same capacity for love that pointed toward God produces life and peace when it gets pointed somewhere it was never meant to land. It produces something that looks like hatred toward others, toward yourself, toward the very thing you gave yourself to. Have you ever noticed that how the same intensity that makes someone a devoted spouse can also make them a jealous, controlling one? How the same drive, that same drive, that same Passion makes someone excellent at their job, can also make them someone who can't sit still, can't rest, can't be present with their own kids. Same capacity now, but different aim.
