Augustine believes in desire. The "restless heart" is what moves us to search for a god to fill us. Don't I know that desire, and I know it is a good thing, almost scary in its power, but making one feel alive. I instinctively know that desire needs to be purified, humbled, so that it forms me to follow the right path to God. But it shouldn't be extinguished."As suggested by the opening lines of the Confessions, Augustine is in no doubt about the importance of the gift of a restless heart. For him, it opens the path of desire that alone can lead both to self-understanding and to God. As the above suggests, it is a path trodden only by those who are humble." "The Phenomene Erotique: Augustinian Resonances in Marion's Phenomenlogy," Eoin Cassidy, in Givenness and God - Questions of Jean Luc Marion, p. 205.
Humility is openness to the good of the other in desire, the tempering of that desire by the good. This "openness" to the good of the other is a "distance" that helps our focus -- allows us to actually see that good and to receive it as a gift. The benevolence of love is thus closely connected to grace and giftedness, which is what desire seeks.
"[A] core feature of the Christian understanding [is] that all love is first and foremost received as a gift. [] 'This is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God's love for us.' 1John4:8-10. The gift of love enables us to love." Ibid, p. 218.
Openness to the good of another in desire -- goodness being so closely connected with God -- delights and excites desire. Love brings about more love. "Desire grows in and through the gift of God's love -- a gift that instills delight and engenders desire. Likewise, friendship is seen in the context of a gift that awakens desire." Ibid.
Bottom line: In desire humbly seek the good of the other to gain your heart's desire.
Listen to "Under Your Spell" by Desire.
Listen to "Colorless Sky" by Desire.
Listen to "From a Distance" by Bette Midler
Listen to "The Rose" by Bette Midler
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