On Passion

I hope to later add to this post, but as I haven't written now for awhile, I will begin my exploration of a new topic, although it will be fairly incomplete.

I have recently been considering the meaning of "passion". Not so much it's literal meaning (which, in it's most basic form simply means "a strong feeling or emotion") but the concept of living a life full of passion or having a relationship full of passion. Being drawn to this kind of idea, to living a passionate life, and often not feeling the level of passion i wish to, i have been considering that like many ideas i have explored in the past few years, perhaps my notions of passion as being a desirable state of being are a bit off. So, to start this exploration, I will quote a passage from the book I am currently reading: Magister Ludi by Hermann Hesse. Here is Hesse's insight:

"...[A]re not those who have such strong preferences and aversions simply more passionate natures, others just more sober and temperate?"

"'That seems to be true and yet it is not,' the Master replied, laughing. 'To be capable of everything and do justice to everything, one certainly does not need less spiritual force and elan and warmth, but more. What you call passion is not spiritual force, but friction between the soul and the outside world. Where passion dominates, that does not signify the presence of greater desire and ambition, but rather the misdirection of these qualities toward an isolated and false goal, with a consequent tension and sultriness in the atmosphere. Those who direct the maximum force of their desires toward the center, toward true being, toward perfection, seem quieter than the passionate souls because the flame of their fervor cannot always be seen. In argument, for example, they will not shout and wave their arms. But I assure you, they are nevertheless burning with subdued fires'"(69).

I think for the moment, I'm just gonna put this out there without personal commentary or interpretation as I feel I need more meditation on the concepts presented here. I would love some dialogue on the subject, so please comment if you feel compelled.

I suppose where this question really hits the spot for me is in the context of devotion. Passion is often a inward and outward display of devotion. What would a devotion look like that was built upon what Hesse is describing as "pure being"? And, suggesting that passion might be feeble grounds upon which to test the purity of devotion (as it is an extreme of feeling and therefore possibly falsifiable) how would one weed the need to feel extremes out of one's natural inclinations? For example, if you feel loved when someone acts passionately towards you, how then would you retrain yourself to feel loved in the absence of extreme emotion?

and that's it for tonight...