A video went quite viral recently. It showed a solitary penguin heading neither to its colony to procreate, nor to the sea for its sustenance; but straight to certain death in the mountains. “But why?” asks the perplexed narrator in the video, along with millions of equally perplexed viewers on X. People then proceeded to interpret the penguin’s quest in a variety of ways. Some deemed it depressed. Others heroic. Yet others pretentiously accused everyone else of anthropocentrism. Whatever one may make of the penguin, its quest certainly speaks to us. It speaks to something within us that is deeply human.
But what is it? What is the nerve in us that resonates with a creature waddling away from everything that constitutes ordinary flourishing toward something unnamed and unreachable? For Levinas, the name of this nerve is metaphysical desire. Unlike ordinary desire, which springs from a felt lack in the self and aims at a specific, consumable other, which when obtained quenches the longing; the metaphysical desire neither arises from lack nor aims at anything that can be possessed or consumed. Rather, it springs from the plentitude of the human heart, carved on which seems to be an infinitesimal trace of the Infinite, and then moves, beyond all satisfaction, with an intensity which increases perpetually.
The Eyes sought to see, even as they saw
As this cold heart warmed it beat even more
Just wanted to post this neat little note.
Will talk more about this idea in subsequent posts.
Ciao!