The Greatest Longing

The Greatest Longing is an opportunity, through poetry of the sacred, to consider the strangely odd and radical claims of Christian faith that God is "pazzo de'Amore," crazy and madly in love with each human person who has ever existed, past and present, and what such divine compassion means for our lives now, and our destinies forever. It is in the infinite ocean of God's love that we ask the great questions. Poetry can be a call to our sacred roots and values, our experience of epiphanies in the experiences of everyday, "ordinary" living. The Greatest Longing is a collection that affirms that truth, the good, beauty, and love are sacred, godly, and real beyond the "tyranny of relativism," de facto atheism and its dogmatic materialism, and the ideologies of nihilism of this age. Poetry of the sacred is a call and reminder that we are both dust and divinized beings all the days of our lives, beings with transient desires, but with an ultimate yearning, the greatest longing possible.

Of the tens of billions of humans who have ever lived, what has been their "greatest longing"? Beyond immediate gratification of transient desires, what have we most yearned for in our lives? What is our fundamental soul-ache, our most profound and simple need? Happiness? Peace? Power? Meaning? Purpose? Love? Belonging? Significance? Bliss? The Greatest Longing is an opportunity, through poetry of the sacred, to consider the strangely odd and radical claims of Christian faith that God is "pazzo de'Amore," crazy and madly in love with each human person who has ever existed, past and present, and what such divine compassion means for our lives now, and our destinies forever. It is in the infinite ocean of God's love that we ask the great questions. Poetry can be a call to our sacred roots and values, our experience of epiphanies in the experiences of everyday, "ordinary" living. The Greatest Longing is a collection that affirms that truth, the good, beauty, and love are sacred, godly, and real beyond the "tyranny of relativism," de facto atheism and its dogmatic materialism, and the ideologies of nihilism of this age. Poetry of the sacred is a call and reminder that we are both dust and divinized beings all the days of our lives, beings with transient desires, but with an ultimate yearning, the greatest longing possible.

Dr. Alan Altany has B.A. and M.A. degrees in Catholic theology, and a Ph.D. in religious studies. In his old age, he continues to teach college students (Comparative Religions) and to write poetry. He has also written two novels dealing with spiritual quest and Christian mysticism. His writing is done with the always nearby companionship of his golden retriever, Zeke, whose life of love and play reminds Dr. Altany that love and bliss are our purpose and destiny.