Longing can be enjoyed as an integrated yet mildly self-detaching state

Evidence

MF: But there’s almost a positive side, almost an enjoyment of longing and ache. … JF: Oh yes, where the observer part of you acknowledges an emotional connection with the rest. Simultaneously you feel as though you are very integrated, yet you are being gently pulled away from yourself. Gently disengaged. — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 437

Categorization

• XREF: This splits longing into observer plus felt-tone; echoes the reader’s material on dispassionate witnessing and affect-as-registered-distance. — connects to: Anticipatory dread of loss can coexist with intense present happiness — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 268; Seeking status is a fundamental human desire that never reaches satiation — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 22

Broader Connections

• Anticipatory dread of loss can coexist with intense present happiness #qualifies (0.75) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 268