It is my belief that the human propensity for growth and development is at the root of all of these. As a person advances in years, progress is inevitably made in temporal things. This is natural. A person will get taller, more intelligent, more skilled, more worldly, and so on. Perhaps this progress in temporal things is equivocated by a desire to progress spiritually as well, which is a different matter. One can grow to a certain height, amass a certain amount of knowledge, be able to do things he could not before, and see whole new layers of the world around him. But is he satisfied? In other words, is his spirit quenched?
The human spirit is restless. It is a clock that keeps ticking. The hour hand may reach twelve o'clock, but it continues on, never settling, forcing us to continue a relentless search for the means of stopping time. Of course this is futile. We may progress to one o'clock, five o'clock, nine o'clock, but we will soon be taken back to twelve o'clock, feeling as if we have made no progress spiritually. We may, however, have made progress temporally, and this feeds our spiritual dissatisfaction, for, if we have done this and done that, why are we still unfulfilled? Why is there still so much to do, and was recognizable progress really even made from a given point?
Naturally occurring temporal progress breeds the expectation of commensurate spiritual progress, which is not always the reality of things. The subsequent sense of longing, desire, unsettlement, emptiness, and frustration is, in my opinion, what breeds passion. It is, if I may be so cliché, the fuel that ignites the flame, the spark that revives the dying heart. Someone who is passionate about something, whether it be a form of art, knowledge, a hobby, or another person, is always searching for something. The parent puts aside her own life for her child because she is searching for any opportunity to assist her child, and she will never complete this search because the desire of spirit for her child's happiness has no boundaries. The musician or athlete practices for hours because she is searching for an unreachable higher plane, and, though temporal progress will be made, she will continue searching because the spirit knows that there is always more. Someone who is in love bends over backwards for another person because he is searching for reciprocal love, and even when he may receive that love he continues to bend over backwards because the spirit knows that love is endless.
Once the spirit stops searching, passion ceases to exist. Though we may often be frustrated with aspects with our lives, it must be considered that, without such a yearning for abstract progress, life would be meaningless. The world would be a stagnant cesspool. The greatest works of art and literature, the most olympian feats of human effort, the greatest triumphs of human love and intellect, the religions of the world, and so on would not have ever come to fruition. The "human" aspect of the "human race" would not exist. Dissatisfaction, spiritual emptiness, and frustration may not be the most pleasant of feelings, but without them, the essence of life would be lost. Life must not be based alone on such feelings, for one will lead a miserable existence. However, without them to balance everything out, misery will nonetheless be the result.
