ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book emphasises the importance of metaphysical desire in living the Christian life and agrees with all those Biblical writers, contemplatives and theologians who have persuaded others that this is at the core of religious endeavour and progress. It outlines how metaphysical desire is a movement towards transcendence and definitive, immortal quies (rest) away from the anxiety-fuelled vicissitudes of finite existence, prescient at a time when the West is suffering from a mental health crisis. The book focuses on analogies between sexual desire and metaphysical desire pointing to their differences and similarities in the hope that readers will appreciate them more fully for what they might offer humanity's striving for fulfilment. Influential monastics, theologians and philosophers ranging from Plato to Varden have shed light on the constituencies and dynamics of longing and desire.
