>[!abstract] >_Sehnsucht_ is a German term denoting an intense, often bittersweet longing for something distant, unattainable, or ideal—whether a place, time, person, or state of being. More profound than mere desire, it carries a sense of metaphysical yearning, a homesickness for something beyond concrete experience. In philosophy, literature, and psychology (notably in the works of C.S. Lewis and German Romanticism), _Sehnsucht_ represents the soul’s longing for transcendence or ultimate fulfillment—a feeling both painful and life-affirming. It captures the paradox of human aspiration: the ache for what is absent, yet deeply felt as essential to one’s being. >[!related] >- **North** (upstream): — >- **West** (similar): [[Fernweh]], [[Saudade]] >- **East** (different): — >- **South** (downstream): —