"Nature will not permit a vacuum. It will be filled with something. Human need is really a great spiritual vacuum which God seeks to fill..." George Washington Carver

We are all daily employed in filling the vacuums of human need. It drives us to fill our stomachs with food and drink, to fill our world with relationships, and our minds with a steady stream of information.

We seem compelled to continually fill the envelope of our time. We say we long for time to do nothing, and yet the vacuum must be filled and alas, if we are not doing every minute, we believe we are wasting that commodity. How about drawers, pockets and purses? They never stay empty for long, no matter how often we purge them. They refill seemingly without our assistance!

We cannot tolerate a half-filled cup of coffee or tea. On the road, if we spot an open space up ahead, we maneuver our vehicle to fill it. Flower beds, bookshelves, cabinets and those empty spaces deep within us, all seem to call out to be filled. On and on it goes. What needs or desires in your life are you seeking to fulfill? What spaces are you longing to fill?

It is very interesting however that filling is often not enough. It seems we frequently approach the state of true satisfaction only when we experience abundance, overflow. It is in our nature not only to desire simple satisfaction, the simple gratification of desires and appetites, ful-fill-ment, but then to desire the next step - overflow. Perhaps because we have all experienced deep lack, gaping holes, in our lives, we feel we need the extra security of over-fill.

Empty spaces are often referred to as aching voids. Ponder that term for a moment - it is rich in meaning. If you have ever had a tooth pulled and experienced the painful condition called dry-socket, you can fully grasp the meaning of the expression. Nature will not permit a vacuum. Consequently, the vacuum state is an exceedingly uncomfortable one at best - it is the state of being un-ful-filled.

Vessels want filling and we are all vessels, which explains our nature as desirous beings. Desire is simply a longing to be filled in one area or another. A synonym for desire is craving, which really takes it to the next level of desire. Craving is an overpowering drive, often moving one to actions they would not consider under normal circumstances.

Why does it seem we are never satisfied, always seeking over-filling, over-abundance, excess? Michael Taber of the Philosophy and Religious Studies department of St. Mary's College, Maryland suggests that "the loss of engagement constituted by the loss of pursuit can be saddening."1 Simply put, perhaps we derive our real satisfaction from the pursuit itself and when we are actually filled is when we become dissatisfied and begin the process of engaging once again in the pursuit.

Can you see how this two-edged sword is the beginning of a cycle of misery which takes us to what James says about desire in his letter? This cycle leads to lust, which is nothing more than sickened, unhealthy desire.

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