Ben,

Consider the interplay between that appetite and desire bubbling up, like a child exploring its environment. Then the forms it finds, like words, objects, relationships, etc, to define and order that world. One pushing out, the other coalescing in.

Then when it finds more forms that it fully has the ability, even the curiosity, to explore, stretching off over the horizon. So then it sits back and tries to map out what if knows, yet which then seems arbitrary in retrospect. Everything not only ties together, towards that infinity, but often things cancel out, like opposite sides of political debates.

So there are a couple of dichotomies at work; First the impulses and desires pushing out, like a fire seeking fuel. Then the limits pushing in, even the crusts of what has been consumed, eventually canceling out. Which is the dichotomy of infinity and absolute. That horizon line that goes on forever, such that even the most monumental features fade to insignificance, like Mount Everest, compared to the distance to Alpha Centuri. Versus the fact that everything cancels out. The ups and the downs balance. The positives and the negatives equal zero. The eye of the black hole at the center of the galaxy, where all form is reduced to nothing and all energy is radiated back out.

So that energy pushes toward infinity, until it tires, leaving the shell of its final cresting wave of frequency and amplitude. Which then falls back in.

So not only are we pulled in both directions, but even rejecting it is a consequence, of tiring and turning inward. The grass becomes the concrete.

Life and reality are implacable. Meaning is irrelevant. It is nothing more than a tantrum over what is not ours.

What matters is that healthy relationship between the emotions driving you on and the paths and patterns it takes on. Like riding a wave. Though the way to improve and grow is to take on as much as you are willing and able.

Given humanity seems heading towards some form of breaking point, it becomes a fork in the road. Do we just focus on how to personally survive, or how does the larger system and organism get beyond this current test.

The middle road is the one where many people will try. Getting their particular tribe ahead of the other tribes. That though, is becoming part of the problem, as humanity starts to run low on more space and resources to grow externally. Colonizing space and mining astroids has limited potential. We have to learn to grow as beings and societies, rather than just push the technologies a little further, or fight among ourselves.