Anyone who felt nostalgic for a long time knows that the feeling can be compared to imprisonment. Not that I am saying that this is some positive or romantic feeling. I think that it cripples a person’s soul and the ability to live a normal life. It is, as I later realised, a lack of spirituality and faith in God. That is why Solzhenitsyn was often ‘grateful’ for his imprisonment by the Soviets as it helped him awaken his spirituality.
Aesthetics of Longing 