Google, the Internet Company is famous for its single-line web page. Compare this against Yahoo or other web pages that existed before. Yet, Google got us because of its simple understanding of humans.
It boils down to what humans do in life. Search. We search for information, knowledge, wisdom, and answers. That is how simple life is, when understood.
We have seen the power of the ‘search’ – science, technology, and industry have made progress through generations. Yet, they fall short – there are limitations of their use and utility; the simple reason is that they are mere applications or tools.
Information is a tool. Internet is a tool. They are like knives – knives can cut a vegetable or a body part. They can be destructive or constructive. In simple terms, it is how and for what we use them.
To use them, we need to have purpose. The purpose is transactional, where we need information to complete the transaction. Search is the fundamental way one gains knowledge. Search is the foundation of materialistic knowledge.
Yet, there are other purposes these tools don’t serve when we all do one thing – seek.
Seeking is about finding answers beyond the transactions – it is a process of finding answers for rational questions beyond the realm of materialism and crosses over into abstract layers of the human mind. The conflict between searching for answers vs seeking faith is what has torn apart the human mind.
The abstract realms of our mind cover matters of identity, context, and faith. Those answers lie within us. Seeking is an essential process to establish our bearings and navigate through the ocean of life.
Art and humanities are the expressions of these questions and answers – where things are sought than searched. When you seek, you create. And what you create, is your own. In the process, you are ‘enlightened’ and gain ‘wisdom’. Because, wisdom is beyond knowledge – where one applies abstract elements including context.
Creators don’t need to search – their answers come from their seeking. Scientists, on the other hand, need to search. Search is materialistic, seeking is spiritual. Searching means knowing what you are looking for, seeking is open-ended.
The approach to ‘seeking’ is that of a student. A student learns through seeking. Seeking almost needs masters. The Masters are already there – they have nothing to prove, but everything to give. When the student is ready, the master shall arrive – A Chinese saying goes.
That is why materialistic elements, including technology and their knowledge about them, is transient – what you know today is outdated tomorrow, and you need to unlearn and learn, On the other hand, wisdom, driven by the abstract elements of the human mind, is sought. The end goal of seeking is enlightenment, and the learnings are permanent – basically, it takes the seeker to the truth that already exists in the universe.
The Masters are enlightened people and what they will share with the seeker is a timeless truth. The truth comes in the form of art – poetry, philosophy, literature, paintings, songs, and notes.
While humans are exploring and expanding the knowledge of the ‘universe’ – the macro elements or exploring smaller elements of the atom, the answers to some of the questions that have stood the test of time – our identity and purpose especially, like in the realm of timeless truth. Why?
While the known answer is that identity and purpose are absolute – as in absolute to the individual. All souls are the same, yet they are not identical. Each soul has a purpose, and the purpose is revealed in the individual’s life’s context. Hence, the duality of absoluteness yet being contextual is the ultimate search that each human shall endeavour to achieve – and the answer to that is what we call as enlightenment or the individual’s ‘calling.’
Of course, when the arts try to answer scientific questions, we see there is an inevitable backlash. This is bound to happen, as science tries to find the absolute truth – the greatest mystery which is the unified theory of the universe. Yet, the duality of this universe is acknowledged by science – waves and particles, energy and matter, for example. Science also has acknowledged that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only transformed. Yet, the knowledge that matter and energy are two aspects of universe, is the timeless truth. That postulate is here to stay.
So each one of us is a scientist and a seeker. My seeking started with my writing, and that is the path I embarked upon. Here is my example.
I am a poet and an author. I also write poetry reviews. When I connected with Desiree Driesenaar or Elizabeth Urabe, Shweta Joshi, or Sakshi Arora, it was to seek answers to certain questions I had – as I write my reviews on certain topics. The answers lie in their verses. Their verses talk to me, giving me the answers I seek. I cannot google this information. It is beyond the realm of scientific search.
Poems are spiritual signatures, like other forms of art. When I read and try to understand them, I exchange spiritual messages with the Poets, and the answers I get, enhance my wisdom than knowledge. So the Poets are my spiritual gurus in some sense.
If I were to google ‘how to cut a vegetable with a knife’, that is knowledge. The information enables me to complete the transaction, and I get cut vegetables.
For searching, embrace Google. For seeking, look within. Or read poems or visualize paintings. Like that of Elizabeth Urabe or Desiree Driesenaar. Or like Shweta Joshi or Sakshi Arora.
That is how I found BizCatalyst 360° – I sought, I got. The discoveries of the poems or the 360° platform are not ‘knowledge’ but are elements of the wisdom I have sought.
So here I am. Writing my first article on and for the platform BizCatalyst 360°. Thank you, Dennis, for the great opportunity.
