On the desire for the unknown

“Nothing in the world is more exciting than a moment of sudden discovery or invention, and many more people are capable of experiencing such moments than is sometimes thought.”- Bertrand Russell - Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1950

9 Oct 2016. Munich, Germany, in the airport. Thinking about things past and present. Putting thoughts to feelings and feelings into thoughts.

I’m remembering a topic I’ve written down a few times in my Iphone notes under “List for Blog”, a collection of random musings I wanted to delve deeper into at some point (and the reason this blog came to life). So here we are.

The set of questions can be summarized as: “ What’s in our desire for the unknown?”

What draws us to the unknown, powered by a curiosity to discover it and make it our own, turning it into the “familiar”? And once we discover it, does the mystery fade? Do we lose interested and go to the next unknown, in a constant cycle of revelations? If we do, is this normal? Do we always seek things / people we cannot have? And once we conquer these peaks, are we too focused on the next step that we fail to appreciate what we have around us?

I’m thinking of the unknown as closely tied to curiosity, which is a form of intrinsic motivation. We’re motivated by things we desire. We elevate them to a higher level and they excite us.  

There’s mystery involved – oh, the beauty of mystery…aren’t we all fascinated by mysteries? Maybe because they point out to a higher level of understanding that we cannot yet reach but seek to grasp. The constant quest of discovery... and the concurrent attempt to keep the mystery alive. A paradox.

But once the unknown becomes known, does the mystery fade away turning into a pale reminder of something that was bright and exciting? Do we lose interested and skip to the next hidden corner?  

Maybe we’re fascinated. Maybe we’re just infatuated…

When I was younger, I used to think of life as being very much black and white, simple, with clear choices and binary answers. But as I grew up and was faced with the complexities of human life, I learned that it’s all in the millions and billions of nuances.

Ultimately however, sifting through the nuances, there’s one thing that comes clear: truth is still truth. And one should guide oneself by that. What is in accordance to how it should be is right and true.  

I shared the following sentence with someone recently, reflecting on a day I spent by myself, thinking: life is made up of complex feelings and simple moments, each of which should be lived in synchronicity with who you truly are and how you feel.

So I don’t really have an answer to the question of the unknown and what comes after. I think it’s a constant quest. Unveiling the mysteries around us without crushing them. Contributing to growing them. Revel in the joy that comes with meeting new people, in discovering the “other” and in sharing our own piece of mystery. And not losing the curiosity that’s in us, the one we were born with, the one that made us discover the world as a child. There are billions of mysteries out there. Let's give them a chance.

PS: for a reading on mystery and knowledge, I recommend one of my favorite poems by Romanian author and philosopher Lucian Blaga called "Eu nu strivesc corola de lumini a lumii". There’s no good English translation online but here’s an attempt.