The joy of seeking
“The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”
Last year, I replaced my many years old laptop and promptly experienced an unexpected side effect.
After making the switch, every single one of my calls began exactly the same way for the next few weeks. Upon logging onto zoom, I would say hello to the client in front of me. And they would inevitably respond with:
“You’re in a new space! The wall is yellow now!”
The thing is, I wasn’t in a new space. And the wall was always yellow.
Was I being pranked? Were all of my clients conspiring against me to make me think I was losing it?
While that would have been an admirable feat of coordination, the reality was much more simple. My old camera had portrayed the wall behind me as white. My new camera, with its updated technology, was more accurately capturing the wall behind me as yellow.
Same wall, different perspective. And suddenly, the viewer was in an entirely new reality.
There is nothing quite so compelling as the human mind trying to convince its owner that what it sees or thinks on any given day is the full, absolute, forever, inarguable truth.
It seems that no matter how many times we see this assumption to be categorically untrue, nevertheless the mind’s campaign persists. It tells us all that what we are seeing now, in this moment, the exact way we are seeing it, is. the. way. it. is.
Until it isn’t.
Until our mind’s camera lens gets an upgrade.
And we see that the wall we swear was white the whole time is actually in fact very yellow.
A previous version of me took on the mind’s inaccuracy as a challenge.
If only I could be so open-minded, and so aware, I would finally overcome the mind’s filter and be the one who could see everything with exceptional accuracy.
While understandable, this approach is what some might call doubling down on a lie. And it’s an approach I see with a lot of my clients - especially the super-intelligent and ultra-ambitious ones.
There is nothing wrong at all with wanting to see more accurately. However, today’s version of me wonders if seeking ultimate accuracy from the get-go is a bit destinationist.
What about the joy of learning and discovering? What about the gentle and never-ending unfolding of truth?
When we attempt to rush to the ‘end’, even if we get there, what happens then?
Some might say that when we get there, we would know for sure what is true. And in that knowing we would be happy.
Perhaps. However, I think of the game hide-and-seek. And how in that game the fun comes from not knowing and the subsequent quest that follows.
So, today’s version of me takes on the mind’s inaccuracy as an opportunity to lean into the joy of seeking. Rather than sprinting to the finish line of knowing, I think there is more available in the conscious flooding of wonder.
This is the truth as I see it today.
Until tomorrow, when perhaps and most certainly, my lens will change.