the pursuit of happiness

As the end of the quarter nears, it's only appropriate that I reflect on all the wonderful things I've learned. But I won't, because it is a sunny Friday and there are much better things to do. I just needed to write, needed to feel that sense of accomplishment that finishing a post gives me when finishing a paper doesn't.

How fantastic is our pursuit of knowledge? Whether you're an architect, teacher, engineer, or poet, in the end, all that any of us want to do is understand, discover, and relay to others what we believe to be the true nature of the human condition. In this sense, we are fabulously self-centered beings—but I don't care! I think this is where I find fulfillment—not in acquiring facts, but in pursuing them, and questioning, and settling into that bottomless groove of not-knowing. Nicholas of Cusa theorized that there was never an end to any subject matter, that with every answer to a question came an infinite number of more unanswered questions, and like Socrates, understood that the greatest, truest wisdom rested in understanding that we know NOTHING. How phenomenal! How amazing! How absolutely breathtaking is the idea of knowledge itself? The world is so beautiful, isn't it? Despite the cruel nature of politics, poverty, homelessness, and all the other problems in the world, there is some magnificence in how desperately we seek solutions, how hungrily we search for clarity. There may never be an end, but for now, let's raise our glasses in praise of our relentless pursuit!

Humans rock.