Diest TKO wrote:Fair question, but perhaps you misunderstand. I simply put a greater premium on the persuit of knowledge rather than the volume of knowledge acquired.
I concider myself a student of the world.
If I am speaking to cryptically, I can provide a literal example. I am an aerospace engineer. When I began learning about my field of study, I measured my passion by how much I knew. Moreover, I displayed that information. Now, as I have matured, I find myself more impassioned by the seemingly endless amounts in information I yet to know. I feel like I am at my best when I am challenged with new concepts. These questions feed my passion, and I have seen this with others too.
You have a passion for your work. That's fine. I'm a material scientist, so I understand. There are often days when I look forward to going to work in the morning because I'm working on an interesting problem. However, I recognize the limitations of the scientific method. While it can shed light on all sorts of questions about the world, it is very limited in its ability to answer the ultimate questions about our origin and destiny, such as the origin of the universe (What caused the big bang?), the existence of the soul (Does consciousness arise from a complex brain structure, or is the brain simply the mechanism by which allows consciousness to function in the physical world?), the existence of God (Are all of the numerous reported spiritual experiences recorded throughout the world throughout history simply a derangement of the mind, or self-hypnosis, or do they reflect a spiritual dimension to human existence?), the afterlife (Are all the reports of near-death experiences only the mis-perception of an oxygen-starved brain, or are there non-physical dimensions to consciousness to which the soul retreats when the physical body ceases to function?) These questions also interest me. My interest in spirituality began even before my decision to become a physicist. From my point of view, study of the world through objective means is incomplete. Without self-transcending spiritual practice, we are stuck within the conceptual mind. Identification with mental constructs provides us with our sense of self. It is the primal error from which all other errors arise. You are not your mind. You are not your thoughts. You are something much deeper. Go beyond the thinking mind to discover who you really are.