We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive
where we started
and know the place for the first time.
Things shine forth. There’s a reason for that, and you know that because when you’re attending to something you’re interested in, and you’re engaged in it, that’s when you’re alive. That’s when life is worthwhile. It’s so worthwhile that in those moments, you don’t even ask the question about it. The question itself goes away because the meaning that you’re united with is so powerful that it can push back the adversity that would otherwise characterize life. Nietzsche said, “the person who has a why can bear any how.” And that’s a really useful thing to know because you think, well, we’re very vulnerable creatures and our life ends catastrophically and terrible things happen and how can we bear that? And the answer to that is and always has been that you have to be in sync with something that’s beyond you, because that synchrony gives you the strength that you need to bear your terrible limitations.
The idea is that if you follow the thing that manifests itself to you as interesting, it will lead you through adversity, lead you to do things that are difficult and as that happens, but not beyond your capacity because it’s tempered for that. What will happen is, as you hit yourself against the world, pursuing what you’re interested in, you’ll tap yourself into alignment. Your molecules, your structure, internal structure, will become non-contradictory, like the internal structure of a jewel, which is something that reflects light, that makes you hard and durable and able to bear the terrible conditions of existence without becoming corrupt.