“No, no, it’s not books at all you’re looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, in old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself. There is nothing magical in books at all. The magic is only in what books say.”
“I felt deep within me that the highest point a man can attain is not Knowledge or Virtue or Goodness or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic and more inspiring: Sacred Awe.”
– Nikos Kazantzakis
And the beauty of it is this: The very experiencing of Sacred Awe, in turn, inspires a deep hunger for knowledge, virtue, and goodness.
“I have found Truth. Hearing such a boastful statement, you are probably breaking up in laughter. But I mean it. When I encountered Truth, I was startled. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Why has it taken me so long to recognize it, more than ten thousand lives? When I saw it, I was so surprised, all I could do was burst out laughing, just as you must be doing as you read this. I said, ‘I thought with a fancy name like Truth, you’d be more beautiful.’ ‘You think I’m ugly?’ Truth asked. I looked again and had to admit that Truth was not ugly. Truth then asked, ‘Now that you’ve seen me, what will you do tonight?’ I answered solemnly, ‘When I am hungry, I will eat. When I am tired, I will sleep.'”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
Portals and paths to enlightenment exist all around us. Life is filled with opportunities for us to enrich our minds with knowledge and beauty, to infuse our actions with love and joy, and to fill our hearts with compassion and understanding. And the more earnestly and enthusiastically we pursue such things, the more deeply our Being will become enlightened with all of the wonders that the Universe has to offer.
“On the mountains of knowledge you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.”
A museum or a church? A celebration of the deep well of human creativity, or an expression of gratitude toward the mysterious universe that created us? It is remarkable how similar such expressions tend to be — how similar the imagery of temples and the imagery of museums align. Perhaps this image reveals an even deeper convergence of belief, a core awareness that when we as humans reach for our best heights of creativity and knowledge, we are, by this very means, paying our deepest respects to the Creative Spirit of the universe.