Nowadays, most people believe in science, but even science has very human limitations. Our intellect, in fact, can even prevent us from experiencing life to the fullest.
An ancient Greek myth perfectly illustrates this point.
The philosopher Aristotle was walking on the beach. The sunset was beautiful, but Aristotle was so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice it. Then, all of a sudden, he saw a man digging a hole in the sand with a small spoon. Aristotle asked the man what he was doing, and the man said he was digging a hole into which to empty the ocean.
Naturally, Aristotle laughed and asked, “how will you fit the entire ocean into this little hole?”
The man, who was actually the philosopher Heraclitus, answered, “you make fun of me for wanting to fit the ocean into this small hole, but you’re big-headed enough to believe you can fit all the secrets of the universe into your brain, which is also basically a small hole. So, which of us is crazier?”
To experience life, we must first recognize how insignificant we are in the universe. Not just that, but we must also know that any thought we might have is even less significant.
Our intellect gets us into trouble here as it can lead us to believe that we’re capable of grasping life. But we can’t.
Instead, when we get lost in thought, we lose sight of the massive universe, the planets in outer space, and the complex and delicate balance of the cosmos, which seems to function by magic! Only by releasing our intellect and accepting that reality is much larger than us will we ever fully experience life.
