“A seeker is someone who always wants to know more, to the point where their mind becomes restless. If you’re a seeker, you’re not just curious – you are defined by your curiosity. Seeking isn’t just about observing and gaining knowledge, it’s about exploring the world.” – Jason Silva
The more experiences we have, the more we seek, the more reality-based knowledge we acquire and are able to play with in real time in various given situations. Our “view” of any given situation, becomes clearer, wider, and … fuller.
Steve Jobs talked in terms of the full view, saying its like being on the 18th floor of a building and looking down at the streets. Then there are people on the streets looking at little maps of how to navigate where to go, but from where you are on the 18th floor, you can see it and its obvious, because its all right there in front of you.
So, how do we get to the 18th floor?
We have to go up and that takes a wide range of real-world experiences, self development, and a thirst for continual learning. The more we have, the better we’re able to navigate the world, communicate and relate with other people who have quite different experiences than ourselves.
Along the way, we gain introspection, resiliency, courage, empathy, understanding, confidence, social experience, intuition, figure-it-out-skills (FIO), creative thinking, confidence, and a trust in ourselves. We develop a linguistic intelligence, able to call on metaphors, analogies, and anecdotes in real time and an ability to understand and play with abstract thinking. We get a heightened, yet effortless state of awareness.
The full view is right there in front of us. We’re on the 18th floor.
Are there more floors? Maybe, but I think Steve Jobs got it right. The 18th floor is optimal. Any higher and things get further and further away. The full view becomes distant and out of touch.
Start that ascent. Seek, read, travel, talk with people (lots of people), do uncomfortable things, write down ideas and thoughts, listen, laugh at yourself, communicate on forums with people from all over the world, fail, keep going and doing, trust and love yourself, enjoy the journey, see yourself in others, navigate foreign places, give less f*cks, and stay curious.
Maybe I’ll see you on the elevator. Cheers.
Photo by Cameron Venti on Unsplash
I Am No Yogi 