Creative Guidance – Ways of Enquiring – Inspirational Educative Articles

Ways of Enquiring:

A scientist is searching by dividing things. The real purpose of science must be to aid us in our Self-inquiry, and help us understand life and existence in totality. It is possible for even such a pure discipline as Science to alienate us from our surroundings by dividing and objectifying everything.

We limit the possibilities of science if we are simply obsessed with dividing things. Let’s take an example of the scientific exploration of a tree. The first thing a scientist does in trying to understand a tree is intellectually chop it into different pieces: Roots, leaves, branches, fruits, and flowers. Then he goes about inquiring into the functions of each of these parts.

At the very moment of dividing the tree into various parts, he has destroyed the possibility of understanding the tree in its totality. By dividing the tree, he has only created more things to inquire about, and hasn’t gotten any closer to understanding what a tree is.

We have done the same thing with the human body. The modern medical profession has divided the human body into countless pieces and parts. Just because we can identify a thousand different parts of a human body and can call it by a thousand different names, doesn’t mean that we understand it any better.

The more we divide, the more questions we are left with to answer. Once we become obsessed to divide, there is simply no end to this process. We can continue to divide ad infinitum. We can pluck one leaf from a tree and go deeper until we find a single cell. Why stop at the cell, we can go deeper into the molecular structure. This process, more than revealing answers, creates more questions.

If you are searching for the ultimate answer to your questions, it has to be sought within, because the ultimate question is you: Your thought processes, your mind, your body, and your consciousness. Whatever you are searching for on the outside is available within you. Only on an inward journey can you reach the Truth.

“This article is a part of the creative endeavor of Nirvana Foundation and IASBABA.”