When are we done?

In a most remarkable conversation a few days ago with a group of friends, this, amongst many others, was one of the questions raised - in this "quest for certitude", when are we done? When do we attain certitude and knowledge, if ever? And if never, then why keep trying? Why not be satisfied with where we are, and just live life according to those principles? Why constantly hunger for more - hunger can only be selfish, and cause one to be greedy for more. So why keep worrying about where I will get to, what "level" I can attain?

There are several responses that popped up in my mind, but I think P summed it up most beautifully - one is always to be content; but never satisfied. In that pithy, I think he really went to the essence of this quest. The quest for certitude is not a selfish/greedy quest. At every stage in this quest, one is content with what one has, and at peace with oneself. The realization that one can never know everything is neither a cause for despair nor indolence - because the true motivation behind this quest is the knowledge that this, really, is what we are meant to do. This quest is what is the defining quality of a human being. This yearning to know more, to understand the fundamental nature of the world, is one that is intrinsic to every heart and soul - unfortunately, in most of us, it just gets submerged beneath a truckload of materialism and triviality that society drowns us in.

I can think of at least three reasons why one can never allow oneself to be satisfied with where one is at any point on this quest. One, clearly one is never "done" - and so saying to oneself that one is done would just be a false statement. Two, such satisfaction can only lead to laziness, and will prevent us from thinking any more, and understanding even what we believe we know further. And three, believing that we are "done" will make us close our minds and hearts to any knowledge that comes our way, and make us reject it as false/trite. We see this all the time in streams of spiritual thought, where every religious school chooses to believe that it is, in essence, "done" - that their school of thought contains all the knowledge there is to know in this world, and therefore all other schools of thought must be wrong. Therefore, one just can't afford to be satisfied in this quest - ever

The quest, however, is not a greedy one - and this is where the contentment comes in. One does not seek to grab knowledge. Instead, one goes about this quest in the most humble manner, being open to all that comes one's way, and evaluating anything claiming to be knowledge in a pure, sincere and objective way. The contentment arises from this humility, and from the faith one develops in God, and the trust one has in His guidance. This quest, therefore, is not motivated by a desire to attain some fixed level of perfection - it is motivated purely by the awareness that this is what is essential to my "humanness", and by my love for God.

The fundamental importance of knowledge and wisdom, and the reason why we can never stop searching for it is best summed up in these words of Baha'u'llah:

The Tongue of Wisdom proclaimeth: He that hath Me not is bereft of all things. Turn ye away from all that is on earth and seek none else but Me. I am the Sun of Wisdom and the Ocean of Knowledge. I cheer the faint and revive the dead. I am the guiding Light that illumineth the way. I am the royal Falcon on the arm of the Almighty. I unfold the drooping wings of every broken bird and start it on its flight.

-- Baha'u'llah