97. Lost In The Details

You think the details are what’s most important. If you pay attention to the distinctions, to the nuances between this and that, then you’ll figure it all out. After sorting out the details, you’ll see how to arrange your knowledge of the world so that everything falls into place. And then you’ll finally obtain the things you’re looking for.

What is it that you’re looking for? You want to possess beauty, you want to feel goodness, and you want to know truth. All of these will be yours once you sort out the details. So you measure, and you analyze, and you reason. You do this over and over again, carefully refining your investigation without end.

But you never seem to arrive at the imagined ideal. You learn techniques, your knowledge grows, and your capabilities expand. But you never get to that perfect place of peace and understanding where everything is clear. It feels so close at times, and yet the final steps are always frustratingly out of reach.

You have fallen into an unfortunate error. You believe a final answer is possible and can be attained. But the things you seek cannot be found through the narrow pursuit of them. You have become fatally attached to your desire for ultimate truth, beauty, and goodness. And such a profound attachment will always produce suffering. You might even feel a tiny piece of that suffering right now. It is the despair you feel as you realize your efforts will not be successful.

It is only by loosening your attachment that you create the opportunity for beauty, goodness, and truth to appear. For real value and meaning is never absent. It is here with you right now, in this very moment. If it is invisible to you it is only because your attachment has occluded your ability to see. To fix this, you must release yourself from your desire for the ideal. When you let go, you will start to see that everything you’ve sought has been present all along.