Value of Exploration

Exploring is cool

Exploration

I love exploring. It’s fun to find something that you’re not looking for. That’s why I used to watch a lot of cartoons while I was growing up. I wanted to explore all the worlds that imagination brought to reality for me. As I grew up, I realized that exploration can come in many forms. You can explore the world, or you can explore what’s in front of you. I wanted to explore the process of why I became interested in certain things and became repulsed with other things. Eventually I wanted to explore why creating something gave me pleasure. I was intrigued by things that caught my attention. And that’s when it hit me, everything that I’ve done till now can have meaning, or it can be valueless, it just depends on my phrasing and my level of curiosity.

Attachment from exploring

Creating something of value requires effort. And what you create becomes something of value because of the personal attachment that was formed as a result of the endeavor. I understand, in retrospect, the value of thinking like an architect. The process is difficult, but the value of the final product makes all the difficulty seem trivial. The pride that comes with building something is incomparable to the effort used with it. It’s fun exploring the concepts of why you’re going to build something, when you have an end goal in sight. Justifying the process in the end becomes easy because that’s all you think about during the process of creating. It’s not hard work because you have actual finished product that justifies your process.

Internet allows exploration

When I was younger, I never really wrote anything unless it was needed for school. I didn’t write for self-exploration. But I used to read in order to find out what I didn’t know. I was the youngest in my family, and it seemed like everyone knew more than me but they didn’t really question anything. So I became the person that questioned everything. Especially after coming to America from a 3rd world country, I realized the differences that existed everywhere I looked. It astounds me how there are 7 billion people on this planet, but the amount of people that have true access to modern resources are so limited. Thus, I think the influence we have as an individual is a lot more than we give credit to ourselves. If placed in the right environment, the individual has knowledge that can baffle a nation.

How audiobooks changed my perception

I used to listen to books nonstop during college, every morning when I went for a run. I was curious about everything because some of the questions that were asked of me during critiques, in architecture, baffled my mind. I just wanted to know why things happened. There was one book that I read, called Mastery by Robert Greene, that made me really curious about how practice and repetition can impact an individual. I remember reading about Daniel Everett and how he went into the Amazons to study the Piraha tribe. I was very intrigued by Everett’s ability to observe and eventually communicate with the tribe. He was the first person, that we know of, to have interacted with the Piraha tribe because of his unrelenting curiosity. He was able to interact with them to the point where he realized they don't actually have a creation story. I used to question why we needed a creation story, but after reading and figuring out that a tribe doesn't necessarily have to have a creation story to cooperate gave me an understanding that will probably last a lifetime. Because I've realized everything in language was created through evolution. And as we grow, our ability to understand will also grow because of the curiosity of individuals.

Why listening helps

By nature, human beings are driven by animalistic desires. So as a society it’s understandable to see why creation stories exist; to create a sense of community through stories of the unknown. Because we are so prone to acting out as individuals, like stealing when we’re hungry and have no other choice. By restricting ourselves with divinity, to an extent, places boundaries on the people. Because as a collective society, we gain more intelligence for humanity when we cooperate as a group. But that doesn't mean that all stories are correct. I want people to listen. Exploring and understanding the world is my primary goal as a person. I used to accept everything for what it was. I didn't really question the motives behind why people said certain things. I didn't really understand all the different perspectives that existed in the world. But every person experiences life in a different way, thus every individual has a perspective. If we learn to listen to each other, I think the world can be an amazing place.

Resources used during writing:

Networking

http://www.wired.com/2013/09/how-successful-networks-nurture-good-ideas-2/

Piraha People 

https://ffrf.org/outreach/item/13492-the-pirahae-people-who-define-happiness-without-god