In Search of Awe……

Ambition- I often find it as one of the most puzzling words in English.

The one piece of advice I frequently received from all my well-wishers is ‘You must be ambitious in life‘. I think having ambition is a good thing. It fuels our drive and creates a strong desire to achieve our goals, which is a crucial step toward any significant accomplishment.

If cooking is your goal then having a knife with you acts like ambition. The knife itself cannot cook you anything but it becomes difficult to start thinking about cooking without a knife.

However, having a knife could also go against you if you don’t know how to use it for your assistance. An inexperienced person can cut his hand or in the worst case kill himself using the same knife.

I often wonder if ambition is sort of like that. You need a strong desire to achieve something meaningful, but that desire can also blind your conscience.

The funny thing about desires is that they don’t stay constant for long. You may have had many desires in your teenage years, and by the time you reach your 20s (or late 20s), you might have achieved some of them. However, by your late 20s, you’re no longer the same person you were as a teenager, and naturally, your desires have changed as well.

Desire Vs Devotion

To be frank, I don’t find desires very attractive. In the grander perspective of the universe, the word desire seems selfish. Because humans live in a society and think from a societal perspective, we think we have the right to desire and achieve anything.

Deep down, having desires means wanting to take something—whether it’s a position, power, money, or fame. The problem is that most of us don’t consider balancing this by giving back. You might think you’ve worked hard and sacrificed a lot for an achievement, but it was always about you and your goal. You worked hard because you wanted something for yourself.

I see people everywhere whose desires have come true, yet their lives have worsened. It sounds like a paradox.

If you have worked hard for so many years to achieve something, how do you feel empty after achieving it?

I believe this paradox arises from selfish desires that constantly change. In the long run, the universe balances everything out. You can’t always take something without giving something in return. That’s why I prefer the word “devotion” over “desire.”

I don’t like to ask ‘What are your desires?’. I like ‘What are you devoted to?’

Devotion is selfless or at least less selfish. Desires make you ask ‘What do I get out of it?‘, whereas, devotion ‘What do they get out of me?‘

A professor driven by desire constantly thinks about his recognition, impact, and fame. In contrast, a devoted professor focuses on the well-being of his students, ways to improve his research/teaching, service to the society/nation, etc.

The end result might be similar for both but desires make a person more resentful and devotion more content. I wholeheartedly believe that you can’t become ultra-successful in anything without a sense of devotion.

A devoted person is unstoppable because he doesn’t crave much. All he cares about is his own service to others like how to make a product better, how to discover something, how to improve people’s lives, etc.

However, desires keep you interested in a job as long as you get something out of it (recognition, money, influence, etc.). Once that flow diminishes, your interest in the job wanes.

This perspective has often helped me make big decisions in my life, whether it’s choosing a profession for the next 30-40 years or deciding whom to marry.

The answer lies in the query, Am I devoted to this profession or person, and why?

In any aspect of life, if you only think about ‘What do I get?‘ you will feel empty sooner or later. The thought of ‘What can I give?‘ is equally important, if not more.

In Search of Awe

An important realization that helps keep me grounded is experiencing the awe of the universe. Awe occurs when we encounter something absolutely new, gigantic, or deeply inspiring. When you see the vastness of the blue sea, the enormity of a green forest, or the grandeur of towering mountains, you begin to understand the immense scale and beauty of the universe.

Even something like scuba diving, attending an amazing concert, traveling around different regions, etc. gives you a feeling of awe. Awe reminds us of the Universe’s largeness and our smallness, in a way that feels exhilarating rather than threatening. When you feel awe, you forget all your worries and achievements and realize you are just a tiny part of the Universe.

The world is not all about you and your achievements. You get something in the process of giving your service to the World. If you think only about taking things from the world, you can’t stay calm and content inside for long.

To end this article, I like to share some amazing lines by an Olympic Shooter that inspired me to think differently about achievements-

“If you want to be a high level competitor, you have to clean house. In your heart, mind, and soul. You have to work out any problem you have internally. Eliminate all jealousy and hatred. Forgive everyone. For everything. You need to feel calm in the heart. Find forgiveness, kindness, and total harmony with the universe. And then you set a goal, put in the work every day, and wait. Wait, wait, wait. Tell yourself that it will take 5 years to get your foot in the door, 10 years to become good, and 20 years to be the best.”