“What is your friend: the things you know, or the things you don’t know?” Jordan Peterson
I’m sure you’ve heard it said that “the older you get you realize the less you know.”
Well, I’m not so certain I agree with that. I’ve found that the older I get the more I know, but… there is a lot less I know “for sure” and still a whole lot more that I will never know. Discovery has become, for me, one of life’s greatest attributes. I am insatiably curious and I find myself in a quest to explore and discover.
Explorer Archtype
Working with Dena Crowder, a coach that specializes in helping people realize their 9 Power Archetypes, I have found that one of my most significant archetypes is Explorer. In fact, even before working with Dena I wrote this statement two years ago as my one sentence purpose in life…
I am a thoughtful adventurer who takes care of my family as I explore new territory for personal growth and experience that will help others live the kind of life they want.
In a recent conversation Dena observed that I also possess sub personas of Wanderer and Experimenter. So you can see why I so resonate with Jordan Peterson’s quote above. My greatest friend is indeed “what I don’t know.”
DNA’d to Discover
I wonder, is this true for you as well? I have a feeling that discovery is embedded in our DNA as human beings. How else can you explain the exponential growth in technology, the sciences and even the arts as we venture into that “galaxy far, far away”?
And then we have the all too familiar with the dialogue that opens the Star Trek series:
Space, the final frontier
These are the voyagers of the Starship Enterprise
Its five years mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life
And new civilizations
To boldly go where no man has gone before
Wow. The very statement gives me Goosebumps. And it has been true for just about as long as mankind has been around. As a species, we are wanderers and explorers seeking out strange new worlds.
Discovery at Home
Surely, some of us posses a more potent Explorer gene that others. Some people find great satisfaction in the safety, security and pleasure of simply settling down in one comfortable place. But even then, I believe these people also hunger for discovery and learning.
Curiosity does not totally dissipate without an Explorer Archetype. We, all of us, still want to learn more about what we don’t know and still find tremendous satisfaction in learning.
What is Your Search?
So my question for you is this? What is it you are seeking to learn more about? Because, I believe, if something unknown is not even mildly haunting you then you may be missing out on one of life’s greatest thrills!
Discovering What You Don’t Know
Is What Makes You Human
Photo courtesy of francescoch at istockphoto
