Reading a book and finding the magic of a word smith who creates a vivid image is certainly a form of discovery. Each day we discover new sights and sounds that heighten our senses and elevate our experiences.
The beauty of discovery is that its not limited. Discovery can be in the form of an endless stream of consciousness that expands our horizons and activates all of our senses. The depth of learning about food, wine, other cultures, places, history, and even ourselves is a boundless treasure trove. This unearthing that lifts our baseline knowledge and better prepares us for the questions that arise from those discoveries is another layer of complexity.
Discovery unveils that which we can only appreciate based upon our research and development of the subject at hand. A food recipe has many different stages before the final product is produced. This production can only be successful if the correct steps are followed. There are no short cuts when in the mode of production and discovery
Food is certainly one example, wine is another. A cellar master has gone through an exhaustive educational and mentoring program before he or she attemps to produce a vintage on their own. The thrill of discovering techniques that have been passed down for generations is a skill unto itself. The terroir, quality of the grapes, the barrel the wine is stored in, the length of time stored, and the nuances that change the strategy from season to season is all part of the never ending cycle of discovery.
That same cycle of discovery can translate to anything. A walk down a trail that leads to the beautiful vista of a waterfall, a pond, a lake, or even the ocean, is an all encompassing sensory experience. Seeing a Uraguayan sunset, the waves from the Pacific ocean as they crash to shore, or a buttery cueball moon over an obsidian sky leads to further questions about the scope of our existence that goes beyond our limited comprehension.
Each discovery leads to this… how much me know, how much we don’t know, and how much we don’t even know what to ask. The inherent beauty of this becomes the excitement we nurture as each discovery becomes a layer of who we are based upon what we’ve experienced. Certainly the most interesting people are the ones that have “lived a little”.
The realm of possibility when you’re in the mode of discovery is a step into the best part of whom we are, our creative side. We look, listen, and take in the knowledge we can impart to those we love and care about. Excitement is an energy that makes everything seem different. The colors, sounds, and interactions provide a stepping stone into wanting more.
Enlightenment has become more than a movement born in the 18th century. It is a term that explores the avenue of enrichment celebrating human understanding and our relationship to the universe destined to improve our own condition.
The discovery of food, wine, other beverages, places, cultures, and our own relationship to all that surrounds us is a journey that lasts until our final breath. Each time (as human nature dictates) we compare the new experience to the old ones. Even though they may be different we have a strand of DNA that communicates these connections. This adds substance to our appreciation of that which we know, that which we can feel, and those we wish were with us to experience that unbriddled joy of discovery.