The Eureka Moment

15 questions that will change your life

Eureka

It was the third century B.C. on the island of Sicily, and humanity was at the brink of a great discovery. It was the middle of the Classics Age, a time when some of history’s greatest minds (including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle) began to theorize about the natural laws of the world, and of the meaning of life.

Sicily was the trading hub of the world during this time, meaning that both goods and knowledge were brought to Sicily, from Greece, Egypt, and Phoenicia. While Alexandria was the intellectual capital of the world, the teachings from Alexandria’s greats made their way to Sicily, as well.

Imagine you are strolling the dirt streets of the city, idly browsing a merchant’s leather goods. Life is good, and you live in one of the most developed cities in human history, at that point.

All of a sudden, a wild, naked man erupts from a door to the left of the merchant shop. “Eureka, Eureka!” he proclaims. This madman continues to run around the city completely naked and shouting this phrase, while you shake your head in astonishment and continue to go about your business.

As you may recall fr0m history classes, this man was Archimedes. I’d argue that he was one of the most influential scientists to date, as he shaped much of the knowledge of natural law and physics that we still apply today (the law of leverage being one).

On this fateful day, Archimedes (while taking a bath) had discovered buoyancy — the force of an object is equal to the weight of the water displaced by it. He was so astounded by this discovery that he completely forgot he was naked. You know how the rest of the story goes.

Rarely is the world graced with an Archimedes — someone who has discovered something novel and profound about the universe we exist in. Oftentimes, as we have seen in the case of Galileo, the enlightened are ostracized/brutally burned at the stake by society.

Though burning at the stake has been done away with, people who discover enlightenment are still deemed crazy by society today.

But what if I told you that you could have the “Eureka” moment too?

Cognitive Dissonance

Have you ever felt a pit in your stomach when you chose to do something that doesn’t sit well with your core values? I know the feeling all too well — it often kicks in around 11 pm, when I’m at a bar and know my current late-night activities will ruin my morning the next day.

This feeling is what psychologist Leon Festinger referred to as “cognitive dissonance.” When your actions differ from your beliefs, it’s the emotional equivalent of being drawn and quartered.

The solution to this gut-wrenching feeling, then, is clear: keep your actions in harmony with your beliefs. But how are you to know what you believe without having first determined that list? It’s not good enough to just think lightly about it. You need to write those values down — the beauty of journaling is that it is an opportunity to converse with your mind, without fear of judgment.

Once you have a set of core values defined, you have the knowledge to be great. But knowledge without application is like candy: enjoyable, but without any substantive value. You need to employ introspection if you want more than knowledge: if you want wisdom.

At its core, humanity is good. You’re welcome to debate me on this, but I have found that with enough introspection, people fundamentally come to realize similar truths.

To hold onto any belief too tightly is to limit the mind. Only when you recognize within yourself the ability for perspective to change, will you open your mind to limitless potential. When you begin to question everything you are told and do so with a gleam of curiosity in your eye, your mind is opened up to the truth.

All this goes to show that when you begin to ask the important questions in life, you begin to understand the truths of the universe.

A core belief of mine is “do not believe anything to be true until you have found it to be true within yourself.” With that in mind, rather than telling you the conclusions I came to, I’m going to give you a list of 15 questions that I have searched for the answers to. When I was able to articulate my responses to these questions, profound realizations about the universe were the result.

What to ask yourself

1. Is truth subjective or universal?
2. What is the meaning of life?
3. If I die tomorrow, do I leave a legacy? What is that legacy?
4. What is the source of happiness?
5. Am I living reactively or proactively?
6. How do I currently feel? Why? (continue asking why until the feeling is either amplified or goes away).
7. What is pain? What is my relationship with it?
8. What is the mark of a good artist?
9. What is your true self?
10. Is there value in darkness?
11. What do you value most?
12. What does “enlightenment” mean to me?
13. What is my relationship with time?
14. What is holding me back from realizing my dreams?
15. How do I quantify success?

I have been wrestling with these questions for what seems like forever, and my perspective continues to change as my beliefs are shaped by new experiences.

So it is to be human. Unlike dogs, we have the ability to teach ourselves new tricks. We have the ability to continue learning, growing, and changing. God only knows how much I have changed in the past years.

But — the key here is humility. With the understanding that you know only a tiny fraction of a 100000th of a percent of everything, you have opened the doors to exponential growth.

You cannot fill an already full cup with more water. You must empty yourself of any preconceived notions about the world. You must become an empty cup, ready to absorb the truths that are buried under the defenses of your ego.

Only once you have done this, you can discover these truths for yourself and can become whole. I only ask…maybe put some clothes on — before you go proclaiming your new-found truth to the world.