The Three Major Pursuits in Life

Xuefeng

There are three major pursuits in life: knowledge, wisdom, and spirituality. These are the three steps toward becoming a celestial being or a Buddha. Knowledge is the understanding and summary of the material world by people; wisdom is the sublimation of knowledge—a capability to discern, analyze, and judge the essence and extension of things, as well as the ability to invent and create; spirituality is the sublimation of wisdom—an ability to communicate with the nonmaterial world.

As people interact with the material world, they gradually discover certain laws and gain true insights and experiences during productive practices. These laws, insights, and experiences form the body of knowledge. The purpose of going to school is to quickly master the knowledge accumulated by predecessors without having to experience it all firsthand. Therefore, in elementary schools, middle schools, and universities, what one learns is knowledge. Whether one attains a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree, what is acquired is knowledge. Knowledge is not a capability but a prerequisite and foundation for acquiring capability.

A person with abundant knowledge is worthy of respect because, with rich knowledge, one transcends primitive ignorance and lays the foundation for advancing toward civilization. Therefore, the pursuit of knowledge is the primary task in life. A person without knowledge is unreasonable, hard to educate, and unlikely to achieve anything.

Teachers in universities, middle schools, and elementary schools possess knowledge. Experienced workers and farmers have knowledge. They are the main mediums for passing on knowledge. Nowadays, computers and the internet are also mediums for transmitting knowledge, as are books, articles, images, videos, television, CDs, and so on.

However, possessing knowledge does not mean that one has capability. Only when knowledge is elevated to wisdom does a person gain the ability to discover, analyze, distinguish, and solve problems. Scientists, experts in various fields, engineers, technicians, business managers, successful entrepreneurs, political and religious leaders—all are people with wisdom. Those with wisdom are the driving force behind societal progress and development. The reason why a group of monkeys remains monkeys is that they lack wisdom. The reason why a person, a family, a clan, a nation, or a country remains poor and backward is the lack of wisdom. A person without wisdom does not know where to exert effort, how to use their mind, or how to make effective use of time.

Therefore, the pursuit of wisdom becomes the urgent task for those who have knowledge. In other words, after acquiring knowledge, how to apply it to one's production and daily life becomes a matter of deep contemplation; otherwise, the knowledge is useless. When we buy flour, cooking oil, vegetables, and seasonings at the supermarket, it does not solve our hunger problem. To solve the hunger problem, we must process these ingredients into food, and the ability to do so is the capability to transform knowledge into wisdom.

Wisdom can make life full and prosperous, but it cannot solve a person's ultimate worries. Only by elevating wisdom to the level of spirituality can a person gain the ability to distinguish between truth, goodness, beauty, and love, and falsehood, evil, ugliness, and hatred. Only then can one possess morality, clearly understand the direction and purpose of life, communicate with the nonmaterial world, understand the meaning of heaven and hell, and lay the foundation for becoming a celestial being or a Buddha.

Among humanity, Buddhist monks, priests, Taoists, imams, and masters possess spirituality. They are the inheritors of spirituality. People like Osho, Orin, Seth, Zhang Hongbao, and Li Hongzhi are pioneers of spirituality. Laozi, Muhammad, Shakyamuni, and Jesus are navigators of spirituality. The Tao of the Greatest Creator is the source of spirituality.

Knowledge and wisdom are unrelated to morality. That is to say, people with knowledge and wisdom do not necessarily possess morality. To possess morality, one must work on spirituality. But if one lacks knowledge and wisdom, it is impossible to open the door to spirituality. Even if one understands a little, it is merely superstition, and one remains clueless, unable to know the next step to take. Concepts like celestials, Buddhas, and heaven can only be illusory longings, and one might even doubt their reality, let alone attain them.

Thus, there are three major pursuits in life: the pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of wisdom, and the pursuit of spirituality, progressing step by step. Is there a way to skip knowledge and wisdom and achieve spirituality directly? In other words, is there a path to directly awaken one's spiritual awareness and reach spirituality without schooling, social practice, life experience, inventing and creation, or participating in religious activities or listening to sermons by masters?

The answer is: yes. First, see if you can read the celestial book (books with words), reading the heavens, the earth, LIFE, and society, and understanding divine revelations from the phenomena of nature, thereby directly communicating with the Greatest Creator.

Second, see if you have the predestined affinity with celestials or Buddhas and whether you can meet them and be directly enlightened by them, allowing them to guide your life. If you can fulfill either of these two conditions, even an illiterate person can attain spirituality and thus achieve the qualities of a celestial being or a Buddha, not to mention those who possess knowledge and wisdom.

A person who often contemplates the ultimate goal of life is more likely to attain enlightenment and spirituality. Those who often wander in Lifechanyuan will accelerate their steps toward spirituality.