The Most Important Thing

An old spiritual teaching goes:

The most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing.

I've been working on that most of my life.
And I think if you're honest and keep at it, it'll keep changing. Nudging you closer and closer to Truth.

A breakthrough for me was when I realized, many years ago, that for me the Most Important Thing is something abstract, not something specific. It didn't make life easier, for sure, but it made it more true.

The best word I've found for that abstract quality, for me, is:

Warmth

Another word for it is Beauty. But that is often used in very different ways.

Another word is Love. But that is used in even more different ways. In too specific ways. Like, many people believe that you can only really love one person. I think universal love is a quite different thing. Abstract, and yet more real.

I found the "Warmth" thing by looking at why was Art so important to me, and what as the most important ingredient for me in art, both my own and others'.