When man observes the universe, he sees that it is not only vast and far-extending, but also intricately designed and most purposefully organized. Like a tapestry, it is amazingly well-woven. In one solar system, man sees sky, stars, sun, revolving planets, clouds, mountains, rivers, trees, flowers, fruits, grains, humans, animals, and birds and he is amazed at the orderliness ingrained in this manifold, endless universe. He feels infinitesimal in this vast infinity around him and realizes that he could not be the master of all that he surveys and that there is some invisible supreme force that plans, controls and guides the cosmos. It is this force that he inquisitively seeks to discover.
In addition to the endless cosmic spectacle right before his eyes, man recognizes that whatever he sees in and around him is not permanent, for everything changes. His parents, once young, have now grown old and are ready to ‘die’. His house, car, and other material possessions, once new, have now lost their sheen and malfunction. It seems to him that change and more change is the changeless law of this changing universe. He is told that this world with resources was initially designed to liberate him, but it has imprisoned him. Change and imprisonment have generated severe agony in his mind. In seeking to move away from bondage and coming from a world filled with agony, he now expresses a desire to turn to the designer of the cosmos, hoping to find a source of liberation and joy.
When we entertain a desire, we express a need to have something we currently do not have or to know something we do not know. Each human being knows that he exists. No one thinks that he does not exist. But, no one knows God, even though he may have read and may know a few things about God. One important point is that when we seek to know God, we are essentially different from God. We are potential knowers, and God is potentially known. We, God and I, are not one; as knower and known, we are fundamentally separate.