The promises or suggestions of the infinite (and of a utopia), of an answer or an origin, seem important. These promises or suggestions stimulate thought and the search. Where does that search lead and end? Are we no more than dogs chasing our tails; obsessed with a destination that we will probably never reach?
What is the object of the search? Does it matter if the search does not result in the outcome we are searching for? Is it important where that search ends? What if the dog eventually catches its tail only to realise that it has caught nothing more than itself; it's own tail?
This idea of searching, of travelling outwards, only to be in fact really travelling inwards or returning to yourself is noticeable in this extract from an ancient Sufi poem "The Conference of the Birds".
Come you lost Atoms to your Centre draw,
And be the Eternal Mirror that you saw:
Rays that have wander'd into Darkness wide
Return and back into your Sun subside
The poem describes the enduring search performed by the birds of the world for their king, the legendary Simorgh. Eventually, after an epic journey, the search leads the birds to a lake in which they only see their own reflection; a reflection of the thirty birds.
'Simorgh', the name of the legendary king and the object of the birds' search, is a word play which written in full refers to a mysterious bird of Iranian mythology but written as 'si morgh' means 'thirty birds'. It's a beautiful literary embodiment of the 'search'. The mystical bird and object of the search being the 'thirty birds' themselves.
Despite the likelihood that the 'search' will never arrive at the promised or suggested endpoint, the suggestions and promises of the endpoint necessitate the 'search'. In other words the dog needs to have a tail in order for it to be chased.
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