Thinking about the idea that humans use their curiosity (if they have any) to investigate and discover new things, new ideas, new places, new information about the people and the world around them. If we only investigate material realities, there is the possibility of using that knowledge for either good or evil ends. Investigating spiritual realities helps us to be more aware of the relative good and bad uses for things, words, feelings, arts, sciences. Our aspirations become loftier and our attitudes and interactions with our fellow beings become filled with the spiritual bonds of love. I decided to paint a bird with a spiritual and a material wing – an abstract concept in a more tangible form, I hope! Here’s the quote which inspired this painting:

Scientific knowledge is the highest attainment upon the human plane, for science is the discoverer of realities. It is of two kinds: material and spiritual. Material science is the investigation of natural phenomena; divine science is the discovery and realization of spiritual verities. The world of humanity must acquire both. A bird has two wings; it cannot fly with one. Material and spiritual science are the two wings of human uplift and attainment. Both are necessary—one the natural, the other supernatural; one material, the other divine.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 195–196)