Searching for Treasure

What does it mean to be searching for treasure? If you ask people what is it that they were hoping to find, what the word “treasure” means to them, the primary definition and what many people would probably answer would be something connoting wealth, some sort of material thing. For others, treasure might be fame, prestige, and respect. Still others might think of treasure as gaining power – power over situations, policies, people, or even over life and death. Looking at world leaders, the treasure they seek seems to be all of the above – material wealth, prestige, and power. This is essentially what has created such a dire situation, an existential threat to the globe on so many levels.
Contemplating this, it occurred to me that if you change the tense of treasure from a noun to a verb and instead ask people what it is that you treasure. To this, one of the first things people might answer is my family, my friends, and other people I love. And if they do mention an item of wealth, it probably is associated with a person, such as my mother’s engagement ring. Some people might also answer the times of peace, of centeredness, of connection that is felt during worship or a walk in nature, something that connects them to something larger than themselves.
On a recent walk to the beach, my husband and I stopped to chat with an almost 90-year-old man who’s lived on Cape Cod all his life. He said to us that “excessive tranquility is a bad thing,” and the implication was that everyone needs some tension and challenges in their lives to grow and live life to the fullest. Are there any circumstances where excess is not a problem? If everything should be in moderation, does that include moderation? If complete peace is a problem, then when is there something that is, in excess, a good thing? The only thing I could think that qualifies is unconditional love. It is in that space of unconditional love that the problems with the noun, treasure, with searching for wealth or power, or the need for prestige and fame all dissipate. We left with the fullness and that beauty and that light of one in that love.