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Living in the Question |
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Article by Tom Gilbert — July 2004
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
'Cos when we stop and look around us,
There is nothing that we need,
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed.
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the war of love is for
(Moody Blues “Question”, lyrics by Justin
Hayward)
It is the most natural thing in the world
to wonder and ask questions.
However, sometime between childhood and adolescence we
begin to lose the wondering. We stop asking so many questions.
Could it be because the answers we’re given are insufficient? Do they ring hollow?
Do those we ask get tired of replying to questions they are ill equipped to handle?
In turn, do we simply stop asking so much because we’re not getting the answers
we want?
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Are these questions you sometimes ask yourself?
Wrestling with questions can make you tired, but it will
also make you think. Sitting with questions can allow you to settle down
and turn it over to God. Experience teaches we’re frequently better
off not getting an answer right away, if ever. It’s ok to not know
everything. I find that helps keep the sense of wonder. Besides, nobody likes
a “know-it-all”.
In the Matrix movie Morpheus tells Neo that “it’s
the question that drives you”. He likens it to a splinter in your eye,
driving you mad. Well, maybe you have questions that aren’t that disturbing,
but they can drive you just the same. What will I do today?
Who will I meet? What challenges must I face? What problems do I have to
solve?
The Zen practice of teaching through koans is an intriguing way of finding
deeper meaning and truth from what often seem to be unanswerable riddles.
I am not a Zen practitioner, but I’ve read that koans are not answered;
that’s not the purpose. Instead of approaching the koan as a problem
to solve one is invited to quiet the mind and let go to silence and contemplation.
Quietly seek what the koan is teaching. The fruits of the search can be
greater clarity and understanding in your life.
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Yes, but…
Unfortunately, most of our questions are self-centered.
It’s the normal way most people in our society live, concerned only with those things that
personally affect us. It is hard for us to appreciate and participate in
a process that requires letting go of our calculative (self-absorbed and
needy) mind. Often the only way of getting out of self is when we turn our
thoughts to the love and care of others. Maintaining that attitude typically
requires a spiritual connection. Making and maintaining that connection will
always bring up more questions.
Awe. Wonder. Suffering.
Could it be that the times we ask the deepest and most
meaningful questions are when we are either overcome with awe and wonder or deep in
suffering? Who made this? Why is this happening? Those can be powerfully
stirring questions without quick, glib answers.
I’ve attended some sessions of centering prayer where at the end of
the silent contemplative period someone reads from the Gospels
and then invites us to share the question that comes to us. There is no attempt
to answer the questions. Instead we are instructed to hold the question
inside and carry it with us throughout the day. Some of my fellow contemplatives
even choose to live and work in silence for that day.
Becoming aware of a deep question and pondering it for several hours without the
burden of having to have an answer has been an unusual experience for me.
And a growth experience. Some of the questions that have come to me I still don’t have
an answer to. Some of them I sense an answer that continues to unfold.
In the Gospels we discover that Jesus asked a lot of questions. Often these questions were direct, even
confrontational. Christ was very good at pulling people out of their agenda and present
state of mind to consider something different and much bigger.
Many of Jesus’ interactions with others are clearly teaching
opportunities and the Nazarene utilized the Socratic method
to great effect, responding to questions with powerful questions
of His own. The Teacher was nudging his listeners out of their
complacent comfort zones, especially the self-righteous religious leaders.
What do you want me to do for you?
Why do you call me good?
What did Moses command?
Who are you looking for?
Don’t you understand?
Why have you forsaken me?
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Ask and You Shall Receive
Living in the question can seem counterintuitive to anyone who
expects and even demands answers. Our society highly values people
who are good at analyzing and figuring things out. Science has
made a religion of it. True religion should not expect answers
to everything. After all, true faith requires believing without
proof. We should allow for the growth that comes from living
with a question without requiring an answer.
Indeed most great spiritual questions can lead us to true humility and the acceptance that what we
don’t know is greater than we will ever comprehend. And that’s ok if
we have faith in a loving God and an ultimately redeemed universe.
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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973, 1978,
1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout
the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for
the offering of goods or services requires the prior written
consent of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All
rights reserved.
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Recommended
Reading
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Jesus
Asked: What He Wanted to Know
By Conrad Gempf
buy the book |
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"But what
about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you,
Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man,
but by my Father in heaven.
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(NIV)
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