The quest for answers,
The search for solutions,
A daily pursuit it seems,
The need to know
And understand
Everything, anything.
A quick tap
A simple click
Reveals, exposes, unveils
And soon enough,
too soon at times
We move onto other things.
I picked up my one of the books that seem to remain on my bed side table, flipping through the pages I read
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue.” 1
I confided to a friend once, that questions always seemed to make me uncomfortable, asking or being asked, it all was the same. Yet in the last couple of years, with all the uncertainties brought about by world events of the COVID Pandemic, Myanmar political protests, Russia – Ukraine war, Climate crisis, including too, the recent Philippine election; I suddenly find myself living in the questions themselves.
It is an unfamiliar space, bringing about fear and anxiety, yet surprisingly I’m realizing that questions bring me to a pause, a space of seeing and hearing possibilities. It seems to encourage me to think, feel and act differently. It appears to be an invitation to live in the unknown, holding on to hope and trust.
I think I’ll stay here a little longer. Why not?
1 Rainier Maria Rilke, Letters to A Young Poet
Wow, Weeyaa! I am willing to live in the questions with you, if you don’t mind the company! 😉
Living with uncertainty is hard – very hard. To see it as a space of potential is liberating. Still hard, but also “an invitation to live in the unknown, holding on to hope and trust.”
Your reflection reminded me of a sister who once encouraged me to “take your question for a walk!” Thanks for sharing your exploration, Weeyaa, of this space of possibility with its potential for solidarity.
Recently, I had an “email conversation” with two friends and I expressed my feeling that I wouldn’t want to know exactly what the future would bring to me, whether via DNA analysis or through the predictions of a clairvoyant. I didn’t know why, exactly, but I felt strongly about this. This piece you have written has given me a possible reason for my hesitation: I need that “space of seeing and hearing possibilities” that you describe. Thank you very much for writing this piece, Weeyaa.