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?

Are these questions you sometimes ask yourself?

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.

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?

Ask and You Shall Receive

Living in the question can seem counter-intuitive 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.