A lot of thinking lately. Mostly to gain some perspective on things. It’s funny how more often than not, we go into these bouts of thought with questions we are trying to answer, but in the end we end up with more questions, and more questions, and yet somehow, these questions give us the answers we’re looking for. Granted, in the end, we’re still left with more questions than answers, but we reach a point of contemplative clarity, as though the very act of asking ourselves these questions allows for a perfect understanding of the reasons behind asking the questions, the reason why the questions exist in the first place.
I’ve found that the most important questions we can ask are the ones that are right in front of our faces, hidden in plain sight. The main reasons why we don’t ask these questions is because we either don’t see them, or we’re afraid to ask them. Usually, we don’t see the questions because we’re so busy turning our lives upside down looking for answers to other questions that we miss the obvious ones right in front of our noses. When we do see the questions from the beginning, or when we finally take a step back, slow down, and notice them, we’re often afraid to ask them. Whether it’s because we already know the answer to them or because we’re afraid of what the answer might be, these simple questions that seem to have all the insight in the world go unasked.
We often become comfortable with our perceived positions in life, comfortable with what we believe to be true, comfortable with our own little worlds. These questions, once answered, are typically accompanied by large and dramatic paradigm shifts that can end up changing our lives, for better or worse, but always much more violently than we are comfortable with. It takes no small amount of courage, desperation, or exasperation to make us ask these questions, but once we do, there is no turning back. Just as the popular saying states that one cannot “un-see” something, one cannot “un-realize” things either. Of course, once the deed is done, we have to live with the consequences. The world beings and ends with you, not so much in the sense that you are the center of the universe, but more in the sense that you can’t control the thoughts and actions of others around you, so all you have is your decisions and actions, your own reasons behind them, and their consequences.
For a long time I have touted the value of “looking underneath the underneath”. It’s a philosophy that I’ve tried to live by in order to understand the people and the world around me. But I have to admit that it has caused me to miss things hidden in plain sight and that I’ve done my share of spinning my wheels looking for answers. It’s why I take time every now and then to just step back from life and give things a think, and, if I can find the courage, to ask myself the questions that are staring me in the face – questions that I’m afraid to ask, questions that I’m afraid I know the answers to. However, from my experience, as earth-shattering as the realizations that come out of these sessions can be at times, I never regret pursuing them. This is because the changes that arise as a result are not always bad, and even when they are, they force me to develop myself – to evolve and improve myself to adapt to the resulting paradigm shift.
I close this entry with a quote from one of my favorite sources. It’s a quote that really emphasizes the power and importance of the kinds of questions I’ve talked about.
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
