I used to think questions were meant to be answered . . .
I started this blog in 2013 as a way to record my thoughts on a variety of topics—the right way of thinking about things, as I then perceived it. My perspective was just far enough off the beaten track of generally accepted opinion that it seemed rather treasonous, and I had just enough hubris to think someone might stumble upon this little corner of the blogosphere and care what I thought.
At that point in time, I craved certainty, getting the answer right. Questions were useful, but only insofar as they provided stepping stones to the answer. Some questions were even borderline threatening, as they disrupted the status quo of my thought processes and challenged me to reevaluate and reconsider what I thought I knew.
. . . but now I’m pretty sure questions are meant to be asked.
These days, I have a lot more questions than answers. I’m learning to hold things loosely and am slowly extracting myself from the damaging, destructive, and polarizing “I have the right answer, which means unless you agree with me, you have the wrong answer, and I have to try to correct you” attitude I had for much of my life.
I’ve encountered something sacred in the asking of a question, something inexplicably compelling in dancing with uncertainty. And while it strikes me as odd, it seems that in today’s world being at peace with not knowing is even more treasonous than holding a fringe perspective with confidence.
A question for you.
I’m hoping to post more frequently. Shorter posts, probably, but a great deal less organized and formal than in the days of yore. I’ll start with a few things I’ve been puzzling over lately, but who knows where we’ll end up. I don’t think there’s anything so sacred that it can’t be questioned, or anything so certain that it’s not worth discussing.
This is an invitation to come on the journey with me. I know, this is the internet and we’re not supposed to read the comments, but let’s be real—we all do. So comment away—challenge, discuss, wonder, question—because as Rob Bell once wrote, the discussion itself is divine.
We all have a person that we used to be (and us now is our five-year-older self’s “used to be” 😳), and none of us got where we are now without some really patient people and heaps of grace. So let’s be patient with each other, heap grace, and let the adventure begin.
Are you in?