Moonrider— At West End Gallery
Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?
–William James, The Will to Believe (1897)
William James’ question above is, of course, about religious belief but reading through my own lens, I can extend it to our search for the elusive answer to that eternal question: Why are we here?
It’s a question that has no doubt been raised since our time began on this planet and our brains evolved to the point where they could ponder things beyond thinking about obtaining shelter and food. Most likely there came a day when Og felt that his family could be sufficiently fed and kept warm and that he was finally safe from the saber-toothed possum that had been terrorizing them for so long. I am sure one evening, standing by the fire. Og looked up at the stars and began to ask questions.
Why am I here? How did I get here? What does it all mean?
We still don’t know the answers to those questions though we have been on an unceasing search through the eons of time.
And maybe that is the point.
The search for answers, a meaning, and an understanding of our existence or purpose might be the answer in itself. That need to know more, to get closer to some form of certainty, might well be a primal urge within us, a driving force that is on equal footing with others, such as the need to procreate.
Without it, we might wither away as a species.
Psychoanalyst Carl Jung said just this in his 1967 book Alchemical Studies:
The serious problems in life are never fully solved. If ever they should appear to be so, it is a sure sign that something has been lost. The meaning and purpose of a problem seem to lie not in its solution but in our working at it incessantly. This alone preserves us from stultification and putrefaction.
Stultification and putrefaction.
If you don’t want to get out the thesaurus or google the meaning, that means becoming stagnant, losing interest, and rotting.
Most of us know some folks that have went that way. People who have lost all interest in life and seem just erode as they wait for it all to end. They no longer have the energy to ask questions or seek answers.
Some think that they have found answer in their acceptance of the inertia they are experiencing. However, it is a concession or surrender, not an answer.
Perhaps the best gauge of our vitality and will to live is in our need to keeps asking questions?
I sure hope so because I have more questions than I can put a number on and have found anything that vaguely resembles an answer only geometrically raises a multitude of new questions.
It is like trying to climb up an inverted pyramid.
Just like life– challenging, seemingly impossible, and filled with uncertainty.
As it should be.
So, knowing that it will be unlikely that I ever find any degree of certitude, I will keep asking questions, seeking answers that I know will come to me.
In the meantime, don’t ask me any questions for which think you need absolute answers. I only have questions and any answers that I might have are filled with uncertainty.
In that vein, here’s an old favorite of mine from Howlin’ Wind, the 1976 debut album from Graham Parker. Great album. This song is Don’t Ask Me Questions and has been a constant refrain in my head since that time, especially whenever I have those days where I am tired and don’t want to be bothered by questions and chit chat.
Like now. So, give a listen if you want then hit the bricks.
Redtree Times 