I love it when the universe sends me a message.
For decades, I have often quoted the phrase “living the questions” in studies that I lead, sermons, and even general conversations. I thought it came from the extremely successful folks that founded the Living the Questions program, a very successful DVD based study from the US that started about 15 years ago. The program began in order to offer a more progressive side of Christianity, and particularly to offer an alternative to the more theologically conservative but very successful Alpha program from the UK.
We used many configurations of the program at St. Andrew’s and St. John’s … Living the Questions, Saving Jesus, The Jesus Fatwa, First Light, Eclipsing Empire, Painting the Stars … I think we did them all. You can find out more at Home - Living the Questions
Folks loved it. They were engaged, surprised, and delighted to discover, and often reshape, basic beliefs and stories of the Christian faith.
I found out yesterday that in fact, the phrase is from Rainer Maria Rilke, in his collection Letters to a Young Poet, written over 100 years ago. Rilke wrote:
“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. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
I heard that yesterday as I was listening to the latest On Being Podcast … a tribute to the great author, teacher, Buddhist scholar, and philosopher of ecology Joanna Macy, who died this past week at the age of 96.
This is from her obituary: “A widely beloved teacher, Joanna Macy was a powerful prophetic voice in global movements for peace, justice, and ecology. As a leading environmental activist and prolific writer, she synthesized principles of Buddhism, systems theory and deep ecology philosophy. With The Work That Reconnects, Macy created a groundbreaking framework and potent workshop methodology for deepening ecological connection, transformation, and empowerment. This experiential group work helped hundreds of thousands of people take action on behalf of a more sustainable world. Macy often emphasized, “If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.”[1]
I have encountered Joanna Macy’s teachings and writings many times over the years. I even have one of her books on my bookshelf. You can find many youtube videos of Joanna and many online articles.
I was transfixed as I listened to Krista Tippet's interview with Macy from 2021 about her latest book, a new translation of Letters to a Young Poet. You can listen to the podcast, or read the transcript, at Home | The On Being Project
It is well worth the investment of an hour … I came away feeling inspired and full of gratitude and hope.
About the living the questions Rilke quote, Macy says: “What a wonderful way to relate to uncertainty.”
Fellow Rilke translator Anita Barrows (also in the interview) says: “Yes, yes. And I think, you know, so much, especially in our very consumer-oriented society, where we’re looking for answers all the time, we’re looking for solutions — rapid solutions and neat solutions — [laughs] here we are, being told to live into the questions, to be able then to say, “I don’t know. I have to sit with this. I have to be with it.” It’s a practice that we’re not taught by anything in our society.”
Macy replies: “But it’s the only way to be in the present moment, because when we want to know, “Oh, where’s this heading? Are we heading to war? Are we heading to — can I have it now? Shall I be — can’t I have hope?” All of those things, even the question of hope takes you out of the present moment. And the present moment is the only place you’re really present, the only place where you can actually choose.”
Krista Tippet responds: “You know, I have actually really taken this teaching as a life practice of holding the questions, loving the questions, and of — I’ve taken it as a life practice, with a question — to actually very actively do that: put the question before me, hold it, treasure it, nurture it, walk with it. And I have found that if you are faithful to a question like this, it will be faithful back, right? It will do this thing that he says, which is that you live your way into whatever the form an answer takes.”[2]
Boy, I needed to hear that conversation this week. I am off for another two weeks starting on Sunday. We have a family (amazingly, all 8 of us!) vacation planned at a friend’s cottage in St. Peter’s Bay, PEI. It will no doubt be chaotic, but life giving.
I also seem to have come down with a case of shingles this week. Luckily, it looks like we caught it in time and I was able to get the medication that hopefully reduces the severity. But it explains a lot about the general “unwellness” I have been feeling in the past couple of weeks.
For the next two weeks, I will be reading, listening to podcasts, and (hopefully) sitting in the sun. And enjoying my family. I have read three of the Canada Reads books so far and have loved them all. I wasn’t sure about the winner (spoiler alert) A Two Spirit Journey, but in fact I couldn’t put it down. I had imagined it would be really tough to read … and it was. But it was also uplifting, hopeful and inspiring. And it totally fits into the sermon series about the complexities of families.
And for now … I will practice the art of being “patient toward all that is unsolved in my heart and try to love the questions themselves.”
Blessings, and see you on August 10.
[1] Joanna Macy, Buddhist teacher, environmental activist, dead at 96
[2] Joanna Macy, In Memoriam — Beauty and Wisdom and Courage (and Rilke) to Sustain Us | The On Being Project
