questions and problems

Question contains the answer, the problem is more interesting than the solution… well of course the solution is like the punch line. One wants to know what happened. How did the movie end? Did they catch the villain? Did the romantic couple ride off into the sunset in a blaze of glory, a love that will last forever until the honeymoon phase wears off and they start to get on each others’ nerves?

Ok, what does it mean? The question is about yearning for understanding, on an ultimate or absolute level. On a relative level, one could explain a situation. Joe is going to the store to buy groceries. There’s a lot of noise due to streets being repaired.

On an absolute level, some questions are unanswerable, for example, why is there being? The question arises because existence involves suffering. Maybe if life were a bowl of cherries, the question would never arise, except maybe as curiosity. When one experiences heartache, sorrow and pain, one starts to wonder why this is happening? Sometimes just to exist becomes unbearable. One would rather not exist. So that’s how Lohbado got into speculating about being.

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He discovered what is most helpful is the act of contemplation. Forget about finding an answer. No magic creature is going to come along, wave a magic wand and clarify all mysteries. Lohbado will never know for sure who killed John F Kennedy or if Elvis is alive and in hiding. One makes discoveries, or has revelations if one’s mind is open, willing to explore and pay attention to details. Often a question can steer one into fascinating and edifying reveries, which could transform one’s attitude from one of anger and resentment about having to exist to feeling respect for the sheer mystery of the whole thing. Lohbado found existence completely baffling. At the same time, if he opened his heart and mind, it became interesting, rewarding, rich, vibrant, with moments of beauty and a sense of goodness and dignity. It’s definitely not easy. Nobody has it easy. But it’s useful to pose questions, to contemplate the human condition and to look at one’s mind.