by Bill Chisholm
As part of my daily sadhana, I include a prayer for clarity of vision. This New Year’s Day morning after saying that and doing some tub yoga, I was thinking what I might wish for the people of the world. A hawk suddenly came out of nowhere and landed not six feet away. It then came to me; the highest thing I might wish for the people of the world is the gift of question and the eyes of awe.
We are all born with the gift of question. It is our birthright to wonder about the world in which we entered. It is how we learn about that world and how we come to define ourselves and our place therein. Unfortunately for many the light of that flame is snuffed out or diminished sometimes by the family we are born into, religious dogma, culture, and sadly of all places the education system. The “whys” are often ignored or hushed.
What would the world be like if instead of dismissing the “whys” of children, they were asked “Why do you think it is so?” or “What do you think?” Rather than shutting down the gift of question, children should be encouraged to expand their horizons, move beyond the known world. “I’m not asking you to buy in. I’m asking you to be the best you can be.” Chuck Moffett, my sophomore English teacher said to me after class one day.
Most of our problems come from a lack of questions, from following blindly, the light snuffed out. Following blindly is dubbed “faith” and “patriotism” by those who gain power and profit from our lack of questions. It is not the so called truth that sets one free; it is the gift of question, the ability and the responsibility to find one’s own truth, to make up one’s own mind.
We all begin with the eyes of awe, but the vision blurs when the questioning is replaced with dogma, with absolute beliefs and opinions. Both the questioning and the looking with eyes of awe pertain as much to the internal world as the external. With regular eyes we see the eagle fly, with eyes of awe we are bedazzled by the how of flight.
I once reserved my deepest compassion for those who live without hope, until I came to believe that an even sadder state of being is to live without question, to be either ignorant or so cocksure of ones’ position that one can’t hear, won’t listen, won’t learn, won’t appreciate the world beyond one’s own point of view. Without question one is easily motivated by fear. Fear may manifest as victim or tyrant. If one does not question one cannot develop the eyes of awe, a sense of wonder, a healthy humility. Fear breeds violence, awe evokes a sense of wonder, a sense of oneness. Awe speaks of possibilities and possibilities create the seedbed of hope. The foundation lies in the gift of question. One could say, the Answer is the Question. -Mitakuye Oyasin
William K. (Bill) Chisholm 