Monday, December 01, 2008

I wonder - Living the questions

On public radio in our area is a wonderful show called Speaking of Faith. You may well have heard of it, or even heard it! Check our their website for all sorts of nifty stuff.

Tonight, host Krista Tippett interviewed Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen. (You can read about her on the website.) I was so taken by the following quote, I downloaded the show and listened again, just for this bit.


I have no answers, but I have a lot of questions. And those questions have helped me live better than any answers I might find.
----Rachel Naomi Remen
She told the story of a man dying of cancer whose symptoms disappeared. Tumors, lesions, all disappeared shortly after he came to the hospital to die. All the testing, samples, questions, did not answer all the whys. They concluded that his chemo (ended 11 months before) had finally worked.

Her greatest sorrow, she said, was that she believed that conclusion for decades. She says she now realizes that she was in the presence of the greatest encounter with mystery she would ever see.

It called her to wonder what life in this world is really about, what is possible, what is actual.

Rather than saying "Oh, it's a miracle!" Her questions of wonderment speak to me far more powerfully.

To wonder. To trust. To hope.

Some poet said, "Hope is the hardest love of all."

Just some thoughts.

6 comments:

Ur-spo said...

Trust and Hope are hard gifts to allow and receive.

Lemuel said...

I was struck by the thought that what we often credit as being a "miracle" is only a "possibility" of life that we have failed to acknowledge.

There is much here to ponder upon. Thank you for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Definitely some thoughtful words for me at this time. Hope is about the only thing I am holding onto at this time.

A Troll At Sea said...

BT:

one of my gurus once said that the miracle is "the natural law of the unique event."

Something to chew on.
T@C

Birdie said...

To wonder, and trust, and hope begins with the question "What if..." We can act as if "what if" were true. Rather than question and wait for clarity, act as if the answer you want has been given. Frequently it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Anonymous said...

Hey Joe...hope you are feeling better. I have heard this show before...it's a good one.

There are plenty of things out there to inspire more questions and some faith and hope...I've known similar, inexplicable things to happen. It's a wondrous world, innit?