Saturday, March 3, 2012

As I walk in good company

















"A sense of Mystery can take us beyond disappointment and judgment to a place of expectancy. It opens in us an attitude of listening and respect. If everyone has in them the dimension of the unknown, possibility is present at all times. . . Knowing this enables us to listen to life from the place in us that is Mystery also. Mystery requires that we relinquish an endless search for answers and become willing to not understand. . . Perhaps real wisdom lies in not seeking answers at all. Any answer we find will not be true for long. An answer is a place where we can fall asleep as life moves past us to its next question. After all these years, I have begun to wonder if the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company."

~ from MY GRANDFATHER'S BLESSINGS, by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

That's the kind of medical doctor I will listen to.

("Beloved," gouache and watercolor by am from the late 1980s or early 1990s, my late 30s or early 40s. The words in the painting are a poem I wrote when I was 17 years old, in December of 1966)

1 comment:

The Solitary Walker said...

This quotation is marvellous. 'Any answer we find will not be true for long.' I have found this to be true. (But perhaps it will not be true for long?) How refreshing it is that everything is turned on its head here. Instead of believing there's an answer, accept there isn't and embrace the Mystery!

'After all these years, I have begun to wonder if the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.' I love this.