Geez. This book just
gets better. First of all, I learned in
this chapter that questions are easier to ask than they are to answer. Many questions have multiple possible
solutions, and in this chapter, the philosopher claimes that maybe that is the
problem. What if that IS the
problem? What if there really are
simple, beautiful answers to all the questions we ask? What if nothing is as complicated as we make
it out to be? Are we simply thinking too
hard about the science of things?
The idea presented in the book is that once a question has
been solved by science, it is much harder for us to see it in any other light
than the one we are constantly exposed to.
For example, when people had accepted the idea that Earth was the center
of the universe, many of them quit wondering.
Why should they wonder when science had supposedly found an answer? But then, Copernicus declared that it was
actually the sun at the center of the universe, and Earth revolved around
it. It took forever for that theory to
be adapted, even though now, we could never think of it another way. That is because we have accepted the
theory. We would be completely shocked
if anyone were ever to present a new idea because we simply are not open to the
wonder of the question any longer. We
have found our answer, and that is good enough for us. But wait!
What happens when someone disagrees with our answer? What happens when there are multiple theories
out there, and in the space of our minds, everything becomes jumbled? What should we believe, what should we
not? Why must there be so many different
ideas out there? The basis of conflict
is the disagreement of ideas. What if we
could all find one solid thing to believe in?
One solid answer. Maybe the
answer to solving conflict is finding an answer that everyone can accept.
But that’s just it! We can’t all accept an idea. It just doesn’t happen. I imagine that somewhere out in the world,
some person is trying to prove that the moon is actually the center of our
revolution, or that Mars is the center of the universe. It sounds crazy, but so did the sun being at
the center. Someone out there disagrees
with the accepted “truth” and someone always will.
Maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be. One of the ideas strongly expressed in this
book is the word HABIT. When we are in
the habit of believing something, we lose our sense of wonder for it. To keep the excitement alive, we must
continue to change our thinking, to see things in different light. Why settle for believing one thing? Life is a journey, and I personally believe
that we are meant to change. And we are
meant to question the things we believe because otherwise, we might take it for
granted. If you believe in God, I don’t
think he will condemn you for questioning him, because everytime you do, you
are renewing your wonder in him.
Questioning is a part of growth and change, and when we believe we’ve
found an answer and we stop questioning, then we stop growing. We stop moving forward and we are stuck in a
rut, strapped into the routine of our lives.
And what’s the point in that?
So basically, what I’m getting at is that we shouldn’t lose
our sense of wonder, and we should never let ourselves run out of questions.
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