questions and answers

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When I was a kid, I used to wonder if there were some unifying force, some universal solvent, some joker that fit with every other card. Some ... something. It didn't have to be a 'good' something or a 'bad' something ... I just wondered if there were such a something.

I would listen when people said "love" or "God" or "enlightenment" or "freedom" or whatever other answer they claimed to have. But their answers were never quite satisfactory in my mind. Yes, the answers sounded good, but they always seemed to peter out when I tried to rely on them.

What, if anything, was it that connected the dots, that was always at home, that was true in each time or circumstance? I worked up a number of pretty elaborate approaches to the question, but somehow the question never got answered.

Then I took up 'religion.' Not that 'religion' held out much promise, but it did seem to address the questions I found interesting or compelling. So I went ass-over-appetite into 'religion.'

And, looking back, I would say that the ass-over-appetite was the important part -- the willingness to really look into things ... things like 'religion,' perhaps ... or perhaps horseshoes or mountain climbing or singing or raising kids or whatever 'something' draws the attention. It really doesn't matter. What matters is the consent and the firmness of purpose.

I guess it just crossed my mind this morning that what once formed a question in my mind no longer did ... and that struck me as odd. Not that I felt smug about having discovered some 'answer.' I guess I'm just less worried about questions and answers.
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