The Quiet Question Within
The question that invites deeper introspection
Listening to an interview the other day, I heard the interviewee state: “…everyone has a question that drives them. You have to figure out what yours is.” He was a scientist and his particular area of interest was quantum physics. As a child, he says, he would smash rocks together over and over, making smaller and smaller rocks until there was no apparent solid rock figures left to smash. This man was driven by the question: “What is the smallest particle that exists?” He is now a scientist studying data derived from experiments performed by the infamous particle collider at CERN.
This interview was over three hours long and was fascinating to listen to – but the thought-provoking statement he made about everyone having a question sat with me for days. He spoke about how this question is something that drives us. How our life’s interests are in pursuit of answering this question. And most importantly, that everyone’s question is different. It made me ponder whether I had figured out my own question.
Perhaps it is an oversimplification to say we all have a question – as in just ONE. It’s likely more than one for many of us. More importantly, though, is the idea represented here about self-reflection. Knowing yourself enough to identify what it is, specifically, that drives you. Being guided by this knowing throughout your life’s journey. Whether it’s one question or many, becoming aware of your question(s) seems imperative when it comes to staying on course, or knowing what to choose when you have options.
It might also be a simplification to say that our interests arise from our pursuit of this question. But when it comes to the choices we make, we would do well to understand: what are our choices rooted in? Does it, in fact, all tie into this question that drives us?
Figuring out my own question
What is my question? Do I have more than one? Does it change over my lifetime? All questions that I have been thinking about since that interview. I also considered the idea: without ever having thought about this consciously until now, as I reflect, am I only applying a question based on the life I have lived intuitively – in other words, if I come up with a question now, am I selecting a question to fit the life I have already lived? Or would this question turn out to be the same whether I had given it thought 38 years ago or now? I think in the end, we are guided by this question throughout our lives whether we are conscious of it or not. At every turn, in every decision, for every preference, we choose in that moment what is aligned with us or not. The more in alignment our decisions are, the closer we are to the question that drives us. The further or more distracted we get in life, the less aligned we are with this question and we may find that where we are does not fit what we desire.
As I look back over my life, there are recurring themes that seem to point at something. A near-constant draw to creating art and designing spaces, the frequent travel near-and-far, and the theme of spirituality woven all through my experiences. These seem like clues pointing toward my question. I just haven’t figured out how to articulate it yet. What I do know is that I feel more in alignment these days. And perhaps that is my intuition letting me know that I’m not far off. And maybe, just maybe, articulating the question is less important than recognizing that we’re moving towards it.
I invite you to contemplate what the question is that has been quietly guiding you.