Not often, but sometimes, you stumble upon a question that is so profound to you that you would almost be sad to find the answer. It keeps you searching yourself, calling upon something deeper than rote learning or textbook memorization.
Perhaps we can call these “floating questions.” They evade scientific explanation.
Floating questions demand an answer from your life. They can generate enormous passion, send humans into space, and create beautiful art. They call for creativity, sacrifice, perhaps for your life.
An entrepreneur thinks, “how can we create a better X?” and creates the answer for it with her life and activity. An activist wonders, “how can we create a better Y?” and becomes transformed in the process.
A nation or community can even live out a floating question. Though the founders had no guarantees it would succeed in 1789, they made the supreme law of the land dedicated to a floating question: “Can representative democracy work?” It remains to be answered by us still.
They’re not googleable. And if the answers are found, they’re often so wound up in someone’s wisdom that they’re almost impossible to relate. You have to experience them yourself.
We read biographies of people who made their lives a reaction and a response to bold questions. But fame isn’t required for building your life around meaningful questions, though the opposite may improve your chances.
What questions do you want to answer with your life? There are no right or wrong questions.