Most of our questions arise from our circumstances — and therein, we usually find answers too. But some questions have no answers at the circumstantial level. Such dead ends impel us to ask deeper questions. For example, if someone close to us passes away despite our best efforts to save them, we may confront the question, “What really matters in life?
While irresolvable circumstances can impel us to raise the quality of our questions from circumstantial to existential, it’s risky to wait for our circumstances to turn unbearable. Why risky? Because such circumstances may make us too frustrated, infuriated, resentful to think clearly. Instead of asking, “How can I act meaningfully amid this pain?” we might be mentally trapped in the question, “Why is this happening to me?” While the latter question is universally understandable as a human reaction, it is utterly unhelpful as a guide to judicious action.
That’s why before adversities hit us, we need to proactively habituate ourselves to questions such as, “What can bring meaning to my life? How can I act meaningfully right now?” When we earnestly seek answers to such questions and mold our life accordingly, we are better prepared to face adversity thoughtfully: we can find the inner momentum to again ask that question and thereby find a way to meaningful action.
Because Arjuna had trained himself lifelong to deliberate on what was meaningful, the ethical dilemma at the start of the Kurukshetra war didn’t overwhelm him for long. He soon found enough composure to raise his driving question — from the circumstantial: “Why am I faced with this terrible choice?” to the existential: “Amid this dilemma, how can I act meaningfully?” Or phrased in Arjuna’s contemporary lexicon, “What is dharma?” (Bhagavad-gita 02.07).
One-sentence summary:
Instead of waiting for adversities to push us into raising our questions from circumstantial to existential, better to proactively ask: “How can I act meaningfully right now?”
Think it over:
- To raise the quality of our questions, what’s wrong with waiting for adverse circumstances?
- How can we be proactive in raising the quality of our questions?
- What is your present driving question? How can you raise the quality of your driving question?
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02.07: Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
Think twice before you talk