Lilim 016 — Ask the Big Questions

A Photograph #

UPLB is filled with empty houses. Dorms are emptied by the pandemic, with no assurances of being occupied anytime soon. Then there are also those houses unoccupied for so long even before the pandemic started that termites and the elements, so domineering in forested areas like the campus, have already started to consume. I walked past one during one of my recent walks on the campus. It is one of the widest houses—American-style houses—built for qualified UP employees to live in. I had to stop to admire its size. How can something so large be so dilapidated? The posts that elevate the house are okay. But an entire wall of the house has been opened, and the stairs towards the door are missing several steps. No one can enter the door. Who lived here before? Why was it never inhabited again? Who opened the door last? Who closed it?

A Thought #

It is necessary to ask the big questions by ourselves.

We have outsourced a lot of this asking to people we think are more intelligent than us—philosophers, spiritual leaders, and powerful people. However, these questions are so important to let others do the asking. The answers for these questions determine all the other decisions we do in our life. We need to empower ourselves to ask these questions.

To do that, we need to make the process easier (i.e., less intimidating) and make it practical and relevant to us.

One way to make this process easier is by using art to experience, express, and interpret the questions.

A Quote #

The contemplation of things as they are, without substitution or imposture, without error or confusion, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention.

— Francis Bacon

A Question #

What question did you contemplate recently?

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