"Don't start looking in the Bible for the answers it gives. Start by listening to the questions it asks. We are much involved, all of us, with questions about things that matter a good deal today but will be forgotten by this time tomorrow - the immediate wheres and whens and hows that face us daily at home and at work - but at the same time we tend to lose track of the questions about things that matter always, life-and-death questions about meaning, purpose, and value. To lose track of such deep questions as these is to risk losing track of who we really are in our own depths and where we are really going. There is perhaps no stronger reason for reading the Bible than that somewhere among all those India-paper pages there awaits each reader whoever he is the one question which, though for years he may have been pretending not to her it, is the central question of his own life." (124-25)
I like to think of myself as a person who often dwells on deep principles and seeks out new and inspiring perspectives. But lately, I have been very guilty of sitting idly by and allowing outside sources to spoon feed me entertainment in an attempt to pass the time. I worry about things that need to be done today, or which need to be prepared for tomorrow, but other than that...I don't think much. I feel most alive when my brain is being stimulated by some cosmic question or creative challenge... and though I am aware of this self-truth, I lack the motivation to pull my brain out of it's current imaginative coma.
No matter how much I wish for a chance to get out of the house, do something exciting, take hundreds of pictures and ride the high of spontaneous amusement... that doesn't seem to be in the cards for me right now. So, instead of waiting for that sense of happy fulfillment to come from without, I need to look within and ask some of those questions that will hopefully stretch out my lethargic mental muscles. Reading books like this seems to be a good start. Back to it then!
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