Scary Questions

Are there some things you choose not to question? Perhaps you have believed in a certain ideology or mindset your entire life, and you simply never thought about entertaining a contrasting viewpoint. Maybe you're scared about what you might discover on the other side, and you choose (whether consciously or subconsciously) to ignore the question. After all, if you're wrong about something that is fundamentally true to your own being, would you even want to know it? Asking the questions can be quite frightening if you allow your mind to wander.

This is where we find our delightful, inquisitive, and intellectual superstar Calvin. The big questions cross this six-year-old's mind all too often in the works of Bill Watterson's marvelous cartoon strip, forcing him to make a critical decision. He must either forget the notion ever popped into his brain and continue to go on living peacefully (and perhaps ignorantly), or he must pose the question and dive into the depths of fear and growth that may follow. Fortunately for his audience, Calvin almost always chooses the latter.


                                                        Cartoon by Bill Watterson.

What started as a simple thought sprouted into an idea that changed everything. While Calvin's fear in this particular case is being afraid of ghosts, this idea of exploring scary questions is applicable on a deeper level to anyone that is willing to ask.

From personal experience, such questions have given root to various forms of unsettling insecurity in my life. Being raised by the amazing and loving family I was born into, I was taught to believe in a certain set of values from a very young age. Simply put, there were some things I was basically told not to question. While this created a blanket of security, faith, and absolute trust, it left my head spinning in confusion and bafflement when I eventually began to explore the questions in my senior year of high school.

Am I wrong?....the three words that are powerful enough to challenge everything I stand for and relentlessly torment my inner being. However, they only have their power when they slide past that first wall of mental defense, that filter that gently sweeps aside any thought that contradicts a set of core beliefs. The question only gains its power when you decide to face it straight on with an open mind, diving head-first into a messy, painful, yet often beautiful swamp of intellectual discovery.

             
                          This image is compliments of Kevin O'Reagan.

However, it's the testing moments like these where my faith has grown stronger than ever before. After getting my hands dirty and digging through the thoughts that have troubled me the most, my beliefs have been refined and transformed in a way that gives me more security now than before I had even asked the question. And while the battle is never over, I feel confident about the direction I'm going when life's toughest questions inevitably arise.

So whether it's doubts about faith, love, justice, or any other concept you may have seedlings of trouble with, one last question remains: when is it better to play ignorant, and when is it better to pursue a radical thought?