A Second Reply

My Dear Mr. Gardner,

You know that a wise poet once said, "“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day." * Your questions are not bad. Even desiring answers is not bad. When answers become all that matter, that is when problems arise. When the ends come first, sight is blinded, vision blurred. The questions, the journey of life, are what matter. By all means allow the answer to come to you. It is silly to watch an answer arrive, but let it pass so the question still remains. The questions are very much like the soil of your garden. At times the soil may not allow anything to blossom, may not allow flowers to grow. The soil is not bad, it just needs more nutrients and care. Other times, the soil may lead to beautiful and fantastic results. Enjoy and cherish these. Those are the answers that really matter. Those flowers add life and vibrancy.
Your questions themselves are very valid. Our world is one of brokenness, one of loneliness, one of hurt. The question of what causes this, or what allows for that, or what can I do to alleviate this, are good and true. But perhaps the better question would be, Why do these problems exist at all in our world? The above points are certainly true. But our world is also one of trust, one of community, and one of love. And perhaps an even better question is, Why is our world not more aware of these qualities? If you build your garden in these qualities think of the flowers, of the beauty, that can blossom.
Do not be so hard on yourself. A garden takes time, patience, care, and love to cultivate. So too, do the questions. The problems of the world will not be solved all at once. Only through great effort will they be overcome. They can never be forgotten either. Cultivate. Learn. Try new things. Live out the questions, and see what answers you can find. But most importantly, LOVE. Love the questions, love the struggle, love the brokenness, love the journey of life itself. Healing comes from living. Live the questions and healing will follow.

*Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet