About
Life is uncertain. We never know what happens next. And yet, despite uncertainty, we continue to search for a place to rest. Trying to find security in a fluid and changing world defines our struggle as human beings – our predicament.
In her book, The Power of an Open Question, author Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel takes this predicament by the horns and turns it into an inquiry…and she invites us to join her. Uncertainty, she suggests, can haunt us if we are looking for security. But Namgyel challenges us to see uncertainty in another way: “Wonder, amazement, creativity, our sense of adventure, we would have none of this if we had all the answers we’re looking for.” This spirit of wonderment is what she calls “open questioning”.
When we ask a question we have not yet closed down around an answer. Yet we are engaged and interested. We discover life as a work in progress. Open questioning works in accordance with dynamic and fluid nature of things and enables us to respond to the world with intelligence, compassion and ease.
Namgyel’s approach is grounded in 25 years of Buddhist practice. She draws her inspiration from the life of the Buddha, who himself grappled with the human predicament, found his way to the mind of an open question, and attained awakening.
Namgyel has written a provocative, playful and practical book that has much to teach us about the human search for answers in an uncertain world.