Power of Questions

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and
 try to love the questions themselves”


- Rainer Maria Rilke
 


“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”- The Bible



"Truth or reality must be investigated; for reality is one, and by investigating it all will find love and unity.”
– Abdu’l-Baha


“To find yourself, think for yourself.”
– Socrates



"Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse."
-African Proverb


“Reality or truth is one, yet there are many religious beliefs, denominations, creeds and differing opinions in the world today. Why should these differences exist? Because they do not investigate and examine the fundamental unity, which is one and unchangeable. If they seek reality itself, they will agree and be united; for reality is indivisible and not multiple. It is evident, therefore, that there is nothing of greater importance to mankind than the investigation of truth."
- Abdu'l-Baha



"In all affairs, it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."
- Bertrand Russell



"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
- Pablo Picasso



“No one truth can contradict another truth. Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning! A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom! A star has the same radiance if it shines from the East or from the West.”
– Abdu’l-Baha

 

“People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered, Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives, Be kind anyway.  If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies, Succeed anyway.  If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you, Be honest and frank anyway.  What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight, Build anyway.  If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous, Be happy anyway.  The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow, Do good anyway.  Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough, Give the world the best you've got anyway.  You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God, It never was between you and them anyway.”—Mother Theresa “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.” -the Talmud "Furthermore, know ye that God has created in man the power of reason, whereby man is enabled to investigate reality. God has not intended man to imitate blindly his fathers and ancestors. He has endowed him with mind, or the faculty of reasoning, by the exercise of which he is to investigate and discover the truth, and that which he finds real and true he must accept." -Abdu'l-Baha “God always answers in the deeps, never in the shallows of our soul.” –Anonymous “I cannot teach anybody anything.  I can only make them think.” - Socrates “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” ― Plato Valley of Search
The steed of this Valley is patience; without patience the wayfarer on this journey will reach nowhere and attain no goal. Nor should he ever be downhearted; if he strive for a hundred thousand years and yet fail to behold the beauty of the Friend, he should not falter. For those who seek the Ka'bih of "for Us" rejoice in the tidings: "In Our ways will We guide them." "And whoso maketh efforts for Us, in Our ways will We guide them." In their search, they have stoutly girded up the loins of service, and seek at every moment to journey from the plane of heedlessness into the realm of being. No bond shall hold them back, and no counsel shall deter them.
It is incumbent on these servants that they cleanse the heart—which is the wellspring of divine treasures—from every marking, and that they turn away from imitation, which is following the traces of their forefathers and sires, and shut the door of friendliness and enmity upon all the people of the earth.
In this journey the seeker reacheth a stage wherein he seeth all created things wandering distracted in search of the Friend. How many a Jacob will he see, hunting after his Joseph; he will behold many a lover, hasting to seek the Beloved, he will witness a world of desiring ones searching after the One Desired. At every moment he findeth a weighty matter, in every hour he becometh aware of a mystery; for he hath taken his heart away from both worlds, and set out for the Ka'bih of the Beloved. At every step, aid from the Invisible Realm will attend him and the heat of his search will grow.
One must judge of search by the standard of the Majnún of Love. It is related that one day they came upon Majnún sifting the dust, and his tears flowing down. They said, "What doest thou?" He said, "I seek for Laylí." They cried, "Alas for thee! Laylí is of pure spirit, and thou seekest her in the dust!" He said, "I seek her everywhere; haply somewhere I shall find her."
Yea, although to the wise it be shameful to seek the Lord of Lords in the dust, yet this betokeneth intense ardor in searching. "Whoso seeketh out a thing with zeal shall find it."
The true seeker hunteth naught but the object of his quest, and the lover hath no desire save union with his beloved. Nor shall the seeker reach his goal unless he sacrifice all things. That is, whatever he hath seen, and heard, and understood, all must he set at naught, that he may enter the realm of the spirit, which is the City of God. Labor is needed, if we are to seek Him; ardor is needed, if we are to drink of the honey of reunion with Him; and if we taste of this cup, we shall cast away the world.
On this journey the traveler abideth in every land and dwelleth in every region. In every face, he seeketh the beauty of the Friend; in every country he looketh for the Beloved. He joineth every company, and seeketh fellowship with every soul, that haply in some mind he may uncover the secret of the Friend, or in some face he may behold the beauty of the Loved One.
And if, by the help of God, he findeth on this journey a trace of the traceless Friend, and inhaleth the fragrance of the long-lost Joseph from the heavenly messenger, he shall straightway step into the Valley of Love”. -Baha’u’llah

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.  Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
-Albert Einstein


"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."-Socrates



"O My brother! When a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading unto the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy. He must purge his breast, which is the sanctuary of the abiding love of the Beloved, of every defilement, and sanctify his soul from all that pertaineth to water and clay, from all shadowy and ephemeral attachments. He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him away from the truth. Even as thou dost witness in this Day how most of the people, because of such love and hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have strayed far from the Embodiments of the Divine mysteries, and, shepherdless, are roaming through the wilderness of oblivion and error.”
– Baha’I Writings




“Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.”
-Paul Tillich

“A wise man's questions contain half the answer. “
–Gabiriol



"Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your actions.
Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits.
Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character.
Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny."– author unknown



“A single fact can spoil a good argument.”
—Unknown



“The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid.”
--G.K. Chesterton


"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
-Mahatma Gandhi


"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”
-Bertran Russell


Self-KnowledgeYour hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.
You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.
You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.


And it is well you should.
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals.
-K. Gibran