"Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
--- Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
What questions can you ask to help move an acquaintance into a real friendship?
What questions are worth savoring - pondering - considering - without being in a hurry for answers?
What questions take us deeper into our own hearts, and into the hearts of others? How can we listen mindfully to the answers?
How can we create a culture of questions on campus?
Below are lists of questions which can enrich your relationship with yourself and with other people. But that enrichment is possible only when we are able to listen to answers with open minds and hearts. Ask with mindfulness: with curiosity and openness, withholding judgments or preconceptions. Make room in your soul for surprising answers. Ask with a desire to learn, grow, know, and love. Don't interrupt with comments or opinions - let the person fully answer the question, and let them know you are paying full attention. Listening is what happens when we let the words of others sink in deep enough to take root. Like soil must be broken and tilled to be ready for seeds, our souls must be broken open in order to make way for what others need to tell us. This takes time! So after you get an answer to your question, pause for a while to meditate on it before asking more questions or making any comments. Often, when the answer to a question reveals some kind of suffering or difficulty, we're tempted to respond right away with advice, or by telling stories from our own lives that are similar. But this just deflects attention away from the person to whom we were listening, putting ourselves at the center of the conversation. Often we do this in order to relieve our own discomfort with what we've just heard. But if we're truly listening, we'll make room for that discomfort - paying mindful attention to it, without trying to end it or fix it. More than anything else, our friends just need us to be present, listening silently with hearts open to what they have to say. (For more, listen to this wonderful NPR radio show: The Act of Listening)
This list is a work in progress! Add your questions by submitting them to me.
Ten questions to kindle a campfire:
- What's surprising about you?
- What are you afraid of?
- When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
- What are you most grateful for?
- What "unknown" or question is most interesting to you, in your field of work or study - and why?
- What is weird about you?
- What keeps you up at night?
- How is your soul right now?
- What do you really wish you knew when you were younger?
- What do you really want to know?
Questions about friendship:
1. What question or event helped you and an acquaintance become friends?
2. What are the levels of friendship for you – social media friends, your “network”, close friends, etc? What are the differences between these kinds of friends?
3. How many true friends can you have, really? and why?
4. Of your friends, pick one: how has that friend changed and shaped your life?
5. What would make it easier to make and keep real friends on campus?
6. How do you know when somebody is really listening to you?
7. Have you ever felt betrayed by a friend, and if so, what was that like for you?
8. Are you grieving the loss of any friendship or other relationship right now?
36 Questions on the Way to Love – New York Times- nytimes.com/36q –
- Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest, and why?
- Would you like to be famous? In what way?
- What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
- When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
- If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?
- Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?
- Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.
- For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
- If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
- Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.
- If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
- If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?
- Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?
- What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
- What do you value most in a friendship?
- What is your most treasured memory?
- What is your most terrible memory?
- If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?
- What does friendship mean to you?
- What roles do love and affection play in your life?
- Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items.
- How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?
- How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?
- Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ... “
- Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share ... “
- If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know.
- Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met.
- Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life.
- When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?
- Tell your partner something that you like about them already.
- What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
- If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?
- Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?
- Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?
- Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.
The Six Types of Socratic Questions: a helpful resource.
Lots more questions:
What random stranger has had the biggest impact on your life?
What are you missing that would enable you to know what you are missing?
What achievement are you proud of but most people would consider silly or weird?
What is something you think you will regret in the future not starting now and what is something you already regret not starting sooner?
What is beauty?
What could you talk about all day long?
What do you wish you could believe, but can't quite believe?
Of your beliefs, which are most worth questioning?
What part of your culture are you most and least proud of?
What’s the worst and best thing for you about your gender?
What nouns cannot, or ought not, be the subjects of declaratory sentences?
What matters most: freedom to, or freedom from?
If you could put your brain in a robot and live indefinitely, would you?
Where do you find more truth: in the front page of a newspaper, or in myth/poetry?
What is the basis or source of your ethics and morality?
How do you get from "but" to "and", from "against" to "through", from "for to "with"?
If you could replace the handshake as a greeting, what interesting new greeting would you replace it with?
Who’s the worst guest you’ve had in your house and what did they do?
Are you lonely?
Why do you get up each morning?
What is your greatest regret? - your greatest success?
What is the riskiest thing you have ever done?
When does time pass fastest for you and when does it pass the slowest?
Have you ever experienced eternity?
What always sounds like a good idea at the time but rarely is?
Are humans fundamentally different than animals? If so, what makes us different?
What pictures or paintings have had a big impact on you?
What movie or book character are you most similar to?
You can broadcast one sentence to every TV channel and radio in the world and have it translated to each country’s language. What sentence do you say?
What fact are you really surprised that more people don’t know about?
What are you completely over and done with?
For you, what is the purpose of life?
What memory do you just keep going back to?
What’s the most immature thing your parents do?
What are you most passionate about and what do you wish you were more passionate about?
Who haven’t you seen or talked to in a long time and hope they are doing okay?
Where is the last place you would ever go?
Who is the humblest person you know?
What do you wish people would stop asking you?
What is the most unusual fear you have?
What is your favorite TV show?
What’s the most ridiculous argument you’ve had?
What’s the biggest lesson life has taught you?
What’s the weirdest tradition your family has?
If you could choose anyone living or dead, who would you choose to lead our country?
What app on your phone do you wish you used more?
What is something that you think people are only pretending to like or are deluding themselves into liking?
What joke went way too far?
What is your very first memory?
What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve said or done around someone you had a crush on?
Who is your favorite actor or actress?
What doesn’t exist but you desperately want / need it?
If you could hear every time someone said something good about you or something negative about you, which would you choose?
What do you wish you could re-live
Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?
What sentence can you say that makes total sense now but would seem insane 20 years ago?
How decisive or indecisive are you?
If you were given $5,000 to give the most amount of happiness to the most amount of people, what would you do?
What piece of culture or trend has died out, but you would like to see it make a comeback?
What’s something from your childhood that used to be common but now is pretty rare?
What kinds of things are normal now but will be highly valued antiques a century later?
What’s something horrible that we as humans have accepted, because that’s just how things are; but actually things don’t have to be that way at all?
What was the worst phase you went through?
If you were an action figure, what accessories would you be sold with?
What options would come up if you could “right-click” people?
What was something you ate regularly as a child but now cringe at the thought of eating?
What’s something you learned recently that you really should have already known?
Who do you make happy?
What’s an innocent mistake you made that had dramatic consequences?
What’s in your pockets right now?
Which would you choose: 100 new social media friends, or just one new true friend?
What’s the best piece of advice someone has given you?
What do you think people automatically assume about you when they look at you?
Looking back on your life, what have you done that has given you the most satisfaction?
What do you wish you had more time for?
When was the last time you had a gut feeling about something that turned out to be correct? How about a time your gut feeling was wrong?
What’s your “and then it got worse” story?
What’s the biggest lie that someone told you?
What would be the worst thing to put into a piñata?
What was a huge deal when it happened but now everyone seems to have forgotten about it?
If you could dedicate your life to solving one problem, what problem would you choose?
What’s your favorite way to meet new people?
What website or app has completely changed your life for better or for worse?
What makes you feel old?
Who is or was your greatest rival?
What’s your favorite non-drug / non-alcohol high?
What’s the worst thing you’ve heard one person say to another person?
What was your most memorable dream or nightmare? What did it tell you about your life?
What have you gotten too old to put up with?
What’s the most ridiculous thing you have convinced someone is true?
What event would you like to know the whole and complete truth about?
What type of design style do you like most? From architecture, interior design, art, cars, phones or whatever.
What always lets you down and what never lets you down?
What’s something you completely changed your mind about and went from believing one thing to believing the exact opposite?
If you could know one truth about yourself, history, the world, or even the universe, what truth would you want to know?
What’s your best ethically gray life hack?
Assuming you name inanimate objects, what are some names for inanimate objects you own or have owned? (i.e. cars, computers, shoes, etc.)
What question have you always wanted to ask, but were too afraid of looking stupid?
What would your warning label say if every person was required to have one?
What weird childhood fear do you still kind of hold on to?
What’s the best decision you’ve ever made?
What’s the most embarrassing thing that has fallen out of your bag?
What’s something that only someone from where you grew up would understand?
What would make the world more interesting if it was a different color?
What makes someone a “good” person?
What would the trailer to a movie about your life be like?
What kind of old person would you like to become?
If you could custom design an organ for yourself, what would it do and where would it go?
Do you think that humans as a species have gotten better through the generations or worse? Why?
What are some examples of small changes that can be made that really improve the lives of a country’s citizens?
What or who would you sacrifice your life for?
What is the most important thing a person can do to improve themselves?
What single event has had the biggest impact on who you are?
Do you think the future will be better than the present? Why?
Do you think human morality is learned or innate?
What’s the most crucial thing for a healthy relationship?
What lies do you most often tell yourself?
Do you think the present is better than 50 years ago? Why?
What much is a human life worth and are some lives worth more than others?
Will humans spread out among the stars or just be a brief blip in Earth’s history?
Do you think that war is inevitable or can it be ended completely?
What makes a person truly evil? Are they born that way or did their environment make them that way?
What’s the most extreme example of poverty you have seen?
What do a lot of parents do that screws up their kid?
Is it better to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?
The Questions of Jesus
This selection of questions that Jesus asked in the four gospels of the New Testament is intended for open-ended, contemplative, prayerful personal meditation and group conversation. Here, the questions are presented out of their contexts in the gospel narratives. Those contexts are well-worthy of study and consideration. But here, you can fit Jesus' questions into your own contexts, imagining how they address or challenge your own life-experience. The questions are presented here as "koans" - spiritual "monkey-wrenches" tossed into our minds to break us loose from habits that get in the way of Divine Love. There are no right answers. It may be enough to contemplate the questions rather than trying to answer them! How can these questions bring us closer to the true Divine Nature within, and draw us closer in loving community? After each question, I offer some prompts for reflection....
1. And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? (Matt 6:27-28) (What are your worries? When and how do they arise? How do they manifest physically?)
2. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? (Matt 7:2) (What are the logs in your own eyes? What prejudices and assumptions and judgments get in the way of your ability to see things as they are, on their own terms? How clearly can you see these "logs"?)
3. Why are you afraid, you of little faith? (Matt 8:26) (What are you afraid of? What is the root of your fear? When/how do these fears arise? How do these fears affect your life and the lives of others? How do your fears manifest in your body?)
4. Do you believe that I am able to do this? (Matt 9:28) (What do you need to do? Do you believe you can do it? Examine your beliefs about what you can and cannot accomplish.)
5. What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? (Matt 11:8) (When you go out into nature, what are you seeking, if anything? What do you find in the wilderness?)
6. Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? (Matt 12:48) (Who matters to you? For whom would you lay down your life, and vice-versa? What kind of relationship do you have with the people most important to you? Does change need to come to these relationships?)
7. How many loaves have you? (Matt 15:34) (What do you have to work with - what are your resources to deal with the challenges before you? Are they sufficient? Can you "make do"?)
8. But who do you say that I am? (Matt 16:15) - What is your name? (Luke 8:30) (Who are you, in your essence? If you lovingly observe yourself in prayerful, mindful contemplation, who/what is it that is doing the observing?)
9. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? (Matt 20:22) (Are you ready/willing to suffer, or serve others who are suffering? How can you make yourself ready to do so?)
10. What do you want me to do for you? (Matt 20:32) (What kind of help do you need? Are you willing to ask for it?)
11. So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? (Matt 26:40) - Simon, are you asleep? (Mark 14:37) - Why are you sleeping? (Luke 22:46) (In what ways are you "asleep", spiritually/emotionally/mentally? What would help you come "awake"?)
12. My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me? (Matt 27:46) (Is there any part of you in despair? What is the root of that despair?)
13. Who touched my clothes? (Mark 5:30) (Do you feel drained of energy, spiritually or physically? What drained you? How can you be revived with energy?)
14. Can you see anything? (Mark 8:23) (In what ways are you blind - unable to "see" important aspects of life within and around you?)
15. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? (Luke 22:27) (In what ways are you a servant, and in what ways are you a master? What is it like to be in each of those roles? Are there situations in which those roles should be reversed for you?)
16. What are you discussing as you walk along? (Luke 24:17) (What chatter is going on in your mind right now? What are you thinking right now? What kind of inner dialogue is going on in you right now?)
17. What are you looking for? (John 1:38) (What do you want? Is anything missing in your life? What do you want to do about it? What are you willing to do about it?)
18. Do you want to be made well? (John 5:6) (In what ways are you not well? What is your level of desire to become well? What difference might it make if your desire was stronger?)
19. Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me? (John 18:34) (In what ways do you just "go with the flow" of other people's expectations for you? How much should you resist that flow? What are ways in which you need to be more authentic about your own choices and views?)
20. Do you love me? (John 21:16) (Is there love in your life? Whom do you love? Do you love yourself? Do you experience divine love, and what is it like?)
Website: MINDFULCHRISTIANITY.ORG Weblog: MUSINGS Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
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Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California