Embrace the Unsolvable
I ran across a quote in a sermon recently that I can’t get out of my mind. The quote is from Eugene Peterson who said, “A solved life is a reduced life.” So many layers come to mind for me. I am wired to drive and figure out everything around me. I analyze why certain things are happening. I strive to become my most effective self. Basically, I constantly pursue solving the equation of life. It’s not just me. I watch what happens anytime someone asks a question in my family where the answer is not immediately known. Phones come out, and the definitive answer is retrieved in a matter of seconds. We have come to expect that all problems can be resolved if we only apply ourselves. We operate with the illusion that life can, and eventually will be solved. What heights of arrogance!
As Peterson notes, our life is reduced when we buy into the illusion that life, our life, can be solved. A solved life is explainable and therefore controllable. Life in a nice, neat box. While this may make us temporarily feel better, we inevitably learn that controlling life is not possible. A single phone call or diagnosis will rid us of that idiocy.
When we think that we are able to master life’s problems, we inevitably lose wonder. We lose curiosity. We lose mystery. We settle for surface answers and miss out on the deeper truths that enrich life. Solvable becomes…
