Asking the Right Questions
By first asking the wrong ones
“There are no right answers to wrong questions”, quote by author, Ursula K. Le Guin.
My recent experience with technology was a reminder that life’s journey is one of discovering truth. On this journey, we ask many questions. Not all questions lead us to the answer we are looking for. Only the correct questions lead us to the correct answers.
Previously, I wrote a reflection on what living a resurrected life meant to me. Although my reflection was derived through prayer, the whole process was not an entirely prayerful one. I consulted ChatGPT before eventually turning to prayer.
Me: What is a resurrected life?
ChatGPT: A “resurrected life” refers to the belief in the resurrection of the dead, where the dead are brought back to life after death. This concept is central to many religious beliefs, such as Christianity, where it is believed that Jesus Christ was resurrected after his death on the cross. In some religions, the resurrection of the dead is believed to occur at the end of the world, and is associated with the concept of an afterlife.
This was not the answer I was looking for. I was more interested in how it might look like to live a resurrected life, beyond the physical resurrection of the body. So, I rephrased my question.
Me: How does a resurrected life look like?
ChatGPT: It is difficult to say exactly how a resurrected life would look like as it is a concept based on religious belief, and different religions have different ideas about what the resurrection of the dead entails. In Christianity, it is believed that the resurrection of the dead will be a physical resurrection, where the body will be reunited with the soul and will be immortal and incorruptible. Other religions may have different beliefs about what a resurrected life would look like. Some people interpret “resurrected life” as a person who has been brought back to life after being clinically dead.
The answer was still about the physical resurrection of the body. I rephrased my question again.
Me: What does it mean to live a resurrected life
ChatGPT: To live a “resurrected life” is used within religious contexts such as Christianity to describe a life that is transformed and empowered by the belief in the resurrection of the dead. Living a resurrected life means to live in the light of the resurrection, with the hope and promise of eternal life.
For a Christian, living a resurrected life may involve striving to imitate Jesus Christ in their daily lives, following his teachings and example, and living in a way that is consistent with the belief in the resurrection. This may include living with hope and joy in the face of suffering and adversity, being willing to forgive and love others, and actively working to build a better world.
Living a resurrected life also means to embrace a new way of living, a new way of thinking, and a new way of being. It implies to be open to change, to be transformed by faith and to be renewed in spirit, to be dead to sin and alive to God, to live by the Spirit of God and not by the flesh. To live a resurrected life is to live with the awareness that death is not the end but a new beginning, and with this understanding to live with a sense of purpose, hope, and joy.
Finally, something that sits better with me. However, the answer was still abstract. I could not see how living a resurrected life might look tangibly. At this point, I realized that the question of what a resurrected life meant to me personally could only be answered by myself. It was an answer only God could reveal through prayer.
My interaction with ChatGPT reminded me that we journey through life asking many questions. Some questions do not give us the answers we want, so we rephrase the question. Some questions give us answers that we are skeptical of, so we question further. People have differing opinions, so they give different answers. We question ourselves, question others, question God. We question why we ask those questions. It is a process of fine-tuning the questions. It is a process of finding the right sources. We will not find the answers we are looking for if we ask the wrong questions. We only find our answers when we ask the right questions. And when we arrive at the correct question to the best available person, we finally land an answer we are satisfied with.
The process continues, going deeper with the same subject, or evolving to a different question. Each time we find that we have discovered an aspect of truth, we also find that there is more to uncover. Truth draws us in, truth makes us fulfilled. The questions do not end for me. What is it like for you?
(ChatGPT answers were edited to make it concise)
