We all want answers and the absence of them is both frustrating and destabilising. Whether seeking a health diagnosis, or finding solutions to financial or business challenges, the search can be hard and sometimes fruitless.
Answers to philosophical questions can be the hardest of all to find. For years I asked, “Why did my child have to die?” until I realised that no answer would ever be good enough for me to accept. So, I stopped asking.
Throughout our working life we are faced with countless problems and conundrums which are within our power to solve. But many of them do not have a single simple answer, or even a palatable one. So maybe we should stop expecting the answer to be easy or straightforward. Instead, we should accept that moving forward towards enlightenment requires trial and error, the acceptance of nuance, and the understanding that whatever answer we find may one day be shown to be wrong.
Problems are not perfectly packaged, and neither are their solutions.