Ben and I met a lovely Brazilian girl from Miami at our hostel in Queenstown. She is around our age and absolutely passionate about travel, blogging, atheism (in the science-nerd sort of way, much to Ben’s delight), and many other things. We had a fabulously stimulating conversation about uncovering personal truths through asking the right questions, rather than searching for the right answers. For, what does that mean, the “right” answers? Right for whom?
I’m learning more and more the importance of separating personal experience and interpretation thereof, from an egocentric establishment of truth. Isn’t it much more productive and beneficial to learn to ask yourself the right questions, finding the answers from within, rather than looking for answers from without? We can achieve no progress by expecting others to deliver answers to us when we haven’t even figured out what to ask. Even if someone does deliver an answer, who’s to say it addresses your question? They are not you; their truth is not your truth.
It was invigorating to meet a stranger and transition so fluidly into discussions of existentialism as a result of our individual introspections, and the desire to share them. Her longing to inspire change in the lives of others in a significant way matched my own longings. I left the conversation feeling refreshed and filled with a renewed motivation to continue putting pen to paper.
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