Reflect

In this age of lightning-fast access to information, have we relinquished our capacity to ponder the big questions? What is morally right? What constitutes a life well lived? Does anything exist beyond the tangible world? What is sacred? Sure, we could type these questions into a search engine and get a million opinions, but what are each of our unique responses? Asking big questions of ourselves and one another, articulating our thoughts, and listening well — this is how we deepen both our self-knowledge and our ability to understand and be in community with people who hold differing views. Acclaimed philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues, “The problem with our politics is not too much moral argument but too little. Our politics is overheated because it is mostly vacant, empty of moral and spiritual content. It fails to engage with big questions that people care about.” In simplest terms: engaging the big questions, not just in our private lives but in public spaces, is key to our collective vibrancy.