dancingthroughchaos

“There are no right answers to wrong questions.”                                                                                            Ursula K Le Guin – US Author

So I’m back in the UK, and everywhere I turn I am hearing about The Referendum; a possible ‘Brexit’; US threats to trade priorities; the importance of registering etc.  I have just been studying a very helpful infographic which illustrates how the EU works.  Embarrassingly, it also revealed a large gap in my knowledge which I hope is now filled.  EU Council, Commission, Parliament – somehow they were all smooshed together as one mass of malevolent bureaucracy in my head.  Elected, appointed… either way, those involved seemed determined to pursue a sinister agenda of some sort.

The European Economic Community was originally conceived and created in 1957 as a means of improving the economic integration of members.  The UK joined only in 1973, having had our application vetoed not once, but twice, by Monsieur de Gaulle.  Free movement of people and trade always seemed like a good idea, but approving 280 pieces of legislation since 1992 begins to look excessive. The EEC became the EU in 1993, and before we could say, “United Federal States of Europe”, it seems that others were saying it for us.  Allegedly.  As the only one of the 9 members at the time who didn’t go down the Euro road, we’ve always been a bit on the edge here in the UK – the grit in the European shoe, as it were.

So, David Cameron is feeling magnanimous as he offers us all a chance to say whether we want to stay in or leave.  Yes or No.  In or out.  Very stark.  Very simplistic. Maybe rather too simplistic?  In reality, no one seems to be able to give definitive outcomes for either choice.

 I can’t help feeling perhaps he’s asking the wrong question.

Was this the question anyone was actually asking? In fact, asking the wrong question could soon become a national pastime.  Are you for the NHS or against the NHS?  Are you for the Premiere League or against it?  Are you pro- or anti-homosexual?  Are you pro- or anti- vegetarians, the military, schools, unions, homeless people, transgenders, junior doctors, free speech, migrants… What? Pardon?  Excuse me?

These are absolutely, clearly and blatantly the Wrong Questions.  When did people become no more valuable than the views and issues they evoke or represent? We might just as well ask, are you for or against people?  It’s the wrong question.

If we followed Rabbinic tradition, in which a question was often answered with another question, we might make some progress. Jesus is a great example of this skill, frequently throwing out a more penetrating, relevant or challenging question to those around Him who were also asking the wrong questions – people who were trying to catch Him out rather than uncover truth.

Logic tells me that if we ask the wrong question we will invariably arrive at the wrong answer.  We can’t just keep pushing on and hope it will come right in the end.  It won’t. Like a maths problem, we must go back to where things went awry and rework the problem from there.

So which are the right questions?  Not just for local or national politics, but for life?  Is it all about which school you attend, which car you drive, what salary you attain?  Might there be some other questions which need answering first, I wonder…  Who am I?  Why am I here?  These are truly big questions, and they really need to be answered before any others which, inevitably, will build on their foundational conclusions.  Some questions are simply more urgent and more illuminating than others.  Perhaps my favourite is Jesus’ most challenging question of all, which echoes through all the ages of history: “Who do you say I am?”

I need to not only think about that, but answer it carefully. That crucial answer will colour my answers to so many other questions, if I take it seriously, regardless of the outcome on June 23rd.