Once upon a time many, many years ago a teacher was approaching a village. The teacher had agreed to teach in two villages about twenty miles apart. She would spend three days in one village, take a day to travel and spend three days in the next village. As she approached the first village she noticed a soldier guarding the entrance into the village. As she approached, the soldier blocked her path, held his lance across his chest in a menacing manner and demanded, in a voice that shook the ground: Who are you? Why are you here? Where are you going? Why are you choosing to go there?
The teacher took a few deep breaths and asked: ‘How much do they pay you to stand here and ask these questions?’ The soldier was taken aback, stunned if you will by the question and by the gentle nature of the teacher. His demeanor softened as did his voice. He replied: ‘They pay me a half piece of silver a month.’
The teacher took another deep breath; looked directly into the soldier’s eyes and said: ‘I will be coming to teach in this village every week. I will pay you a half piece of silver each week if you promise to ask me the same four questions each time I enter this village.’
More than twenty years ago I began to emerge what I call Essential Life Questions; I now have five pages of them divided into different categories. I still experience that these four are, for me, my guiding questions. Perhaps you will choose to hold one or more of these and perhaps you will begin to emerge additional questions that will also become essential life questions for you.
Searcher-Seeker 