For those of you who have not read it, I’d like to suggest that you read Warren Berger’s fantastic book, “A More Beautiful Question.” (it can be purchased from Amazon.ca HERE) I won’t give away too many details. However, the basis of the book is all about our own eternal search for purpose in the world. Berger talks in-depth about business leaders, self-help guru’s, education professionals and inventors. Perhaps his best subjects, the people who have the most impact on what makes this book great, are kids.
Above all, “A More Beautiful Question” examines how we outgrow the act of asking questions the older we get, and the problems we face in doing so. For instance, the book talks about how self-consciousness, doubt, and years of “learning” from those in charge teach us, perhaps incorrectly, that answers matter more than questions. Reading the book, I was immediately reminded of the Queen in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass.”
“When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
In the middle of chapter five, at the very end of the book, Berger posits possibly one of the most profound questions I have ever heard in my entire life. That sounds cliché, doesn’t it? Can it be true? Well, to quote Shakespeare, “Gentles perchance you wonder at this show. But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.” Berger quotes Pastor Robert Schuller when he asks What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
Wow. Let me type that again. Read it slowly. Consider it. Let it take hold in the deepest recesses of your mind. What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
As I read that sentence, over and over, I found my mind was set on fire. For the first time in… I don’t know how long, my imagination was running rampant. What WOULD I attempt to do if I could not fail? Wow…
In my next blog, I’m going to discuss precisely that. Once per month I will be writing a blog with the 100 things I would do if I knew I could not fail. I invite your comments, questions, and suggestions. What chances would YOU take…what would YOU do if you knew you could not fail?