The Unknown

There is another level of absence as well,
and it is that which has not vanished,
but that which has not yet arrived.
We all live in a pathway in the middle of time,
so there are lots of events, people, places,
thoughts, experiences still ahead of us
that have not actually arrived
at the door of our hearts at all.
This is the world of the unknown.
Questions and thinking are ways of reaching
into the unknown to find out what
kind of treasures it actually holds.
The question is the place where
the unknown becomes articulate in us.
A good question is something that has
incredible grace and light and depth to it.
A good question is something that always,
in some way, plows the
invisible furrows of absence to find
the nourishment and treasure
that we actually need.

--John O'Donohue