I used to work as a telecommunications engineer, daily immersed in solving the problems encountered in laying out new transmission paths for the radio signals. After one completely frustrating impasse in our design, with no hope of a solution on the drawing board, our whole team met with our collective bigger boss. He sat in the meeting and listened to all of the discussions and presentations. Then he calmly, in his big boss sort of way, stood up and said, “Gentleman, perhaps we are not finding the answers we need, because we are asking the wrong questions.”
I think that works on our spiritual quest as well. Jazz pianist, Kenny Werner, says it perfectly – “there is no problem or obstacle we encounter, that can withstand the power of a good deep breath.” Perhaps we need to pause and get ourselves off center. Questions to further our own agenda rarely lead us closer to God.