Reflection Questions
Welcome to the Wisdom of the World - Joan Chittister

Chapters 21through 25

Chapter 21 asks “What is There to Get Up For in the Morning?”

The Sufis’ story  on pages 138-9 illustrates that “life is the mystery that takes a lifetime to solve.”  In my search over the past many years, what “answers” have unfolded that help me on my journey?  How would I describe the nature of my search today?

 
Chapter 22 asks “Where is God?”      What do the following quotes say to me about where God is in my life?

 “The presence of God does not reside in who or what we think we are.  Instead, it lodges in what we carry within us.”  (p. 147)

“If God is everywhere, then the locus of God is both within us and around us at the same time. “ (p. 147)

“Holiness is the byproduct of immersion in the God who is everywhere.” (p. 146)

“God is our companion on the way, the air we breathe, the thoughts we think, the ocean of the Spirit in which we move.”  (p. 146)

 
Chapter 23 asks the question:  “What is Happiness?” 

“Happiness comes when clinging goes.”  (p. 152)

“. . . the ability to live every day, every phase, every stage of life in the awareness that it will not be ours forever – that  is as it should be if we are to grow and love, live and grow.”  (p. 153)

What do these quotes say to me about the way the way I live and experience my life?  What changes would be helpful if I am to find deeper happiness.”

 
Chapter 24 asks the question:  “What ‘s Important in Life”.

The story told by Sufis (pp. 157-8) reminds us that “there are some things in life, whatever its burdens, however it is spent, which if we cultivate them, will never die, will be the source of our joy forever, will sustain us through everything.”  (p. 158)   For the old man in the story these “things in life” are represented by  two pressed flowers, notes in the margins of his Qur’an, and a letter from a friend  (pages 158-159 reflects on what these treasures represent).

“If the question is, What things are really important in life?

The answer depends on what is in the Qur’an that is your heart?” (p. 159)

For me, what are these?

Chapter 25 asks the question:  “Why Do I Feel That Something is Missing in My Life?”

“The missing part of us is what the spiritual life is all about.”  (P. 164) 

“. . . the feeling of emptiness is meant to move us on beyond where we are now to the fullness of life we are only here to discover.”  (p. 166)

Do I feel restless, that something is missing? 

 “When we fail to nourish the soul, to challenge it to its heights, we deny it the right to be.”  (p. 164) 

In what ways do I nourish and challenge my soul?

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