Beyond the importance of inquiry itself, that is the
questions we ask and to which we seek answers, this year's
conference theme, “Living the Questions,” situates inquiry
in the broader personal, institutional, social, political, and
global contexts of our lives. In so doing, it underscores the
nature of inquiry as a living process, as indicated by the
subthemes “creating,” “changing,” and “connecting.”
Further, it suggests that reflection, contemplation, and patience--as
difficult as they may be to come by in 21st century life--are essential
to the process of inquiry.
Finally, in its emphasis on living, this year’s theme challenges us to see that,
while the questions may emanate initially from our individual disciplines
or fields of endeavor, living them occurs on another plane, in a complex
interdisciplinary matrix of inquiry, ideas, and experiences which is what
the annual conference seeks to illuminate and exemplify.
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“Have patience with everything unresolved
in your heart and try to love the questions themselves...
Don't search for answers now, because you would not
be able to live them. And the point is to live everything.
Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far
in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing
it, live your way into the answer."
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~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters
to a Young Poet
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