"Hey Ren, what's at the end of endless questioning?"
In the after-school classroom, Haru asked while looking out the window.
"That's also a question," Ren smiled wryly.
"But I want to know. If you keep questioning, where do you finally arrive?"
Ren pondered. "There might not be a destination."
"So it continues infinitely?"
"Perhaps."
Mio quietly closed her book. The two turned around.
"Mio, do you want to say something?" Haru asked.
Mio shook her head and opened her book again.
Ren murmured. "She might know the answer."
"Mio does?"
"She just doesn't put it into words."
Haru stared at Mio. "What do you mean?"
"What lies beyond questioning might be beyond words."
"Beyond words?"
Ren explained. "Logic can take you only so far. Beyond that is the realm of experience and intuition."
"Isn't that philosophy?"
"It's also philosophy's limit."
Only the sound of Mio turning pages echoed.
Haru questioned. "So even if you keep questioning, you can't express it in words?"
"Inexpressible doesn't mean meaningless," Ren corrected. "It might be the most important thing."
"Isn't that contradictory?"
"Philosophy embraces contradictions."
Mio stood up and opened the window. Wind entered.
"Did she just convey something?" Haru asked Ren.
"In her own way," Ren smiled. "Through means other than words."
Haru thought. "What lies beyond questioning is silence?"
"One answer."
"But then nothing progresses."
Ren said quietly. "The definition of progress is the issue. Accumulating knowledge isn't the only progress."
"What else?"
"Deepening understanding, changing perspectives, transforming existence."
Haru was surprised. "Existence transforms?"
"By continuing to question, people change. The world they see changes."
Mio turned toward them. For the first time, their eyes met.
Haru gasped. "Mio's eyes are deep."
"She's seeing beyond questioning," Ren said.
"How?"
"By not questioning."
Haru was confused. "Beyond questioning without questioning?"
"Like a Zen koan," Ren laughed. "Contradictions point to truth."
Mio nodded slightly.
"She agreed?" Haru was surprised.
"She exists outside of words."
Haru asked seriously. "So is our endless questioning futile?"
"Not futile," Ren asserted. "By questioning with words, we learn the limits of words. That's the first step."
"What's beyond the first step?"
"Each person finds it."
Mio opened her notebook and wrote one line. She showed it to Haru.
"'Questions are the path, answers are home,'" Haru read aloud. "What does it mean?"
Ren interpreted. "Walking the path is the journey. Reaching home is the purpose. But without walking, you can't understand home's value."
"Without questioning, you can't understand the meaning of answers?"
"Right. Process and result are inseparable."
Mio smiled and closed her notebook.
Haru looked out the window. "Beyond questions are deeper questions?"
"Infinite regress," Ren nodded. "But that's richness."
"A journey without end?"
"No need to end it."
Mio stood up and headed to the door. As she left, she waved slightly.
Haru called out. "Mio, did you find your answer?"
Mio didn't turn around. One word.
"Not seeking."
Then she left.
Haru was stunned. "Not seeking?"
Ren said quietly. "When you stop seeking answers, true understanding arrives. A paradox."
"So questions aren't needed?"
"Questions are necessary. But attachment isn't."
Haru took a deep breath. "Difficult."
"That's why it's philosophy."
They silently looked out the window.
Beyond questioning was quietness. Within that quietness was everything.
Haru whispered. "Continuing to question and letting go of questions. Both needed?"
"You've found a good question," Ren smiled.
The answer to that question was silence.