I just read the phrase “perennial questions” in a book review and got the idea that this common phrase, when linked to types of plants by analogy, is really very rich with meaning and value. So…as for plants, perhaps there are essentially two types of questions – annual, and perennial. And, just as plants usually pick one or the other mode to operate by, and associated species (pollinators, herbivores, etc.) co-evolve and attune themselves to each plant’s chosen type (annual or perennial) when designing a relationship with that plant, maybe people similarly choose between annual and perennial types of questions when deciding and designing a relationship with the world. I love perennial questions…like What is life? Why am I here? Where do I fit in? and related ones.
I guess we could add bi-ennial questions (who will be our rep to congress) and quadrennial ones (who will be our president)…but still…either long term (eternal, unanswerable in any absolute sense) and short term (based on circumstances of the day and place, readily answerable) seem like reasonable, solid, robust categories or types of questions. What do you think? DF
