the most subversive people are those who ask questions

1. Would you feel guilty for being truly content? 

    God, no—why?? Contentment is not a battle, not something you take from someone else. There's an infinite supply, since it's wholly internal. Anyway, what is the point of guilt? It can make you stop doing something that you know is wrong, but contentment is not inherently wrong.

2. Would you give more importance to what you know or what you believe? 

    this is difficult to interpret. What is the difference, and how do you know? What I "know" is subjective; though it may seem to me that I know a fact, that fact may be in question. I know that car is purple....until I see it in a different light and realize it's actually blue. I know I waved to a friend, who snubbed me by not waving back...until I hear that they'd had an eye exam and could not possibly have seen me from that distance. What I believe is more reliable, in a lot of ways, than what I seem to know.

3. Would you ever resent a friend's happiness? 

    envy, for sure, but I'm not sure it could lower itself to "resent"--unless that happiness came specifically at my expense, or that of someone that I love. This sort of jealousy isn't healthy at all. It weakens friendships and destroys one's own peace of mind. 

4. Would you be more impressed by someone who had amassed great power or by someone who had accumulated great wealth? 

    'impressed' is a high standard to meet. Generally, though, power is less intriguing to me than money. I don't play at a level where "power" is inherently useful, and it's often exercised just to be hard on others, or to take advantage. Being a decent human being and having the money to do what one likes... that's more appealing.

5. Would you prefer to be thought naturally talented or to be considered hardworking? 

    hardworking, definitely. Naturally talented is nice to have but it's no credit. Dedication and effort, tenacity and diligence. Perseverance. All of that means a whole lot to me.

6. Would you rather vote for someone smarter than you or just like you in a presidential election? 

     oh, smarter PLEASE! I absolutely believe that high-level government officials ought to be smart and well-educated, with open minds and wide experience.

7. Would you prefer a life that follows a basic plan or one full of surprises? 

    a plan can be comforting. However, surprises—good and bad—are invigorating, challenging, and intriguing. I don't need comforting, at least not at this point in my life. The rest of it, though, is necessary for my happiness.

 

 [from Would You?: Questions to Challenge Your Beliefs; the title quotation is by Jostein Gaarder, from Sophie's World]