Ann-Marie, maybe "quests" are not for answers. Maybe questions are
not for answers. I recall an Italian joke told on Americans. "What
does an American think a question is for?" Response, "To be
answered." and then the Italians would roar with laughter. What
made it funny was that the Americans would sit and try and figure out
what was so funny. The joke goes with the saying that there are
three mysteries in the universe - water to a fish, air to a bird and
language to humans. (I paraphrased it for my own purposes.)
Questions (and quests) might be for knowledge, for learning, for
development, for enjoyment, for engagement with life for ......, and
even for answering.
Quests, for me, lose their romance when they are about the goal. I
suppose a quest must have a goal or it wouldn't get started. But we
love "quest stories" not because of what specifically they are
seeking or even whether or not they get it. We love quest stories
because of the adventure, the possibility, the life that they give.
If only we could live with out questions in the same way.
-- Michael McMaster Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk