Let the Insoluble Remain Unresolved...

I was recently reading a book by Osho. I have always found him fascinating—not necessarily because one agrees with everything he says, but because of his intriguing philosophies and his unusual way of looking at life.

In this particular book, Osho recounts a delightful story. A famous mathematician once walked into a bookstore looking for a gift for his fourteen-year-old son. The bookseller, who knew him well, smiled and handed him a puzzle.“This might be perfect for your son,” he said.

The mathematician examined it. It looked interesting—deceptively simple, in fact.Before long, curiosity got the better of him. “I think I will solve it myself first,” he said. “Be my guest,” replied the bookseller.

And so the mathematician began. He tried one approach. It failed. He tried another. That failed too. He applied his mathematical knowledge, his logic, his experience and every possible method he could think of. Minutes became hours. The afternoon slipped into evening.

Still, the puzzle remained unsolved.

Finally, thoroughly exasperated, he turned to the bookseller. “Do you realise who I am? I am a professor of mathematics! If I cannot solve this puzzle, how on earth do you expect a fourteen-year-old boy to solve it?”

The bookseller burst out laughing.

“My dear Professor,” he said, “this puzzle has no solution.”

The mathematician stared at him in disbelief. “No solution? Then why do you sell such a puzzle?”

The bookseller smiled.

“Because that is precisely the lesson the puzzle is meant to teach. “It matters little whether you are a famous mathematician or a fourteen-year-old boy. There are some puzzles that simply cannot be solved.

“And life is like that too.

“There will be questions for which you may never find answers, situations you may never completely understand, relationships you may never fully unravel and problems that may refuse to yield—however intelligent, experienced or determined you may be.

“Give them your best. Try sincerely. Apply everything you know. “But when you have done all that you reasonably can and the answer still refuses to come, learn to move on.

“Laugh a little and tell yourself -Insolubilia maneant insoluta.

Let the insoluble things remain unresolved. Their time will come.”

Perhaps therein lies a rather beautiful philosophy of life.Wisdom is not always about finding the answer.

But sometimes, wisdom also lies in recognising that not every question requires an answer, not every knot needs to be untied, and not every mystery needs to be conquered.

Some things must simply be allowed to remain. Try your best. Let go. Move on. And trust life.