Mu or “Ask a Different Question”

Take a look at this image of a flower by the photographer Emily Scher.

Now I ask you: Is this flower pretty? Yes or no? It’s hard to answer, isn’t it? The question simply doesn’t allow for an answer that feels right. The flower is so much more than pretty. The spirit of this image, to me, is ineffable and cannot be constrained in a binary response. To you, it might be different.

When there is no true or real or correct answer to a question, we can answer, “mu.”

I first heard the term, “mu” on On Being with Krista Tippett. She was interviewing Padraig O’Tuama, a poet, theologian, and the director of the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland. He talked about questions with no answers, questions to which one can only respond, “mu,” or “ask again,” “ask a different question.”

In Japanese and Korean “mu” means, “nothing,” “without,” “not,” “impossible,” “non-existent.” We answer, “mu” when a question does not have an answer. Or makes us answer in a way that is not true, not possible.

I’m sure we’ve all felt pinch in our stomachs when faced with a ‘yes or no question’ that just doesn’t feel quite right; both answers are lacking. Questions like, “Are you happy?” “Is this enough?” “Do you love me?” “Is this real?” “Is this the whole truth?” “Is this beautiful?”

This harkens back to Ken Cloke’s work in conflict resolution (see post “Questions that Connect Us” and Ken’s list of 50 Questions to ask in a political conversation) where he reminds us to ask questions like, “What is your story?,” instead of questions like, “Are you a liberal?”

Robert Pirsig writes in his book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:

“Mu becomes appropriate when the context of the question becomes too small for the truth of the answer. When the Zen monk was asked whether a dog had Buddha nature he said "Mu," meaning that if he answered either way he was answering incorrectly.”

This week, before answering any question, pause and ask yourself, “Does this question allow me to answer in a way that invites the complexity of truth?” If not, allow yourself to answer, “Mu. ”