Reread, “Bono—In Conversation with Michka Assayas,” this weekend.  The book traces an atheist (Michka) interviewing Bono in various settings over a period of nearly two years.  A fascinating bunch of pages, to say the least.   

 

At the end of the book, Michka asks: “What do you fear the most inside yourself?” 

To which Bono replies: “Hmmm…Losing perspective.”  

He goes on to define this as “not seeing things in their proper shape.”  And then, requesting that he be a bit more intimate, he explains that, “When I wake up in the morning, I sort of put my hand out—spiritually—and I reach for what you might call God.  Sometimes I don’t feel God, and I feel lonely.

  I feel on my own, and I wonder where God is.  And then (pause)—again, I don’t want to be melodramatic about this—I ask God: “Where have you gone?”  God usually replies in a way that is hard to describe: “I haven’t gone anywhere. (laughs) Where have you gone?  I haven’t moved.”  Then I have to check, and I realize that I have somewhere sold myself out.  It usually happens incrementally, in tiny steps.  You never betray yourself—at least I never betray myself—in big dramatic bold moves, like: OK, this morning, I’m going to rob a bank, and find where my enemy lives and tie him to his bed.  You slowly move away from that person that is most like you” (pages 319-321).

 

Do you relate to Bono's answer in any way?

What might you answer, were Michka asking you the same question?