Questions in a runic rhyme

So, what is it? We ask as we attempt to comprehend the latest artwork from our wee ones. Can't you tell? They say, "its obviously a...."

Questions...always questions...

Are we there yet? When do we eat? What's the meaning of life? What are we having for dinner? What's six times seven?

I used to say that the entire scope of interest for a sixth grade boy could be boiled down to just three questions: 1. Will it explode? (or when will it exlode?), 2. How much did it cost? (or how much will it cost if I broke it?), and 3. What would happen if I ate it? (self explanatory or what if it ate me?)

So, what role do questions play in our lives and what role should they have? Another...age old question...

As a fan of Douglas Adams...it seems natural to start by seeking to find the "ultimate question"...however, Mr. Adams himself seems never to have actually been able to define "it", so once again, this question about a question too must go unanswered. However, an examination of Douglas Adams' answer to the ultimate question: "42" may provide some insight into why questions are so integral to learning for us human types. I think that the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy might provide the ultimate "answer", but to give both the ultimate question and answer at one time would just negate the necessity of purchasing the guide, so Mr. Adams may be illustrating that it just may not possible to contain both ultimates within one universe...However, Douglas' real (quite clever) idea may in fact be to point out that asking questions and seeking or even finding answers are not really the same and should be treated separately. Even he points out in his books that many philosophers are good at asking questions, but don't really know or even expect to know the answers themselves. Indeed Socrates touted himself as one who was good at asking the right questions, but not the expert who could really answer any of them. So, do questions and answers have to go together to have a context and make the "Yin/Yang" of the inquiry process? Insert your answer here: _____? Smile

If we don't get the answers we want, do we say that we've asked the wrong question or a bad question? What, is the difference? Similarly, is a good question necessarily the "right" question or is it merely one that gives us a warm and fuzzy feeling at the time? What is my point...

Questioning, is an art.

It is a technique that requires both skill and practice as well as a certain twinkle of a spark to ignite just the right stuff in those willing to twist their minds through the maze of possibilities. By seeking to expand our knowledge, we often turn expectantly to someone or something and ask: can you make me wiser/more knowledgeable/more capable. Through our questions, we seek to be better than we are currently, to improve our condition, to continue to survive, or to become closer to something greater than ourselves. Yet, all are connected.

Questioning is an admission of our imperfections and ignorances. A continual reminder of our lowly place in the universe of knowledge, but also an expression of our desire to pull ourselves up from the genetic informationally deficient quagmire to a slightly richer one...where, perhaps we can be a bit more than we were previously. Questioning is the red carpeted highway to stardom. Our "ticket" to a better life...or is it?

Are all questions created equal? No. AND Yes. The ability to ask a relevant question assumes at least a minimal common frame of reference, yet still these "irrelevant" questions continue to pop up, float out on the air and some may even get answered...so what does this mean?

It means people are different. It means questions are different. It means the universe may only tolerate this amount of chaos known as "life" only due to the ability of our "sentient" selves to continually seek a new question to ask about the universe itself. Through the stimulation of each and every tendril of inquiry as often as possible, we may, as Stephen J. Gould once theorized, create a "full house" of options to explore. Questioning may be no different than its originator in this. Life created questions. The universe created life (well in one interpretation), so does the universe want to know more about itself? Maybe the answer really is "42"...

Do I actually expect answers to all of the questions above? No.

Do I find myself enriched due to the asking. Yes.

The point: An open-ended question allows for exploration of imaginative and at times infinite possibilities. A closed question does not, unless it leads to another question.

Wisdom comes from knowing that it is not through thinking that we may know all of the answers to our human questions, but instead by knowing that we don't even know all of the questions to ask, and are not ever likely to know all of them, ever.

What is it?

It is a good question, and thank you for asking.

I may not know, but now my world is a bit larger and better because of your question.

There's an awfully large universe out there, plenty of room for more.

Keep 'em coming.

Tim