Walking, suddenly
I sense mortality
looming
over me like a tower.
It will not always
be so effortless, these
move-
ments; the ease
with which I
exert in-
fluence over
the self.
The Sun is warm.
This is good
to think about.
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
Good Questions
In grade school my classes were repeatedly told that there are no bad questions, and while there are exceptions to every rule, I tend to agree. It seems an important thing to know at a young age, for in the absence of answers, children have an exceptional amount of questions. Like questions, answers are also a good thing most of the time, but they are not enough in and of themselves. Every answer requires a sufficient explanation in order to fully satisfy its query. "That's just the way it is," stunts curiosity, our primary motivation for learning.
To my mind, a childlike curiosity and wonder is a healthy and natural response to the ambiguous nature of the world. We are not born with an understanding of what we are, why we are, or how we came to be. The sky cannot tell us these things. Answers rarely prove readily apparent, and observation quickly leads to investigation.
A recent observation: often, when we use the phrase, "Good question," it is in response to a question without an answer, or without a clear or easily declarative answer. Now this phrase can be delivered sarcastically, as if to say, "Who knows." Or it can be used sincerely, suggesting that the difficult questions are the questions most worth considering.
Difficult questions are not to be answered lightly, and often have as much to teach us as the answers themselves. Each proposed solution has implications that must be carefully weighed. Wisdom, then, has less to do with producing answers, and is evidenced more in the manner with which we respond to questions. Do we acknowledge uncertainty when it crosses our path, or do we rush to dismiss it? There is nuance in everything. An honest examination requires a suspension of certitude; at which point we might look again with childlike eyes, and learn to embrace the ambiguity that we find.
To my mind, a childlike curiosity and wonder is a healthy and natural response to the ambiguous nature of the world. We are not born with an understanding of what we are, why we are, or how we came to be. The sky cannot tell us these things. Answers rarely prove readily apparent, and observation quickly leads to investigation.
A recent observation: often, when we use the phrase, "Good question," it is in response to a question without an answer, or without a clear or easily declarative answer. Now this phrase can be delivered sarcastically, as if to say, "Who knows." Or it can be used sincerely, suggesting that the difficult questions are the questions most worth considering.
Difficult questions are not to be answered lightly, and often have as much to teach us as the answers themselves. Each proposed solution has implications that must be carefully weighed. Wisdom, then, has less to do with producing answers, and is evidenced more in the manner with which we respond to questions. Do we acknowledge uncertainty when it crosses our path, or do we rush to dismiss it? There is nuance in everything. An honest examination requires a suspension of certitude; at which point we might look again with childlike eyes, and learn to embrace the ambiguity that we find.
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