In his article “Self-Actual Engineer,” Professor Thomas P. Seage of Arizona State University writes, “Too often, we underestimate the importance of understanding our question. When you get lost in your search for knowledge, ask yourself, ‘What question was I trying to answer?’ and see if that helps you find your way again.”
“It is not the answer that enlightens,” playwright Eugene Ionesco ventured, “but the question.” And philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said, “To ask the ‘right question is far more important than to receive the answer. . . . The right question will inevitably bring about the right answer. But if we ask a wrong question, that wrong question evaporates into nothingness.”
Further, rhetoricians say that in conversation whoever is asking the questions is leading the conversation., “Whoever has the questions, holds the power,” Elisa Heikura writes in her blog, Developerhood. “The conversation is being directed through questions, and the person who expresses them is actually the one who decides what the conversation is about.” The Harvard Business Review offers this advice:
The wellspring of all questions is wonder and curiosity and a capacity for delight. We pose and respond to queries in the belief that the magic of a conversation will produce a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Sustained personal engagement and motivation—in our lives as well as our work—require that we are always mindful of the transformative joy of asking and answering questions.
The question-answer process is the basis of one of the core educational processes in the West: the Socratic Method, in which “the classroom experience is a shared dialogue between teacher and students in which both are responsible for pushing the dialogue forward through questioning. The ‘teacher,’ or leader of the dialogue, asks probing questions in an effort to expose the values and beliefs which frame and support the thoughts and statements of the participants in the inquiry. The students ask questions as well, both of the teacher and each other.”
With the question mark, we can control the narrative of our lives, discover truths locked in the hearts of wise people, and also look inside our hearts to find out who we are beyond the superficial—drawn by questions toward our highest potential.
In a story told in Srimad-Bhagavatam, a renowned teacher, Suta, appreciates the questions asked by his audience, a group of sages who had gathered to ask him about the purpose of life. The sages ask, “Please, therefore, being blessed with many years, explain to us, in an easily understandable way, what you have ascertained to be the absolute and ultimate good for the people in general” (1.1.9).
Suta answers, “O sages, I have been justly questioned by you. Your questions are worthy because they relate to Lord Krishna and so are of relevance to the world’s welfare. Only questions of this sort are capable of completely satisfying the self” (1.2.5).
Source: https://vaisesikadasa.com/en/questions-help-us-find-our-way/
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