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Wisdom Bit – Question, Anyone?  

Posted March 19, 2002

What’s your question? Have you ever asked a question thinking that the answer would lean in a certain way, or that the answer would be THE answer? I know I have. It is becoming quite clear to me that I need to ask better questions to get better answers. Asking the right questions can lead to clarity. The clearer we can become in our questions, the clearer our answers become. However, clarity is not the only answer. Questions can open us up to a new way of seeing or believing. This sometimes opens up the flipside of clarity, ambiguity.

Can you live in the uncomfortableness of unknowing? By questioning, we can begin to regenerate our lives and ourselves. How can we live newness from places that are already known to us? If you don’t know, just ask. So many of us are afraid of the unknown, so better not ask or go there. Ask. Open up. The unknown is only scary because you haven’t made friends with it. Its friend is Question. Ask the unknown to reveal what it knows to you.

 

Consider John F. Kennedy’s question: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Maybe that is the clue we need. Turn the question backwards and inside out. The answer will certainly be more interesting. Joyce Wycoff, co-founder of the Innovation Network, writes her questions on sticky notes and posts them on her wall, creating a wall of questions; a constant source of inspiration to her. To learn more, study these books on questioning:

 

Strategic Questioning: An Experiment in Communication of the Second Kind, by Fran Peavey. I found out about this one from one of Wisdom Painting’s students who recently attended a seminar called “Strategic Questioning”, by Sustainable Step New England. In chapter one, the author says:  

“A STRATEGIC QUESTION IS A SPECIAL TYPE OF QUESTION

Questioning is a basic tool for rebellion. It breaks open the stagnant hardened shells of the present, revealing ambiguity and opening up fresh options to be explored. Questioning reveals the profound uncertainty that is imbedded in all reality beyond the facades of confidence and sureness. It takes this uncertainty towards growth and new possibilities. Questioning can change your entire life. It can uncover hidden power and stifled dreams inside of you… things you may have denied for many years.”

 

The Book of Questions -- by Gregory Stock, found on Amazon.com

From the Back Cover: “The Book of Questions gives you permission to ask [anyone] those things that are too bold, too embarrassing, or just too difficult to ask by yourself. Whether you use this book as a tool for self-discovery, or as a provocative way to stimulate conversation, this book constantly challenges attitudes, morals, beliefs – and it challenges you.

-- Question #3 – If you were to die this evening, with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?”

 

Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking -- by M. Neil Browne, Stuart M. Keeley, also found on Amazon.com

 

A college professor says of this book: “The ideas and philosophy of "Asking the Right Questions" have the potential to profoundly change an individual by making them a better, smarter thinker! I think it should be required reading for all of us.”

 

How do you use questioning in your life and work?

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@ 2002 Mary Gravelle, all rights reserved.