Love the questions

We tend to link action with answers and inaction with questions. But it might be that questioning is the most truly active way to be and that answers allow us to disguise our inertia in habitual actions

~ George Myerson 101 Key Ideas Existentialism


Learning is to a great extent finding answers to questions. And to learn effectively may mean asking the right questions at the right time. The right question is the question that invites an answer that builds on your existing capacities. The right time is generally the time when you would understand the answer. You can only ever start from where you are. As Robert Fritz says: current reality is always your new starting point.

Questioning is about the recognition of a gap between where you are and where you want to be. One approach to learning anything is to make list of all the questions to which you want answers. This creates a focus for your learning activities.

Firstly, it guides your search for information – if you know what you want to know then you can begin to search for it. While what you desire to learn is nebulous and vague, you have no clear direction. Questions promote clarity of intention.

Secondly, it provides a sense of progress. As each question is answered, you gain a greater sense of mastering what it is you wish to learn, of making progress, of covering territory.

Thirdly, it provides a basis for further exploration. As each question is answered, more questions arise that demand answers. More importantly, answers to your initial questions help you sharpen what further questions you need to ask. When you are completely ignorant of a subject, you don’t know what is important and what is irrelevant. However as your knowledge grows, you gain a more refined sense of the lie of the land, of the relationship between different concepts, and a greater sense of what you still find obscure. 

This applies not just to conceptual knowledge but to practical knowledge as well. If you are learning a practical skill then initially your questions may relate to the skill as a totality – how can I do this thing at all? However once you have answered that question, deeper questions may arise: how does the way I hold this tool affect the results I get? How does the way I move affect the visual effect of what I am doing?

Thus questions provide an entry point to experimentation. Once you have asked a question then you may try different things in order to try and find an answer. Each ‘experiment’ is an attempt to answer the question. While some of these answers may be ‘wrong’ in the sense that they don’t answer the question you are asking, they may still yield useful information that extends your knowledge. And sometimes the answers they yield may lead to more interesting questions than the ones you originally asked.

Children ask questions all the time and as a result their knowledge grows quickly. They aren’t afraid of displaying their ignorance because they haven’t yet become aware of the social stigma attached to ignorance. If you want to learn you need to become more like a child and let your curiosity dominate your fear and fuel the questions that will lead to your ultimate mastery of your chosen area of interest.