Life of Questions

I know you won't believe me, but the highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others.
- Socrates

During my graduation, almost always, I went to the class with the intention of checking the depth of the knowledge of faculty members. I used to keep asking until they either stopped answering or changed the topic or got angry and asked me to leave the class. But that did not stop me from asking questions. I asked my friends and family members and whoever shall come by. But I had learned by then. My intentions had changed. Then it was not to check the extent of their knowledge but to have a thorough understanding about life. 

During this process, I realized something. It became clear to me that I started questioning very late. I cannot recall myself asking too many questions when I was young or was in school. Maybe that was why I was never told not to question anything or anyone. I was observing when other children were questioning (and were barked upon to stop to do so). And then, when I was doing graduation, students rarely asked the questions they should be asking. I believe it was because they were trained to the method of asking questions. I wasn't.

Sounds unclear?

Let me simplify this for you. But, by asking questions. ;)

Have you observed the eyes of a new born? Or maybe a 2-4 months' old kid? Of course you have! Curious eyes they have. Don't they? I highly doubt that anyone shall disagree with me. First question that a baby asks, even before actually learning to speak, is, "What". For example, What is this and what is that. And mother naturally explains every single thing to her child.

Then next question a kid asks is "Who". And mother, again, automatically answers him by saying, "Look, this is your daddy". As the child grows further, he learns, what is what and who is who. Simultaneously, he also learns asking "Where" and "When". For example, where he should pee and when he should sleep or wake up or when he should speak or not speak. Here comes the grey area. When this situation arises, when children are asked not to speak or question, their minds seek an answer to the new type of question i.e. "Why". Like why they should not speak. What elders don't understand is that children don't have the training to understand that when is the "right time" to ask why they should not speak at that moment. And they are again asked or rather scolded not to question further. Same situation arises when elders themselves don't know the answer or have an excuse of being busy with other priorities above their family. These incidents get repeated few times and gradually child learns that it's a wise choice not to ask "Why" to anyone. Because everyone gets pissed off when being asked "why", better not to ask it in the first place. Who knows when someone will loose his mind over being asked so?

Teach your children How to think and NOT what to think.

Time goes by and over the period, they grow and become teenager. Learn "Where" and "When" about the ancient history and modern history and all that is taught in the schools. They learn about when and where they should go for the different types of parties or for a date. Then comes adulthood. It's a time to learn "How". How it happens, how this works and how that is done, how money flows and how people behave in their professional life and how that is different from a behavior in their personal lives, how to talk to someone, how to attract people, how to say "No" and how to do/ be/ have what you want to do/ be/ have. Once this "How" is learned and it has started working in your favor, your cycle of life is set. You can have the same mundane world out of that. People around you may change but the actions remain same. Because it is a conscious training you have undergone.

During graduation, I had an advantage over other students because when I was young, I wasn't told not to ask "why". So I wholeheartedly used this question. And it helped me learn and clear my concepts thoroughly. I learned about why things are the way they are, why people behave in a way they do and why purpose is necessary for perseverance and why asking questions is crucial. I, therefore, believe that, what is missing in people's lives is "why" in the adulthood and the life past that.

Great people ask this powerful question, "Why", to their advantage, with the intention to find an opportunity to overcome the present, unacceptable, situations, instead of complaining, "Why me?". If something is not working as per their desire, they ask themselves the reasons, hunt for the answers and don't stop until they find them. You know why? Because they know what their "why" is. Take Muhammad Ali or Thomas Edison or Henry Ford or Mahatma Gandhi or any great achiever for that matter. When they faced crisis and challenges, they asked themselves, "Why this cannot be done?" and looked for the alternatives, found or created options and achieved greatness. They changed the results of the equations just by questioning the unacceptable ones. Ultimately, what looked improbable became possible, just like an inverse probability.

Finally, after all these adventurous events, once you get in the business of life, you learn, most probably, the hard-way, about "whom" you should approach to get certain things done. And then you realize how much important this question, whom, is and yet how unjustifiably scarce you used it when you were learning the language! Anyway, eventually you feel like, life is making some sense.

Questions initially create confusion, but then brings the clarity. Questions are the answers. Answers to knowledge, awareness, commonsense, maturity, success, happiness, life. You just need to learn to ask the right questions.
Einstein has said, "It's not that I am so smart. I just stay with the question much longer."

Now that you have learned the importance of the types of questions in your life and how to use those over a period of time, you must remember that, someone, somewhere is learning the same thing and she could become your future wife! Even tragic situation is, she is already there.

Then you realize that silence is the best answer to all the questions of life. (Pun intended)

;)

Enjoy life!

Keep questioning. Keep learning.

Plant trees for your kid.