Speaker: James Crowley
Subject: “What the Bleep do we know?”
Eugene Ionesco said: “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question”. What could he have meant? Is not the knowledge in the contents of the answer?
Quite often we might think that we gain knowledge from the answers that people give us. Think carefully for a moment! Is it really the answer that enlightens?
Firstly, if you are not able to as a question, there is no need for an answer. So then, it seems appropriate to say that “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question”.
Secondly, if you stop at the first answer you get, there is no further enlightenment. It is only if the answer triggers you to think of the next question that you further get enlightened.
More knowledge and the joy of learning actually exists in the ability to keep asking more questions when you do not know enough. If you went away satisfied with the first answer you got but not asking for more because it is too much trouble to understand further, then you cannot really drill into matters and get the full extent of knowledge.
There is great power in questions. I cannot remember where I read this technique about asking yourself this question every morning, “What am I happy about?” Sometimes the answer is not very positive.
Then the next question to ask is “What can I be happy about?” When you ask yourself this question, there seems to be another meaning to “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” To be enlightened, we must ask the right question.
How often do we ask ourselves “What is life so tough?” Will it not be different if we asked ourselves “What can I do to respond to the situation in hand?” instead?
The next time you ask a question or do not want to ask a question, remember that “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question”
Published by Regina Maniam on March, 25, 2007 07:26am.