Einstein once said that if he were about to be killed and he had only 1 hour to figure out how to save his life, he'd spend the first fifty-five minutes searching for the right question. Then, he believed, it would take less than five minutes to figure out the answer.
Of course, it's unlikely we will ever face such a situation in life. Einstein was simply making a point about the power of questions, But whether we have five, five hundred or five million minutes to live there's a question we could all ask, which has the potential to transform our lives. I'll get to that big question soon, but before I do, let me say this.
As children we have a natural curiosity and we ask questions without restrictions. We want to know why things happen. Why we have to do things a certain way. And, why we need to do them at all. We just keep on asking questions. That's until our natural curiosity is replaced by formal instruction: 'just do as you're told' ,and 'stop asking questions'.
As adults we still have a natural curiosity but we ask questions less freely. We want to know 'Why?' but we don't want to appear stupid, so we don't ask. but even if we haven't been inflicted with the censure of an oppressive schoolteacher, parent, or critical peers the questions we ask are often the wrong ones. No surprise really-asking questions is a skill and we're rarely given the opportunity to develop it. So here's a crash course.
Top tip: don't ask information-gathering questions;ask wisdom- activation questions; ask wisdom- activation questions. You see, each information-gathering questions leads to another question. Perhaps that's the reason why parents become impatient with children who incessantly ask: 'Mum, why this...'. 'Dad, why that ...'. 'But, why ...'. There's no end to it. Each answer leads to another question. Now I'm not suggesting you give up learning. There's nothing wrong with a bit of knowledge. But life isn't a school of knowledge; it's a school of wisdom.
Life isn't a school of knowledge; it's a school of wisdom.
It's as if we become addicted to the satisfaction of knowing. But that knowing doesn't last for long. We may know about the way of this, but what about the why of that? Fast-forward and we're left with the why of the world. In the end, we get stuck. When we ask wisdom-activation questions, however, we moved forward. As you'll see shortly, wisdom-activation questions lead to solutions. Information-gathering questions lead nowhere.
Top tip: don't ask information-gathering questions;ask wisdom- activation questions; ask wisdom- activation questions. You see, each information-gathering questions leads to another question. Perhaps that's the reason why parents become impatient with children who incessantly ask: 'Mum, why this...'. 'Dad, why that ...'. 'But, why ...'. There's no end to it. Each answer leads to another question. Now I'm not suggesting you give up learning. There's nothing wrong with a bit of knowledge. But life isn't a school of knowledge; it's a school of wisdom.
Life isn't a school of knowledge; it's a school of wisdom.
It's as if we become addicted to the satisfaction of knowing. But that knowing doesn't last for long. We may know about the way of this, but what about the why of that? Fast-forward and we're left with the why of the world. In the end, we get stuck. When we ask wisdom-activation questions, however, we moved forward. As you'll see shortly, wisdom-activation questions lead to solutions. Information-gathering questions lead nowhere.
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