Why not ask why?

How do we begin to understand our world? From a young age, we naturally question everything. “Why?” asks the child. “That’s why!” replies an adult, and the process is repeated until the child runs out of questions or, more likely, the adult runs out of patience. At some stage in the journey from child to adult, the questions begin to be replaced, with opinions which previously presented themselves as answers, and beliefs which restrict the lines of questioning in various topics. Have your firmly-held beliefs ever stopped you from questioning something which you don’t understand enough about?

Just as certain religious beliefs can restrict one marvelling in appreciation of the advancement of human thought, the everyday beliefs you hold about yourself, your country, your society, may be restricted by the confines of what society deems to be tolerable questions. Why is it deemed “naive” to be an idealist, “evil” to support terrorism and “crazy” to suggest that there may be something happening which may be beyond our current models of measuring, analysing and understanding about our world?

Could the words “naive”, “evil” and “crazy” steer you away from asking questions in subject areas which people don’t want to have to think about in order to answer? We tell children that there is no such thing as a stupid question, but we put a societal tax on asking questions in the way we treat people who ask those questions. People who ask difficult questions can find themselves in situations which invoke great emotions in people. People will feel how they feel. Change of thought patterns are accompanied by initial discomfort while the mind wraps itself around a new idea. Don’t worry about pushing the limits of your mind too far, it’s more capable than you think!

Remember how much fun it was to learn new ideas when you were young? Why am I asking you so many questions?