STATUS-QUOSTIONING

“God created human, then she bestowed her with many potential powers. She hid these powers at a place where human would rarely search…... Within herself”

We are living at a time on this earth when it looks like we have climbed quite high on the “Maslow’s need hierarchy”. As a race we are eager to plough into the soils of self-actualisation. Now, is the time when more of us are seeking within and discovering the hidden powers.

  Look at the last few decades’ rediscovery of yoga, meditation, inner engineering and you will see that more and more common men and women are seeking and claiming their own powers which were hidden within them. I, for one am a true believer of our generations’ forward thinking and progress in the realms of self-discovery.

One such power which I am very intrigued, inspired and motivated by is “The Power of Questioning”. In a day-to-day life, it is quite easy to misunderstand ‘procedures’ as ‘Status-quo’. Much efforts are put in to maintain routine. Sadly, I have witnessed talented people making the same mistakes their predecessors had made because they did not want to break protocols or rituals. This is a big mistake. Think about it, nobody likes a rebel, really, but if a rebel can bring home some improvement because she questioned the hell out of protocols, then and only then, new and better protocols are made.

 We all are bestowed with the innate curiosity to ask questions and seek options. Somewhere during early childhood to mid adulthood, we are forced to confirm with status quo. At school, we learn to follow rules of the school and be obedient. Later, at home we are forced Not to back answer or not to ask too many questions. My early memory of religion is a quotation in Bengali (my mother tongue) which loosely translates to “Faith gets you everything easily… Argument takes you too far away and makes it tough”. Now, let me remind you that every faith gives birth to pragmatists, who question, research and add value to their religion, instead of blindly following certain rituals.

 As I am reading more and more about my own religion, I am convinced that Hinduism is very much pro questioning. Our entire religion structure is based on curiosity and knowledge. “Gyaan Maarg” teaches us that all the god figures which we so adore and pray have broken at least one stereotype and changed some or the other so-called way of doing things. Take Rama eating Shabri’s partially eaten fruits, Krishna befriending Sudaama or Ganesha completing a world tour simply by going around his parents (Establishing that in his view his parents are his world) or so many such examples. Our vedas and shastras are based on brainstorming and fact finding. Our religion encourages us to question, not confirm. So, when in my teens I had asked why do I need to fold my hands while praying, I was justified in doing so. Though no one had answered me then, my curiosity has led me to find the answer which satisfied me, two decades later. The answer to my question is, when we fold our hands and visualise a higher power, that action of hand folding actually works as an anchor. Later, when we feel down or depressed, this anchoring action will bring us back to an elated state by subconsciously visualising the same higher power.

 So, the point which I am making is that questioning is great, everyone must acknowledge their power of questioning and must have an endless quest to find answers to their queries. As I take a look at all the powers which we possess, this particular power happens to be the most mischievous of them all. Most people want to shut this down. Well, don’t shut it down. This is your most natural and vital power.

 The healthy approach to Questioning is to stay aligned to your intentions behind the questions. Let us talk a bit about the reasons people ask questions.

 Why people question:

1.   To stand out in a crowd:

Do you remember that guy in college or that co-worker who would ask questions just so that everyone would just focus on him? Well, clearly the intention behind this kind of questioning is satisfying some kind of esteem need and not really finding answers. So, there is really no power in this kind of questioning.

2.   To argue and annoy:

This too is the wrong motivation. I have seen these kinds of people who simply question to be argumentative. I think in this case too, the intention is to attract attention to self.

3.   To prove others wrong:

Once again, it goes without saying this will not get knowledge. And surely this is not the “Gyaan Maarg” we are talking about here.

4.   To find logical answers to questions of a curious mind:

Finally, the way to go. Like somebody said, the only wrong question is the one not asked. Believe me, even when a task is very simple, there might be some aspect of it you are not clear about. And the more questions you ask, the easier the task becomes. Even better, you get options, alternates, clarity, logic behind, purpose behind… I could go on but you get the picture.

Once your intentions of questioning are right, the next thing to ponder upon is who can you ask. You don’t need to ask others always. You can ask yourself. Questioning yourself makes you wiser. Let’s not underestimate the knowledge of your subconscious. Many times, you might surprise yourself with the logic you can come up with by asking yourself the right question. I once did a workshop where I was supposed to help entrepreneurs come up with value proposal for their own product or service. So, they were supposed to ask themselves “Why is that good”. For example, if one was a doctor, he was supposed to ask and answer, why is that good. Let’s say the answer is I heal patients; next he needs to answer “why is that good”. At one point the answer hits an emotion like “I help reduce the trauma of my patients’ loved ones by healing my patients”. I must say, this exercise had some amazing revelations for the participants. Not only they got a good elevator pitch for their business/ profession, they also realised that if they persisted, their subconscious can give them startling answers.  So, yes, always, Question yourself!

You can ask experts. Whatever your question is, there always will be an expert in that field. “Why do people lose interest if I talk without looking at them” Well, a body language expert can tell you why. Why should I wear formals to office… Why do I have to touch the feet of elders… Why should I not procrastinate… and so on, whatever it is you will find an expert who can give you some answer. You may not be satisfied with the answer, but keep up your quest and you will find the right answer.

Ask your elders, mentors, coaches, look up on the internet. If I may add, it probably is not a good idea to ask your peer group, if you have not surrounded yourself with like-minded people (I mean curious people)

Like, if your friends are themselves just conformists, they probably will not be able to help you with answers. But hey, you got to try.

Let me conclude by reiterating, that many times in my life, I have found alternate ways of doing things, saving careers, making money, growing businesses, saving relationships, healing emotional wounds, helping family, preserving faith, by questioning the conventional ways of doing things. Whenever, I confront a situation which seems like there is only one thing to do, or that I am doomed, or someone MUST do one thing, I summon my power of questioning. Many problems, I have solved with this, many are work in progress, but I must tell you it is very liberating when you get to have an end to end to view of situations, and you kind of can look at them from an outside view because, you seek to question and find alternates.

So, like Bruce lee once wrote “A wise man learn more from a foolish question, than a fool can learn from a wise answer”, be wise, don’t fear to ask questions which clears your mind, gives you purpose of doing things which you got to do in your life. And know this, “Among the many powers which we humans were bestowed by the almighty, Power of questioning, is a very vital one. This is what has made us a consistently progressive race”