Pose a Question; make a reply. It's playtime!
Submitted by Catherine Sword on Wed, 2006-10-18 18:50.
Years ago I attended an anthropology class where the professor had difficulty getting the class involved. A classic example of this was one day he asked the class why the Kung Bushmen, a group of hunters and gatherers, would have a reciprocity system. When the fidgeting silence went on long enough that it became apparent he was not going to give us the answer I finally called out, "'Cause ya don't always get something when you hunt."
I felt a bit stupid about this answer. It was so obvious, surely it wasn't what he was looking for.
"Exactly. That's it!"
Turns out, sometimes the answer is exactly that. Simple and obvious. So why do we hestitate to jump right in?
Jump in everyone. No one will see you fidget.
Pose a Question, Make a Reply: It's Play Time!
Wonderful! I agree. This remarkable technology allows magic to be an everyday event.
You think of a question, you ponder something, and at the tips of your fingers you have access to much of the known information about this question and certainly to others who are interested in like questions.
My beloved teacher, Namgyal Rimpoche was hot about this point: question! Don't just sit there absorbing someone else's view, their opinion, their understanding, ask a question!!
Then, in typical Namgyal style he put a mind lock on us if we tried. Alternately, he criticized or even ridiculed the question if the wording was sloppy or the mind behind the question flabby.
Anger filtered to the top of consciousness:how dare he! Who did he think he was, taking our attempts and making them seem small then asking for more? What morbid game was this?
Years later in university I sat in the back of an auditorium filled with two maybe three hundred students of philosophy. The teacher pranced back and forth on the stage, alternately posing questions, then holding his arms over his head and peering out from behind, mincing out "Don't hurt my feelings! Be careful with me! Watch out now!"
Again and again his active teaching style invoked our curiosity and interest, he danced us into provoking lines of question, then took this strange stance. He whined at us not to hurt his feelings.
Question, whine, question, shy pose as he fumbled with his fingers in front of him, looking for all the world like a defensive, self-protective child, afraid to make the wrong move.
I, uhm, I, of course um I don't really KNOW anything, he'd feign.
No one ventured any questions to this bizarre performance.
Six weeks in, confused, unhappy, we settled in for another peculiar performance, but this time, he started down a road that MEANT something to one student.
She shot her hand up and began the question, when he cut her off "Now" he whined, "don't hurt my feelings"
She snapped back "With all due respect for your feelings, I am INTERESTED IN THE QUESTION AND WANT A RESPONSE!"
He stood at full height and shot back "YOU JUST MIGHT MAKE A PHILOSOPHER!"
Philosopher: lover of wisdom.
If you want knowledge and wisdom, understandings which lead to a more full, exciting and dynamic life, you have to pose the questions!
It's that simple.