Questions Reflect Who We Are

Lately I’ve started asking basic philosophical questions. It’s not that I’ve suddenly taken an interest in philosophy or anything; those questions came up to help me answer my own existential questions, my questions about how to live. And the way I frame things has gradually changed along with them.

Today, for example, a question popped into my head: “How can I learn more about finance, or something like that?” I slowed down for a few seconds and asked myself: “Wait, what do I want to know that for? I’m comparing myself to other people again and wanting to know more. I tend to look at others and then see only what’s missing and what’s not good enough in me. And that’s exactly where the insecurity and the timidity come from. Instead, I should be asking: what is it that I want?”

I answered myself: “I want my mind to be calmer, happier, and freer. I also want to use my talents to help other people and create value for the community.” Right, so the purpose is clear. Then the right question to ask is: “What do I need to learn, what do I need to know, to move toward that? What does my thinking have to look like to get there? What do I have to do to make these things real?”

And when the question changes, my stance changes with it. If the question points toward what we lack and toward other people’s standards, we tend to feel inferior, insecure, and afraid. If the question comes back to lean on my own purpose, on what I want, on what I can do and give and contribute, all I want is to figure out how to do it. There’s no hesitation or pulling back in it; if anything, there’s only caution, or my old habits of thinking, or my worn-out feeling of fear.

So that’s it, I just wanted to note this idea down. Just change the object of the question and the way we ask it, and everything else changes with it.