‽istis reclaims questions (weekending March 13th
2021)
This week, ‽istis (perhaps in a self-deconstructing
gesture, divesting the ! from the ‽) reclaims the power of asking questions and
wonders whether the question mark is perhaps, possibly, maybe the most powerful
of all symbols…?
‽ questions that perhaps challenge: can a
family be racist?, can a criticiser take criticism? what does it take to go
from cock of the walk to feather duster? is freedom of speech a hill that one
would be prepared to die on?
‽ questions that are
possibly the biggest: what is reality?, what is life?, do we have free will?,
is the universe deterministic?, what is consciousness?, will we ever have a
theory of everything?, what happens after you die?, what comes after homo
sapiens?[i], what is a ‘good life’?,
am I responsible and do I have agency?
‽ questions that maybe test the omnipotence
of a parent: where does the wind come from?, where is it low tide so that it
can be high tide here?, why should anyone be frightened by a hat? (with thanks
to Antoine de Saint-Exupery ‘The Little Prince’, Ch.1)
‽ questions that perhaps
open up definitional debates about naming and identity: is is, is?[ii], what is gender?, is science a social construct?[iii], is ‘history’
fixed?, who am I?, is there more that unites us than divides us?
‽ questions that possibly
condemn or exonerate: where were you on the evening of…?. do you find the
defendant guilty or not guilty?
‽ questions (possibly Socratic[iv]) that may inspire
exploration: why did that apple fall?, are we alone?, can you tell if I am a
robot?, what are the similarities in the differences and the differences in the
similarities?, are there any non-white swans?, could there be the remains of an
infinite number of monkeys buried somewhere near Stratford-upon-Avon?[v] - or questions that may
give cause to pause: just because we could, does it mean we should?
‽ questions that are
perhaps, possibly rooted in confusion but that just may get to the heart of essential
things at the end of a long life: where am I?, what am I meant to be doing?, am
I dead yet?
And so ‽istis wonders what are the questions
in search of answers that come to mind for you…?
On and on we might ask - and sometimes even think
that we have an answer, well at least until that answer is questioned!?
©
Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and
past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily
indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders
[i] With
thanks to the New Scientist: https://www.newscientist.com/round-up/biggest-questions/
[ii]
Well it might if might be might…? Discuss… ad infinitum?
[iii]
With thanks to Richard Dawkins and respondents (5.59 March 6th 2021
and on, Twitter)
[iv] Socratic
Questioning (changingminds.org) http://changingminds.org/techniques/questioning/socratic_questions.htm
[v]
With thanks to Émile Borel’s 1913 essay ‘Mécanique Statistique et
Irréversibilité’ and with grateful reference to Douglas Adams ‘The Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem_in_popular_culture
