Things don't turn up in the world until somebody turns them up.
President James Garfield
**************************
Hello Frosty
**************************
James Garfield, Republican, was the 20th President of the United States. He had a long and active career in politics before narrowly defeating his Democratic rival for the Presidency. Unfortunately he was the victim of assassination shortly after taking office.
Garfield once said that the best university is a log, with you on one end and your professor on the other. These days it would probably be a park bench, but the image still holds true.
I once read a book in which a professor gave a final exam to his graduate student while the two of them were riding in an elevator. If both professor and student know the subject thoroughly the right questions will bring the answers and once the answers are known the questions become unimportant. As Susan Sontag wrote "The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions."
I loved to read philosophy, which calls itself a search for truth. In many ways however it is the search for questions. The right questions may provide the right answers. Socrates' persistent dialogues with his friends uncovered, turned up, many profound questions. But did they provide all the answers? I would say evidently not because philosophy didn't stop with Socrates or Plato.
Philosophy continued through the Roman, Greek and Arab civilizations, the Jews and Catholics of the Middle Ages in Europe on into the Age of Enlightenment, and on into the Modern World where there are philosophers in every country pondering the same old questions and turning up new ones.
Long may they dig.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
No. 1,896
Never Give Up
Showing posts with label questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label questions. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Ask And Ye Shall Receive
What we think of as the moment of discovery is really the discovery of the right question.
Jonas Salk
******************
Hello Bryant, Arkansas
**************************
One of the greatest discoveries of human history was the scientific method. It is the system we use for trying to understand, cope with and utilize the laws of nature. But it is also a question. Every hypothesis in the course of practicing the scientific method is a question and when the right question is asked the answer reveals itself. There has never been a more useful human tool for peering into the mysteries of the world around us and finding answers to the fundamental questions. It is a rich companion for the human intellect.
Learning to ask the right questions is not only good for science but also for technology, mechanics, politics, art and philosophy. The amazing thing is that the laws we supposedly "discovered" were all there all the time. The laws of gravity, thermodynamics and aeronautics were right there waiting to be discovered, waiting for someone to ask the right questions.
I once had a housemate who was a very particularly religious fellow. He worked as a carpenter and one day he came home and said "Today the Lord showed me how to hang a ceiling." Whether you would agree with that analysis or not, if the ceiling stayed up the right questions were obviously asked.
Artists can use this method all the time. If you talk to your painting, and wait, the painting will talk back to you. It's the same with music. Constantine Stanislavski, the great Russian actor, director and teacher, has given actors a grand and almost mystical hypothesis to work with, called "The Magic IF, If I were in this situation what would I do? If I was this man, in this situation, and I wanted to find out this piece of information from this other man without letting him know I was doing it, what would I do. That puts the actor right in the middle of the action without any artificiality. He is then involved in a real event and the answer to his question will reveal itself. naturally.
There is no secret for finding the right question. Good luck may have something to do with it. But patience, desire, persistence and not giving up are guarantees.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
Mind Twister Of The Week
This puzzle is going to stay up for a week or until someone comes across with the answer. Dust off your brain.
________________
1. Here are three numbered statements.
2. Two of them are true.
3. One of them is false.
__________________
How many of the statements are true? Why?
____________________
dbdacoba@aol.com
Good luck, DB
*************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Jonas Salk
******************
Hello Bryant, Arkansas
**************************
One of the greatest discoveries of human history was the scientific method. It is the system we use for trying to understand, cope with and utilize the laws of nature. But it is also a question. Every hypothesis in the course of practicing the scientific method is a question and when the right question is asked the answer reveals itself. There has never been a more useful human tool for peering into the mysteries of the world around us and finding answers to the fundamental questions. It is a rich companion for the human intellect.
Learning to ask the right questions is not only good for science but also for technology, mechanics, politics, art and philosophy. The amazing thing is that the laws we supposedly "discovered" were all there all the time. The laws of gravity, thermodynamics and aeronautics were right there waiting to be discovered, waiting for someone to ask the right questions.
I once had a housemate who was a very particularly religious fellow. He worked as a carpenter and one day he came home and said "Today the Lord showed me how to hang a ceiling." Whether you would agree with that analysis or not, if the ceiling stayed up the right questions were obviously asked.
Artists can use this method all the time. If you talk to your painting, and wait, the painting will talk back to you. It's the same with music. Constantine Stanislavski, the great Russian actor, director and teacher, has given actors a grand and almost mystical hypothesis to work with, called "The Magic IF, If I were in this situation what would I do? If I was this man, in this situation, and I wanted to find out this piece of information from this other man without letting him know I was doing it, what would I do. That puts the actor right in the middle of the action without any artificiality. He is then involved in a real event and the answer to his question will reveal itself. naturally.
There is no secret for finding the right question. Good luck may have something to do with it. But patience, desire, persistence and not giving up are guarantees.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
Mind Twister Of The Week
This puzzle is going to stay up for a week or until someone comes across with the answer. Dust off your brain.
________________
1. Here are three numbered statements.
2. Two of them are true.
3. One of them is false.
__________________
How many of the statements are true? Why?
____________________
dbdacoba@aol.com
Good luck, DB
*************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Stupid Questions
Sometimes you just have to pay respect to your own simpleness.
Sean Paul
**************
I don't need to read the instructions. I know how to put this barbeque together.
-------------------
Okay, hand me the instructions.
I don't need to ask directions. I can find my way.
-------------------------
Okay. I'm lost.
No, I don't need gloves. It'll only take me a few minutes to shovel the snow off the walk.
------------------
Okay, where are those gloves.
I quit smoking. That was my last cigarette.
---------------------------------
All right, I lied.
It takes some people a long timer to learn that sometimes it's okay to be a simple minded fool if you are facing a problem you don't understand. There's a Chinese proverb that reads "He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."
I must confess I was one of those who refused to ask. The habit developed in my childhood when the answer to almost every questions I asked was prefaced by "You don't know that? What's the matter with you? Where have you been?" It made me wary of asking questions. So I got lost and made a mess with the barbeque.
One should treat genuine simpletons with patience and compassion. But what's wrong with appearing to be a simpleton in someone else's eyes if it means finding out what you need to know? Nothing.
I know a well educated man who says there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
I finally learned my lesson by observing other people and how they deal with things. Now if I ask a question and am treated with scorn because I ask it, I smile patiently and wait for the answer, and if I don't get it I'll ask someone else. And, what's even more important, if someone asks me what I consider a foolish question I give an honest answer.
I may risk losing a chance for a little humor, but it's worth it to help make a peaceful world.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
4 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
************************
Sean Paul
**************
I don't need to read the instructions. I know how to put this barbeque together.
-------------------
Okay, hand me the instructions.
I don't need to ask directions. I can find my way.
-------------------------
Okay. I'm lost.
No, I don't need gloves. It'll only take me a few minutes to shovel the snow off the walk.
------------------
Okay, where are those gloves.
I quit smoking. That was my last cigarette.
---------------------------------
All right, I lied.
It takes some people a long timer to learn that sometimes it's okay to be a simple minded fool if you are facing a problem you don't understand. There's a Chinese proverb that reads "He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."
I must confess I was one of those who refused to ask. The habit developed in my childhood when the answer to almost every questions I asked was prefaced by "You don't know that? What's the matter with you? Where have you been?" It made me wary of asking questions. So I got lost and made a mess with the barbeque.
One should treat genuine simpletons with patience and compassion. But what's wrong with appearing to be a simpleton in someone else's eyes if it means finding out what you need to know? Nothing.
I know a well educated man who says there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
I finally learned my lesson by observing other people and how they deal with things. Now if I ask a question and am treated with scorn because I ask it, I smile patiently and wait for the answer, and if I don't get it I'll ask someone else. And, what's even more important, if someone asks me what I consider a foolish question I give an honest answer.
I may risk losing a chance for a little humor, but it's worth it to help make a peaceful world.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
4 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
************************
Monday, July 13, 2009
Unreliable Understanding 7/13/09
Don't believe everything you think.
Unknown
*******************
Hello again.
------------------------------
There are too many questions. I think I know answers. But I don't believe it because every now and then I have to throw out one of those answers.
It becomes a very frustrating thing to face infinite ambiguity as one's mind opens up to realize how much we don't know. Even the most courageous thinker will give in to that frustration sometimes and decide something is true without challenging it. We all come into any level of consciousness with a bag of ideas from the past; opinions, prejudices, simplicities, rules for this and that activity and behavior confuse us and hold us in tethers.
One of the things about the mind is that, like the heart and lungs, it never stops working as long as we're alive. But how much control do we actually have over what it does, especially now that we know that some if its activity is unconscious.
If you commit a crime, if you kill, wound, rob, rape, damage property, slander, a court will decide if you did it and what your punishment is. But the court has no jusridiction over your thoughts. If you have thoughts of rage, hate, revenge, lust and other negatives you may never carry them out, because of you own sense of ethics. And you may say "Oh, I would never do anything like that." But you are having the same thoughts as the felon who did. So what, after all, is the difference?
Then these questions arise. Where do these thoughts come from? Do I own them? Do they come from me? Are they from my imagination, from some collective unconsciousness or from some diabolical mental swamp? Those are questions that have been puzzling philosophers, psychiatrists and theologians for a long time. And have they come up with any solid answers that they all agree on? Not as far as I know. I know what I think. But I don't believe what I think. What do you think?
DB
*************
Let the sun on you, or the rain, whatever nature gives.
----------------------------
Unknown
*******************
Hello again.
------------------------------
There are too many questions. I think I know answers. But I don't believe it because every now and then I have to throw out one of those answers.
It becomes a very frustrating thing to face infinite ambiguity as one's mind opens up to realize how much we don't know. Even the most courageous thinker will give in to that frustration sometimes and decide something is true without challenging it. We all come into any level of consciousness with a bag of ideas from the past; opinions, prejudices, simplicities, rules for this and that activity and behavior confuse us and hold us in tethers.
One of the things about the mind is that, like the heart and lungs, it never stops working as long as we're alive. But how much control do we actually have over what it does, especially now that we know that some if its activity is unconscious.
If you commit a crime, if you kill, wound, rob, rape, damage property, slander, a court will decide if you did it and what your punishment is. But the court has no jusridiction over your thoughts. If you have thoughts of rage, hate, revenge, lust and other negatives you may never carry them out, because of you own sense of ethics. And you may say "Oh, I would never do anything like that." But you are having the same thoughts as the felon who did. So what, after all, is the difference?
Then these questions arise. Where do these thoughts come from? Do I own them? Do they come from me? Are they from my imagination, from some collective unconsciousness or from some diabolical mental swamp? Those are questions that have been puzzling philosophers, psychiatrists and theologians for a long time. And have they come up with any solid answers that they all agree on? Not as far as I know. I know what I think. But I don't believe what I think. What do you think?
DB
*************
Let the sun on you, or the rain, whatever nature gives.
----------------------------
Friday, May 1, 2009
Advanced Apprehension 5/01/09
A wise man's question contains half the answer.
Ahad Ha'am
(Thank you Paula)
*******************
May Day! May Day!
When I try to read your blogs I get a couple looked at and then my computer seizes and won't let up until I close out and reboot. I'm not ignoring you.
-------------------------
I guess some of yesterday's questions contain at least part of the answers. Does that make me a wise man? I don't know. Some people seem to think so. But, at least, it teaches a valuable lesson: Don't underestimate the question.
I worked with a man for a few years who used to say "There are no stupid questions." I think I managed to come up with a couple during the time we worked together, But any question, no matter how simple, deserves an intelligent answer. And if we underestimate the question we are also underestimating the questioner.
To overestimate someone, to consider them capable of more than they can do, is bad. They may rise to your level of expectations, which is good. But they may not. It is tremblingly unwise to put yourself in the hands of someone who isn't capable of taking care of the things you think they are, or trusting someone you assume is trustworthy but who isn't, That's a fault I have committed many times. You just end up hurting yourself.
But to underestimate someone is insulting. It may deprive him of the right and opportunity to do what he can do, or force him to wade through scorn, ridicule or suspicion to do his thing. We've all seen examples of that. I know it has happened to me. "The book can't be any good because the cover isn't attractive."
There was a runner on my track team in school who always surprised the opposing team. He began slowly and stumblingly. He was soon passed by the other runners who gave him no heed, while he shuffled along like a wounded giraffe. But three quarters of the way through the race whether a mile or two miles or whatever, he would suddenly burst into speed, passing the runners who had passed him and if he didn't win the race he came in among the first three. "Funny, he didn't look like a racer." When anyone asked him how it always happened, he would say "I don't know."
Years ago I saw a production of "The Taming Of The Shrew" by Shakespeare. The actor playing Petruchio portrayed a big, strong, virile character, a definite master of the situation, a mountain of a man, someone to be reckoned with. It was an excellent performance and just right for the play. Obviously the director had looked past the cover and opened the book, because a few years later I worked with that same actor and he turned out to be a short, thin, wiry, gay fellow. "Nah. Look at him. He couldn't possibly play Petruchio. Forget it."
A lot of people are wiser than they think they are. One of my favorite techniques to use when someone asks me a question is to say "I'm not sure, What do you think?" They generally come up with the answer themselves if they are asked to think about it.
Vagabond Journeys
____________________
Save some for me.
**********************
Ahad Ha'am
(Thank you Paula)
*******************
May Day! May Day!
When I try to read your blogs I get a couple looked at and then my computer seizes and won't let up until I close out and reboot. I'm not ignoring you.
-------------------------
I guess some of yesterday's questions contain at least part of the answers. Does that make me a wise man? I don't know. Some people seem to think so. But, at least, it teaches a valuable lesson: Don't underestimate the question.
I worked with a man for a few years who used to say "There are no stupid questions." I think I managed to come up with a couple during the time we worked together, But any question, no matter how simple, deserves an intelligent answer. And if we underestimate the question we are also underestimating the questioner.
To overestimate someone, to consider them capable of more than they can do, is bad. They may rise to your level of expectations, which is good. But they may not. It is tremblingly unwise to put yourself in the hands of someone who isn't capable of taking care of the things you think they are, or trusting someone you assume is trustworthy but who isn't, That's a fault I have committed many times. You just end up hurting yourself.
But to underestimate someone is insulting. It may deprive him of the right and opportunity to do what he can do, or force him to wade through scorn, ridicule or suspicion to do his thing. We've all seen examples of that. I know it has happened to me. "The book can't be any good because the cover isn't attractive."
There was a runner on my track team in school who always surprised the opposing team. He began slowly and stumblingly. He was soon passed by the other runners who gave him no heed, while he shuffled along like a wounded giraffe. But three quarters of the way through the race whether a mile or two miles or whatever, he would suddenly burst into speed, passing the runners who had passed him and if he didn't win the race he came in among the first three. "Funny, he didn't look like a racer." When anyone asked him how it always happened, he would say "I don't know."
Years ago I saw a production of "The Taming Of The Shrew" by Shakespeare. The actor playing Petruchio portrayed a big, strong, virile character, a definite master of the situation, a mountain of a man, someone to be reckoned with. It was an excellent performance and just right for the play. Obviously the director had looked past the cover and opened the book, because a few years later I worked with that same actor and he turned out to be a short, thin, wiry, gay fellow. "Nah. Look at him. He couldn't possibly play Petruchio. Forget it."
A lot of people are wiser than they think they are. One of my favorite techniques to use when someone asks me a question is to say "I'm not sure, What do you think?" They generally come up with the answer themselves if they are asked to think about it.
Vagabond Journeys
____________________
Save some for me.
**********************
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