The Secret Is In The Questions We Allow Ourselves To Ask

Nothing makes us older as ceasing to question our beliefs

Image by Gerd Altmann

An Old Notebook

I found an old notebook with scribbled thoughts that looked but weren’t random. They were notes I had taken after having dinner with a friend when we had hardly turned 20. There were intriguing concepts, poignant ideas and uncomfortable questions. Everything was argued and backed by the little philosophy and history we knew at the time. The most shocking aspect of the discovery was our wondering if we would be able to formulate the same level of abstract pondering now.

It’s The Quantity, Not The Quality

I feel I am much more knowledgeable than I was back then. However, while I feel sharper in much of my inquiring, I cannot deny I have also grown blunter in my perception. I keep tabs on my mental faculties daily, and I exert my brain more these days than I did then, so I don’t think atrophy is at play here. Instead, I find it is the quantity, not the quality, of my questions that has decreased significantly over the past decade and a half.

Fertile Minds, Blank Maps And Hidden Traps

Around the time we come of age, if our parents and educators have bolstered our curiosity or at least allowed it to be, we probably…