Ask, and Ye Shall Receive

Our minds are like parachutes. They work best when they’re open.

Don’t hold so tightly to what you know to be true. If you let go of what you know, and it stays with you, it’s true. If you let go of what you know, and it disappears into the ether…it isn’t, and probably never was…true.

Statements are comforting. They make us feel as though we have reached solid ground, as if the world has been neatly labeled and placed on a shelf. We “know.” We can “prove it.” But the moment we lock in a statement – “This is how things are,” “This is the right way,” “This can’t be done” – our minds stop speaking; they stop exploring…they stop wondering. We close the door on curiosity, and with it, the possibility of discovering something different; something truer, something better.

Questions, on the other hand, are uncomfortable. They’re messy. They don’t give us that sense of closure and certainty that we crave. But they do something statements can’t: they invite exploration. They foster curiosity. A good question pulls us forward. Why haven’t we? Why did we used to? What if? Why do we still? How else could this be done? These are the sparks of growth, creativity, and progress.

History has advanced not by people declaring, “This is the way it will always be,” but by someone asking, “Does it have to be?” Copernicus questioned whether the sun really revolved around Earth.” Einstein displaced Newtonian physics with his ideas about Relativity.

Questions don’t just change science and technology; they change people. Imagine a heated argument: one side throws down a statement, the other side counters with a bigger statement. No one’s mind moves an inch. But the moment someone asks, “What am I missing?” or “How do you see it?” the room changes. A question isn’t an attack. It’s a curiosity; a vulnerability; a willingness to be wrong and to learn and to grow.

We’ve mistaken certainty for wisdom when, in truth, the wisest people are often the ones still asking questions. Yes, a tomato is a fruit. That is a fact. But should I put it in a fruit salad?

So here’s a challenge: the next time you feel the urge to state something – about politics, about faith, about work, about another person – pause and turn it into a question. 

• Instead of “This is wrong,” ask, “What’s a better way to look at this?”
• Instead of “She’ll never change,” try, “What might help her understand more clearly?” 
• Instead of “I can’t do this,” whisper to yourself, “Where do I start?”

To paraphrase one particular sermon, “Ask and ye shall receive.”