Are you questioning everything?

Recently I have asked on the Facebook page if you have ever been accused of being too inquisitive. I wanted to see what types of examples some of you may have. Of course, the reason I have wanted to know is that I myself have often been told that I never run out of questions, even when “the question was answered”.

The truth is, that when I asked with follow-up questions, it was, because my question hadn’t been answered. At least not in full.

As if this was a bad thing.

Whenever a belief system has been accepted, the questioning stops. I have often noticed that when someone expresses a belief in aliens, there is no more questioning. It is rather an acceptance of a belief. The same way, a complete disbelief also will keep us from looking at fake UFO videos. But that usually came via initial questioning resulting in satisfactory answers that indeed there has never been anything giving evidence of the existence of extra-terrestrials.

When we are taught to respect someone else’s belief, we are confusing the need to respect someone as a human being with admiration that someone has stopped being inquisitive.

Never have I asked anyone to believe or disbelieve anything, but what I continue to do is encourage people not to give up a natural curiosity due to ever being told that they ask too many questions (usually by adults not willing or able to answer them) or by people somehow benefiting from others not questioning them. Unless you have something to hide (which can include your lack of knowledge or disinterest in a subject you claim to be interested in), you always welcome questions and are inspired by them as they will help you yourself grow.

Making up your own mind ahead of time will keep you from gaining knowledge. Even if it is based on intuition and correct, the natural process requires getting more and more information.

A quick answer may sound good, but all too often, you will find someone simply replacing a false theory with yet another false one. Never claim that you question everything, when you are satisfied with something that has holes in it as well, just because you feel discouraged from asking further.

Question intent when someone takes too much time to explain and not answer or even encourage your questioning. When someone will not encourage questioning, it mean he has no interest in your understanding and often doesn’t want you to understand it, at least not completely. It usually means, that the person wants you to accept what he says as fact and even wind up mindlessly repeating his “facts”. This is what we often see in the educational system where real education is being replaced with one-liners hiding the fact that the one repeating things doesn’t understand the subject matter himself.

A fear of looking unteachable or dense often keeps the brighter minds from gaining knowledge when in reality their potential is far higher than that of the person in charge of educating them. A fear of looking arrogant or upsetting the professor can come along with that often leading to the accusation of being disrespectful towards authority. The truth is that respect for a position held needs to be earned. Respect for someone as a human being is one thing, but teaching us to blindly respect someone as an authority is not always wise. It can also lead to something such as respecting the “authority” of a priest who winds up harming a child discouraged from questioning authority.

I am more and more learning that so many of the things I have been criticized for are actually good things which have kept me safe and that many of the things I had been complimented on were just related to me being worn out and praised for finally being more focused on making someone else’s job easier rather than growing in my education.

Any questions?