IN QUESTION

September 4th, 2019

We know what it means when something is out of the Question.  Episode 478 examined that.  But what about the flip.

What does it mean when something is in question?

The most common place where we run across this phrase is in detective movies, when a suspect is in question.

According to the googles, the phrase in question is to indicate that something is being considered, discussed or in doubt.

Notice the lack of conclusion and certainty in this definition.  Consideration, discussion and doubt are all open-ended concepts. 

The definition of the word ‘question’ developed by Tinkered Thinking is very similar:

A question is an open-ended concept that creates forward momentum.

It is an exploration tool.  Discussion, consideration and doubt are also tools of exploration.  We use these to suss out possibilities in order to narrow in on some sort of truth or specific detail of reality.

If we bring in some other Tinkered developments about question, we can remember that simple shorthand for thinking about the concept of a question a little differently: just lop off the last three letters, what do you get?

quest.

That open-ended concept is a mental quest to gain some sort of treasure through a process of adventure and exploration through the unknown.

For something to be in question, is inevitably much like seeing a warning sign lit up on a door that says “session in progress”

Something dynamic and important is going on.  Some new territory is being explored.

Whether it be the rote-human training that has arisen from the industrial revolution or if it’s simply a fear of chaos, or some amalgam of the two, many people fear the kind of uncertainty, doubt and open-endedness that is at the core of adventure and the only tool we really have to navigate life: the question.

The question becomes: is your life planned to the ‘T’ out of fear, or do you constantly keep your own existence in question?

This episode extends Episode 478: Out of the Question and Episode 30: The Only Tool