Einstein must have asked some great questions in his thinking process. He took a lot of published concepts, altered them some and plugged them into his theories. He had to at least ask, “will that work here?” or “does that apply in this context?” and created a package that no one imagined at that time. A Russian mathematician even provided the mathematical formulas for him. Do you get how you have to ask a question to see things in a new framing?
Perhaps it was wise not having an operating manual for us when we were born. That was the design for most cultures and education. Yet we learned at an accelerated rate because, for us as a child, everything was a question. Yes, we got saddled with a lot of patterns for defense when young but they mostly updated when new and safer feelings were experienced. The stumbling block were the rules we learned (culture and family version of culture). Often, they conflict with patterned knowledge and rarely do these rules update. We observe children when they learn something from experience and later struggle when their experience is in conflict with the rules. I think that is why we observe rebellion to the family culture in the teenage years and on. If you can’t change the rules you have to obey or walk away. Do you recall the motto from the 60’s; “never trust anyone over 40”?
I never applied for a clinical license in psychology which left me options as a teacher, or perhaps an HR person. I worked with a few start-up companies and that was fun. As a teacher what sat in front of me over those 14 plus years were students in rebellion of rules. Evolutionary changes as new rules were a second and more challenging demand. Martin Heidegger referred to evolutionary change as background. For example, perhaps you appreciate flowers or maybe you have no interest in such. If the flowers, a part of the background for most, were to disappear you would lose the option to exercise that preference. The question is, “how much do we need to lose before we can learn to get along in peace”? That may seem like a silly example but what is the purpose of museums and zoos? Would you spend your vacation at a managed live flower exhibit if all the flowers on the planet today were gone?
Back to Einstein and a story he shared about communications with another scientist. He inquired what this gentleman was presently working on. The man reported his research was focused on gravity but Albert’s work overrode his project. Albert replied his research was correct but not the world we live in. People need your impressions to manage life.
If you seek an answer, you find what you know from past experience—the human database. That works within its limitation and conserves energy (important fact). If you seek a question, the range of knowledge has to expand to find a clue with nothing secured as past. Past is the argument for “truth” and future is just a question.
Chriss
