Last week hanging out with some coworkers in the middle of a heated philosophical conversation someone paused and asked me (paraphrasing), “Why do you ask all these questions?  why ask about what matters all the time?”    In immediate response i simply said, “It’s the strategy I’ve learned that works for me to navigate the world.”

The question stayed with me over the weekend.  While I believe my immediate response was accurate I wanted to better understand why it’s accurate – why is relentlessly asking “what matters? why does this matter? etc” an effective strategy (in my eyes) for navigating the world?

I believe the answer is FREEDOM.  not free will, not free beer.  but freedom of behavioral responses.   Asking big questions opens perspectives and opens up new patterns of behavior.   If one isn’t questioning assumptions and existing mythologies/fictions (and everything is somewhat of a fiction) then it’s hard to develop new strategies should new information come to light.    Also, power is often a result of others knowing something you don’t.   Not developing a question-based strategy gives into that aspect of power and over time it can be very deep conditioned helplessness.

I might even conclude this is the only strategy to achieve actual freedom.