.. and a good answer!

Dedicated to Vinay – Happy Birthday!

At a time when we are buffeted by raging questions, that the questions themselves appear bigger than the storms that we endure (most of time, the question is what really bothers, not as much as the storm), in the passage of time, swinging in a harmonic motion in a transcendental chaos, seeking to understand the divine order, in a mortal world, I seek to understand what’s the composition of a ‘good’ answer.

In this quest for answers to double edged questions, raging questions, irreconcilable answers – why is that we find some answers coherent, acceptable, some improbable and dismissive?

The criterion of a good answer is:

  1. A good answer should be able to help understand / establish the context of the question itself
  2. A good answer should help open up the assumptions that lie dormant in the question, and the context of the world view of the questioner
  3. A good answer should attempt to offer (note: not give) a sign post to the path for the right answer
  4. No causal explanations should be attributed as the answer itself. It’s just a means to dissect the question


The parody of reaction to answers:

  • We reconcile and come to terms with circumstances – though the circumstances themselves would have rendered to the question, the reconciliation to the circumstances will not necessarily give the answer, but help in an understanding of reality.

    This type of answer in simple words – borders on a mix of empathy, and will thrive on the sapping of emotional energy from a close one.

    The questions are never really answered, but with a feeling of well-being thrust, we ‘move on’.
  • We rationalize the answer (note: not the question) through the window of self-preservation – the primal animal instinct of basic survival – Everything gets view through the prism of - ‘I, Me, Myself”, and everything viewed in terms of, ‘I’ at the top.

    This type of answer in simple words - teases the borders of virtue, and thrusts to the foray, a relative pragmatism (relative, as this is a self preservation spree), to kill a few things at the basal levels, to get the feeling of problem buried.

    The questions are never really answered, but the paradigms of reference changed, leading to evolution (a loose word for maturity), to move on and discover newer questions with a complete new zest.
  • We answer the questioner and not the question – and in this, the context takes over the content, and intent takes over the information. It’s a logical world where a different rationale is adapted to the same question, based on the questioner; at the same slice of time.

    This type of answer is where the emotions really rage, and if the same question is raised by different questioners, will leave the one who answers, in a state wondering, what s/he really wants, or what the real question is!

    The questions are never really answered, but many a thought are tested through and what might evolve is a better look at what you really are, and what you really were – and reinstates the cords of how you deal with many a person in context of you (Note: not relationships)
  • We anchor our answers in the Spiritual Realm and go by the faith that God, the omniscient will give us the grace and wisdom – It’s a world based on faith or fate, based on the view we adopt. This is the only realm where, ‘I’ takes a backseat and the answers are based on the faith of an unknown future, being anchored in God.

    This type of answer is where there is a calm, that transcends the rationale, and the answers sometime may surface, or most times not, but get a few sign posts as to how to move ahead.

    Again, the questions are never really answered.

If there is no question, the “quest” of the life is lost – and we will exist and not live. How we deal with questions and how we approach them from time to time, will dictate how, lively life is.

Next Question Please !

Comments

Anonymous said…
You had telepathy or something that I would check your blog today?. Anyway, this is one post where I wish you had left a little room for disagreement, rather than capture things too succinctly.
@ Vinay,
So the B'day boy likes the post :)
The Goddess said…
what about the answer that leads to more questions? and questions lead to more answers?

i like how you call answers sign posts.
@ Xai -
as the old saying goes - todays questions were the result of yesterdays answers -

If there can be an 'absolute answer', the question is really answered! - There cannot be an absolute answer to a question thats real in a relative framework - thats why, there are sign posts and not real answers!
and more questions and more answers -

We just need to watch the changing paridgms and the frames of question and answers - the sign post will make sense.

:)

That was a good question - Was it answered ? hmmmmmm....
The Goddess said…
so basically, the more relative the question, the more money you make on it...

ok, will think up one on my aunt's sister in law's second cousin. :P
@ Xai -
Well, thats a really 'relative' thingie. ..oopsie.

btw.. does your close cousin have no problems?, but thinks s/he has a problem - I have a case on hand.

Wheels Chruning.. :P