Why is staying in the question so important?Staying in the question? What does this mean? Imagine you are walking down a path towards a goal, very focused, clear on your intent, and all of a sudden, completely unexpectedly, you hit a major speed bump, or even a mountain. This mountain is right in your path. It is not supposed to be there.
Do you look at the mountain in front of you and say it is all too hard. Can’t do it, no way to get around or through the mountain? Impossible! Do you get angry at the mountain for thwarting your goals, then spend the next 5 minutes, or ten years, or lifetime, blaming the mountain for you not getting the things you want in life? Blame. Do you feel crushed, life isn’t fair, why do I get all the bad luck? Poor me! Do you feel hopeless, incapable, inept? Hopelessness. Do you feel that these are the cards you have been dealt, so you might as well just accept them? Resignation. Do you feel challenged? Wow, a mountain, where did that come from? Cool....how do I get around this thing? Possibility. Do you feel excited. Its about time I had something big to test me out. Now...what do I do next? Stimulated. Most people come to their mountains in life and give up, turn around, or stagnate. They do nothing, or go back along the very same path that got them to the mountain in the first place. Few people will look at the mountain as an opportunity. A great opportunity. Those people that do are the ones that will look at the mountain and practice staying in the question. In this case, the core of staying in the question is how do I get around/through the mountain? Possible alternative questions may be.. Do I know anyone who has experience at this mountain? Do I know of anyone who has experience at mountains in general? Is there something about this mountain that I am not seeing? Is there a way through that I have not considered? If I could get to the other side, what might I need that I don’t currently have? Is there someone else I need to bring into this inquiry who may be able to offer a different perspective? If so, who would be the best person, or people? What is this mountain trying to tell me? Am I listening deeply enough? Do I need to go back to be able to find a way forward? We could ask a million questions. And that is just the point. Staying in the question is what it takes. When we are open for questions, our mind immediately opens to possibility and opportunity, allowing us to move ever closer to destination truth. Questions have this amazing power to do that. When we stop staying in the question, our mind shuts, and all hope of openness and flexibility is gone. We immediately become rigid, righteous, arrogant, inflexible, closed, fundamentalist. Staying in the question requires active participation. It is not a passive activity. You can’t just go along for the ride. You must keep the question and the mind open. The answer may not be immediately forthcoming. And that is the point...that is why we must stay in the question. Staying in the question is like saying yes to the world. We evoke the possible. We invite solutions. We allow our minds to seek to find by looking under nooks and crannies we would not have looked under without staying in the question. It is a very potent change model. Much has been written of late of the law of attraction. While this law and my interpretation and application of it goes beyond the scope of this article, what I can say is that when we practice staying in the question, it is like turning on the tap of attraction. The quantum space starts to organise itself to bring in the answers. Synchronistic and magical events occur. People show up with ideas, answers, or ways of challenging our suppositions. A book will fall into our lap. We will see a movie that shifts our view, or opens our eyes. A child will ask us a seemingly innocuous question that will open a door and shine a light on the issue of our mountain. Or we will wake from a dream and know, mysteriously, exactly what we need to do next. Staying in the question takes rigor and commitment. It is often the road less traveled and the harder of the paths. Yet it is also the path that brings the extraordinary. It is the path of the positive deviant. Some questions to ask yourself. When you reach your own mountain, which choices do you take? (Use the examples above.) What are the questions you need to ask yourself now that you have been avoiding, denying, or simply refusing to ask? If you knew the answer to your most important question, what would you do? What do you know you need to do now that you have been avoiding? Where are you closed, inflexible, rigid in your thinking? What are you resisting? In any area of your life? What would be a question you could ask yourself to shift your inflexibility?
To Return from Staying in the Question to Conscious Communication
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