Can we create one really good question a day?

Answers everywhere: advice, direction, explanations, instructions, guidance, feedback, expertise, solution, resolution, interpretation, justification, knowledge, wisdom. So many experts and gurus, so many people have it figured out, but the general feeling I get doesn't match that overabundance of answers. The more I learn, the more questions I have.

So we're asking the wrong questions? Or not asking enough questions? Not digging deep enough with our questions? Maybe asking questions we already know—or assume we know—the answers to? What is the purpose of that? If you're going to question something or someone why prefill the space with our own answer? 

This is my running stream of consciousness, so I guess I get to answer one of these questions. Hurry.

We're in a hurry to fill the void, to fill the dead air that follows a really good question. But that void is where thought and creativity happen. It's where the imagination takes over. So if we hurry to provide answers or populate answers to canned questions, the imagination atrophies.

So maybe that's what I'll question today. If the purpose of art is to reveal the real questions we should be asking and answering, when do we arrive at a place where art is possible if we aren't engaging our imagination? If we aren't taking time to think, to let the mind wander, to consider options, if we aren't entertaining the possibility of solutions—plural—then how do we know we've arrived at the answer? 

That’s clunky. Allow me to question that question. Does all art stem from the art of asking questions? True or false: to question is to create.

If we entertain the idea that we are all creators, all artists, all writers, for just a moment, and make space for just a little more time to consider our questions, we might create something surprising, we might surprise ourselves. And those surprises, that’s where delight happens, where invention happens, and that process is called art. Maybe?

Yes, good questions lead to more good questions, and we will likely wind up with more questions than answers, but honestly, who wants to have all the answers? Aren’t questions more fun?

As we consider how we might connect the dots between questions, we will arrive at some surprising answers and more complex questions on our own, and then collectively as we ruminate together, and then possibly, together, we arrive at a deeper understanding of the original question, together. Is that right?

So, where do we go from here? If we want to question the answers we currently have, why not create one really poignant question a day? I could do the same. Imagine the surprises we’ll uncover, imagine the possibilities.