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14-06-2007, 03:36 PM
The Question Mark
Vol 1|No 2|September|2004
Please feel free to e-mail this article to a friend, a principal, a parent, a colleague, a teacher librarian, a college professor, a poet, a magician, a vendor, an artist, a juggler, a student, a news reporter or anyone you think might enjoy it. Other transmissions and duplications not permitted. (See copyright statement below).
Asking the Seemingly
Irrelevant Question
http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/imgcache/190.png
by Jamie McKenzie
(about author (http://questioning.org/aboutauthor.html))
© 2004, Jamie McKenzie, all rights reserved.
Ignorance is bliss, they say.
Really? Who says?Bliss it might be until the sky falls!
Sadly, we are often blind-sided by the unexpected. We are caught off guard and unsuspecting.
In an age when terrorists specialize in doing the unthinkable, we must learn to think the unthinkable and ask the seemingly irrelevant question.
"How do we protect our middle school from a terrorist attack?"
This was a seemingly irrelevant question until the first week of September, 2004, when Russian/Chechen rebels took an entire school hostage and hundreds (338+) were slaughtered. ("In School's Ruins, a Town Confronts the Unthinkable" By C. J. CHIVERS for the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/06/international/europe/06russia.html))
Is it still an irrelevant question? For them? For us?
If we could learn to ask apparently irrelevant questions during the planning process, we might create a plan to meet the unsuspected.
What's the worst that could happen?
Good question - one probing apparently irrelevant domains.
What do we need to know?
What don't we know we don't know?
In this article, I expand upon earlier writings about question types first listed in the "Questioning Toolkit (http://questioning.org/Q7/toolkit.html)," elaborating, extending and illustrating irrelevant questions.
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The previous photo of Rodin's Thinker is the obvious clichéd, frontal view. Visitors to the Rodin Museum in Paris repeatedly capture the face, the frontal view. Few step around and show the back, the straining torso, the rear view.
Much thinking proceeds with the same limited perspective and limited view of reality. One must learn to step around and consider all the angles.
Can we establish habits of mind that tilt toward the unusual perspective, reward walking about and looking askance?
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Pondering?
Wondering what he needs to know?
Is Rodin's Thinker stuck?
Or is he capable of what deBono would call "lateral thinking" - the ability to step out of the box of conventional wisdom to consider fresh possibilities?
Note www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm (http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm)
When we don't know what we don't know . . . http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/imgcache/196.png
It is quite difficult to explore the unknown, in part because it is off the radar and out of sight.
"Out of sight is out of mind."
But the most promising mental territory may be that uncovered by the seemingly irrelevant question.
The irrelevant question is a peculiar member of the Questioning Toolkit above. Its power is counter-intuitive and its practice is rare.
One must learn to escape from the limitations of conventional wisdom and thinking by ranging farther afield. In fact, this kind of exploration requires dramatic excursions into unfamiliar terrain.
One learns to walk around the statue . . .Truth rarely appears where we might look logically. The creation of new knowledge almost always requires some wandering off course. The more we cling to coastline, the less apt we are to find the New World.
As Melville so dramatically pointed out in Moby Dick, the search for truth requires the courage to venture out and away from the familiar and the known. In his chapter on the Lee Shore, Melville comments . . .
But as in landlessness alone resides the highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God --so, better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even if that were safety!
Exploring the Dark Side - the Negative Space of Life
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Artists frequently employ the concept of negative spaces to capture the shape of spaces surrounding an object.
The same concept works well to identify the missing parts of a mental puzzle.
We try to extend our search beyond the boundaries of what we already know. We aim our searchlight into the shadows and the dark places.
We cast light into corners, under bushes, into closets, and through locked doors and barriers.
Web definitions of negative space (http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&oi=defmore&q=define:Negative+space).
How do we build a bridge from what we know to what we need to know?
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What strategies allow us to penetrate the fog, sailing through darkness to emerge with increased understanding?
How do we achieve illumination?
How do we shed preconceptions, bias and false certainties?
How can we create a map of regions never explored?
Can we figure out what it is we do not know?
Strategy One - The Jigsaw Puzzle, Juxtaposition, and Worst Case Scenarios
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We can use the jigsaw puzzle as a metaphor for this kind of thinking. Faced with a pile of a thousand landscape pieces, we hardly know where to begin, but after we gather edges and begin to fill in a few sections, what is missing begins taking form in contrast to what is found.
Extend this metaphor to a cluster diagram. First we map what we know on the left side of a cluster diagram.
We then create a matching set of empty boxes on the right as unknowns.
Web definitions of juxtaposition (http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=define%3Ajuxtaposition&btnG=Search).
Making plans without paying attention to what might possibly go wrong is dangerous - the equivalent of wishful thinking.
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Using the juxtaposition strategy, the diagram would be augmented to force consideration of disappointments and obstacles. The two columns on the right ask important questions.
What could go wrong?
What have we overlooked?
Anticipating problems, obstacles and hurdles strengthens the planning process and reduces the chances of failure.
The same planning process works well when bringing new technologies into schools, when hoping to transform the reading program of a school or when asking what steps need to be taken to increase homeland security.
Some planners call this process scenario-building. The goal is to spin out an array of situations that might arise despite our best hopes and efforts - scenarios ranging from optimistic and provident to disastrous .
Smart planners include at least one "worst case scenario" in their preparations so that they have strategies in mind to protect them against the dark side of life.
Strategy Two - Reversal
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Turn the issue, problem or challenge upside down and inside out. Take the issue, problem or challenge and spin it about to look at all the different angles. If black, look at the white or blue.
Planning to install a new reading program? Consider removal of a reading program, a step usually overlooked when introducing something new.
Introducing an after school program? Consider a morning substitute?
Trying to cut down on the incidence of anti-social behaviors?
Give thought to increasing the frequency of good deeds and good works?
While each of these are a matter of words, semantics and emphasis, these mental frameworks can have a deciding impact on the way a challenge is approached and change is made.
Strategy Three - Grab the Tail
When caught on the horns of a dilemma, grab the tail! Classic problem-solving strategies abound for those who are stuck in their planning. In all too many cases, we fixate on a few options and fail to invest adequately in spinning out options.
We narrow choices too rapidly and then agonize over the resulting scarcity of possibilities. Many organizations rush to deal with symptoms of problems rather than root causes. Later they lament the failure of policy.
Edward deBono preaches lateral thinking and out-of-the-box thinking as a way to capture the process of generating a richer array of choices. Likewise, Roger von Oech writes of unlocking mental locks that stand in the way of generating imaginative and novel solutions.
The folk wisdom of grabbing the tail captures the essence of both.
Strategy Four - Purposeful Wandering - Learning to Get Lost!
Once we accept that we may not know what we do not know, the notion of getting lost takes on new meaning. We hope to leave our biases, our presumptions, our ignorance and our limitations behind as we step over the boundary lines and launch a voyage of discovery and exploration.
We leave our comfort zone and strike out for parts unknown. We escape narrow, provincial thinking and open our minds to the full range of human possibilities. We set ideology behind and give full consideration to what might be true.
Hundreds of years ago, the journey might have been by canoe or sailing vessel. The explorers ventured into uncharted waters.
Today it might be more a matter of exploring ideas. Sometimes we can take advantage of digital tools to expand our understanding.
A thesaurus will point out linkages and associations we might not have anticipated, for example. The Visual Thesaurus at www.visualthesaurus.com/ (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/) provides a particularly vivid example of this exploration process.
The visitor to this site follows trails and linkages that evolve like pathways through a magic forest.
Copyright © 2004 Thinkmap, Inc., 157 Chambers Street, New York, New York 10007. All rights reserved.
Search engines may also support purposeful wandering in powerful ways. TEOMA.com (http://:TEOMA.com/) provides linkages and associated search options that the user might not have considered.
Look up the term "discovery" on TEOMA and along with the usual list of web pages, it will suggest other searches:
Data Mining
Discovery Channel
Drug Discovery
Text Mining
Clark Expedition
Resource Discovery
Programs like these help thinkers to tap into resources they might not have otherwise considered.
Strategy Five - Theater of the Absurd and Beyond the Pale
While it would be nice if the world, human behavior and the nature of life were all logical, reasonable and sensible, much is irrational and very strange. Logical and sensible people sometimes have difficulty thinking illogically, so they are limited in their ability to contend with illogical forces, extremists and highly emotional opponents.
Playrights like Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet and Harold Pinter coined the term in the 1950s.
Planners who limit their thinking and their reading to like-minded thinkers and planners are unlikely to understand the thinking of irrational opponents, insurgents, seers, prophets and demagogues. Unpleasant as it might seem, we must all extend our reading, our listening and our thinking to penetrate the veils and walls surrounding the dreams, wishes, lies, plans and strategies of those who live, think, operate and act beyond the pale. (Derivation (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pal2.htm))
If we never read what dissidents and radicals are writing and thinking, we are likely to wake up to unthinkable headlines when they take actions that seem horrific. If we surround ourselves with true believers of our own faith, we may make very poor chess players when face to face with those of different persuasions.
To avoid horrific surprises, we must extend our definitions of intelligence to include the search for radical, the absurd and the illogical. Rather than suppressing all media that lie beyond the pale, we might sometimes pay attention to some of the laments, the threats and the rallying cries.
Counter insurgency without deep knowledge of an opponent is a good example of theater of the absurd posing as rational policy.
Strategy Six - Taking Soundings and Mapping the Unknown
Long before Captain James Cook appeared on the scene, Pacific islanders had been sailing hundreds of miles of open ocean between islands using quite complicated navigational systems to find their way. Relying upon constellations, currents and many natural clues, they were able to travel far and still find their way home.
Captain Cook devoted much of his career to carefully charting on paper those regions of the world that had not yet been charted (in European terms). With his collection of charts drawn by other European explorers and the help of Pacific islanders, he set about filling in the missing regions by sailing into them to see if there were land forms worthy of charting.
When sailing into a harbor unknown to Europeans, a member of his crew routinely used a lead to take soundings (judge the depth of the water). These were added to the chart as one more measure of the world being described.
The construction of knowledge and especially the discovery of new ideas and possibilities must also proceed by venturing, sounding and mapping.
Vol 1|No 1|May|2004
Please feel free to e-mail this article to a friend, a principal, a parent, a colleague, a teacher librarian, a college professor, a poet, a magician, a vendor, an artist, a juggler, a student, a news reporter or anyone you think might enjoy it. Other transmissions and duplications not permitted. (See copyright statement below).
Serial Questioners and Umble Pie
http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/imgcache/210.png
by Jamie McKenzie
(about author (http://questioning.org/aboutauthor.html))
© 2004, Jamie McKenzie, all rights reserved.
Most important questions require the skillful pursuit of a series of subsidiary questions, yet we are often trained in school to consider
Q/A pairs.
Question ----> Answer
Question ----> Answer
Question ----> Answer
Question ----> Answer
Life is rarely so simple or so cooperative.
When we explore what Michael Leunig calls "the difficult truth," we must learn to live with entire families of questions - whole generations of them spawned by a central or essential question.
How do we pick a leader?http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/imgcache/211.png
One question leads to another . . . and another . . . and another . . . another.
The search for understanding and insight is exhausting, especially since we cannot find or uncover answers to the main questions. We must gather answers to the smaller (subsidiary) questions and then construct answers to the more important questions by synthesizing what we have gathered.
We learn to combine a dozen stories of treachery, deception and deceit to build a case for a captain having a flaw.
Was he fair to the people he encountered on his journeys?
What do you mean by "fair?"
What did "fair" mean then?
Are there stories of encounters that might help us decide?
Can we trust the versions that have survived this much time?
The Traits of a Serial Questioner
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Click on the image map above to learn about each trait or select from the list below.
Most of us grew up with the simple Q/A approach, as teachers tended to dominate classroom exchanges with brief Q/A exercises with wait time of less than 3 seconds.
Classroom discourse was often about recall rather than exploration, and school research, all too often, was about gathering rather than figuring stuff out, building answers or fashioning solutions.
Serial questioning is something quite different.
A serial questioner possesses a number of remarkable characteristics, traits and propensities that may be nurtured by parents, teachers, schools and mentors of various kinds - the subject of a forthcoming article in September's issue of The Question Mark.
Humility (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Humility)
Relentless curiosity (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Relentless%20curiosity)
Indefatigable persistence (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Indefatigable%20persistence)
Dogged determination (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Dogged%20determination)
Open-mindedness (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Open-mindedness)
Tolerance of ambiguity (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Tolerance%20of%20ambiguity)
Thirst for the missing (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Thirst%20for%20the%20missing)
Positive skepticism (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Positive%20skepticism)
Sharpened humor (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Sharpened%20humor)
Edgy wit (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Edgy%20wit)
Vivid imagination (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Vivid%20imagination)
Cussedness (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Cussedness)
Humility
Arrogance blocks understanding.
If you think you know all the answers, chances are good that the most important ones will elude you. The serial questioner is ready and willing to acknowledge a lack of certainty and an appetite to learn more. Question begets question much like a virulent strain of virus.
Ironically, those who feast on umble pie are more likely to get to the heart of the matter. The origin of umble pie:
The pie referred to in 'eating humble pie' was really umble pie, made from the umbles - heart, liver and gizzard - of a deer.
It was made to be eaten by servants and huntsmen, while the lord of the manor and his guests dined on venison. Source: Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins (second edition, Harper Collins, Publishers) Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Relentless curiosityCuriosity, despite the old saying to the contrary, did not kill the cat.
Where did that saying come from, anyway? Why do we share such a disturbing message with children? Do we really want them to grow up compliant, complacent and disengaged?
Parents and schools must encourage curiosity, awaken it when sleeping and reward it when emergent. Curiosity fuels inquiry, invention and discovery. Without curiosity we have detachment, passivity and boredom.
The serial questioner is always wondering why and how and whether. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Indefatigable persistenceThe pursuit of understanding rarely pays off handsomely, rapidly and easily. These inquiries are not entertainments like pulling the arm of a slot machine or dropping coins into arcade games.
Wrestling truth from the jungle of information available with all the twists and turns, biases and distortions typical of many sources, can be very frustrating, often tedious and usually prolonged. This is not about Play Stations™ and TinkerToys™.
Because insight is elusive and the search may be difficult, persistence - the ability to stay the course - is paramount. It is a matter of spirit - and character. Unlike Trivial Pursuit and various Treasure Hunt games, inquiry into difficult questions is like slogging through mud or briar patches.
The student must be steadfast, tough, unflinching and determined to keep on keeping on. Roget's (http://www.bartleby.com/62/53/I0805300.html) equates "indefatigable" with "Having or showing a capacity for protracted effort, regardless of difficulty or frustration: inexhaustible, tireless, unfailing, unflagging, untiring, unwearied." Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Dogged determination
The serial questioner burns the late night candle down to the nub. As all the other lights turn off and the seeking stops, the serial questioner cannot sleep and cannot rest. The unanswered question is a powerful mistress, capable of inspiring an almost obsessive commitment.
The researching student is stubbornly persevering and tenacious. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Open-mindednessAs much as possible, the serial questioner sheds pre-conceptions and bias prior to research, taking off various filters and lenses that might block discoveries.
(The next portion on open minds is adapted from Administrators at Risk: Tools and Technologies for Securing Your Future, McKenzie, National Educational Service, Bloomington, IN, 1993.)
What is an open mind? A mind that welcomes new ideas. A mind that invites new ideas in for a visit. A mind that introduces new ideas to the company that has already arrived. A mind that is most comfortable in mixed company. A mind that prizes silence and reflection.
A mind that recognizes that later is often better than sooner. An open mind is somewhat like silly putty. Do you remember that wonderful ball of clay-like substance that you could bounce, roll and apply to comics as a child?
An open mind is playful and willing to be silly because the best ideas often hide deep within our minds away from our watchful, judgmental selves. Although our personalities contain the conflicting voices of both a clown and a critic, the critic usually prevails in our culture.
The critic's voice keeps warning us not to appear foolish in front of our peers, not to offer up any outrageous ideas, and yet that is precisely how we end up with the most inventive and imaginative solutions to problems. We need to learn how to lock up the critic at times so the clown can play without restraint.
We must prevent our internal critic from blocking our own thinking or attacking the ideas of others.
An open mind can bounce around in what might often seem like a haphazard fashion. When building something new, we must be willing to entertain unusual combinations and connections.
The human mind, at its best, is especially powerful in jumping intuitively to discover unusual relationships and possibilities. An open mind quickly picks up the good ideas of other people, much like silly putty copying the image from a page of colored comics.
The open mind is always hungry, looking for some new thoughts to add to its collection. The open mind knows that its own thinking is almost always incomplete. An open mind takes pride in learning from others. It would rather listen than speak. It loves to ask questions like, "How did you come up with that idea? Can you tell me more about your thinking? How did you know that? What are your premises? What evidence did you find?"
The open mind has "in-sight" - evaluating the quality of its own thinking to see gaps that might be filled. The open mind trains the clown and the critic to cooperate so that judgment and critique alternate with playful idea generation. Ideas have at least three major aspects that can usually be modified and improved:
1. Ideas are based upon premises of one kind or another. Many people come to their ideas (judgments or conclusions) without ever explicitly examining the premises that lie underneath those conclusions. Premises are basic beliefs that act for an idea as the foundation of a building or the roots of a tree.
Collections of premises are often called assumptions or mind-sets. Sometimes our thinking comes to us already packaged without our even knowing which premises and assumptions lie below the surface, but an open mind knows that all such premises must be re-examined with some frequency to see if they are serving us well and truly match our basic belief systems.
2. Ideas are based upon evidence. Many of our ideas emerge from experience. We collect data, look for patterns and seek laws to help us predict the future. Unfortunately, we all too often collect evidence selectively.
Once people begin to hold an idea, research has shown that they begin to screen out data which might create dissonance, evidence which might "call into question" the value of the idea. An open mind looks at the quality of its evidence with the same dispassionate attitude it applies to its premises and assumptions.
Mindful of the three little pigs who built houses of straw, twigs and brick, the open mind seeks bricks and mortar that can withstand the huffing and puffing of the most aggressive wolf.
The open mind asks, "What evidence do I need to gather? Do I know enough? Has anything changed since I last gathered evidence? Is there new data? Is my data complete?"
3. Ideas may also be based upon logic. Our conclusions and ideas should flow from logical connections between our premises and our evidence.
The open mind keeps asking of its ideas, "Is this logical?
Does this make sense?
Does this follow from the evidence I gathered?
Have I identified all the key factors?
Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Tolerance of ambiguityIronically, while we seek clarity and understanding, complex questions usually defy our wishes and the search for meaning may feel like sailing through thick fog banks with only occasional glimpses of light, of islands, and of shoreline.
Raised on a diet of canned research projects and science experiments, many students will initially expect smooth sailing in broad daylight, and they may soon tire of the fog, complaining that the research is "dumb" or "stupid."
Many cultures now promote simplistic, "black and white" thinking - suggesting that difficult issues can be solved by applying slogans and various sugar-coated pills. The struggle for political power has collapsed into a contest of sound bites and mind candy as candidates propose solutions to quandaries and dilemmas that fit neatly into 30 second TV ads. Because sacrifice and patience are thought to be in short supply, citizens are spoon fed platitudes and bromides.
The best solutions to complicated situations often require an appreciation of nuance and subtlety. Learning to recognize the gray of life - the ambiguity - and to adjust plans accordingly is part of living in the real world as opposed to the false world of ideologues and demagogues who sell simple solutions and false hope.
Certainty is often a warning sign of ignorance masquerading as something finer. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Thirst for the missingWhat we do not know is often just what we need to know. What we do not understand is usually at the heart of the matter. Truth often lurks in the shadows - the negative space and the darkness of life. When we restrict our search to the well lit spaces, we risk blinding by the light.
The serial questioner spends lots of time wondering what she or he may have overlooked. The apparently irrelevant question often proves decisive and crucial. There are many reverse twists in the road, many apparent contradictions and elliptical miscues capable of throwing even the best detective off track. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Positive skepticism
The healthy skeptic is inclined to find out what is substantial and what is credible. Doubt works like a surgeon's scalpel, carving away at the surface and scraping away facades and veneers until the researcher finds something solid and plausible.
Positive skepticism intends to resolve doubt, satisfy suspicion and put aside reservations. The researcher moves toward belief and conviction. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Sharpened humor Humor: The ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is amusing, comical, incongruous, or absurd.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Someone unable to notice the humor in things is unlikely to look for or find the truth.
"There is something funny going on here."
Funny: 1a. Causing laughter or amusement. b. Intended or designed to amuse. 2. Strangely or suspiciously odd; curious. 3. Tricky or deceitful. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
We are inclined to think about the comical side of humor without paying homage to the aspects that inspire exploration and discovery. Noticing the incongruous awakens our curiosity and sets in motion the search for resolution. Suspecting the deceitful inspires the investigation.
Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits)
Edgy witThe serial questioner has a mind capable of cutting through all manner of underbrush, confusion, propaganda, marketing, smog and fog. Questions are the tools for probing and exploring. Sharp edged at times and blunt at other times, questions enable us to exercise our wit.
Wit:
1. The natural ability to perceive and understand; intelligence. 2a. Keenness and quickness of perception or discernment; ingenuity. Often used in the plural: living by one's wits. b. wits Sound mental faculties; sanity: scared out of my wits. 3a. The ability to perceive and express in an ingeniously humorous manner the relationship between seemingly incongruous or disparate things. b.
One noted for this ability, especially one skilled in repartee. c. A person of exceptional intelligence The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Delving into complex issues requires an array of digging strategies such as the following:
Beat the bushes, bore, burrow, cultivate, culture, cut, dig, dig out, dike, dredge, dress, drill, drive, excavate, explore, fertilize, forage, force, frisk, furrow, go through, gouge, gouge out, groove, grub, harrow, hoe, hollow, hunt, list, look around, look round, look through, lower, mine, mulch, nose around, plow, pocket, poke, poke around, prune, pry, quarry, rake, research, root, sap, scoop, scoop out, scrabble, scrape, scratch, search, search through, shovel, sink, smell around, spade, thin, thin out, till, till the soil, trench, trough, tunnel, vacancy, vacuity, vacuum, void, weed, weed out, work. Source:
The Thesaurus at HyperDictionary.Com (http://www.hyperdictionary.com/search.aspx?define=delve) Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits)
Vivid imagination"Picture that!"
If you could not imagine the Grail, it would be difficult to seek it.
Moving civilization and culture forward involves the picturing of new lands, new possibilities and new ideas. Often we cradle these infants in our "Mind's Eye," wary of premature birth. We toy with potentials and possibilities on the off chance that one or more might survive the winnowing process and prove valuable.
Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits)
CussednessWordNet Dictionary Definition: [n] mean-spirited disagreeable contrariness Synonyms: orneriness See Also: contrariness, perverseness, perversity Disputatiousness and perversity (what the Americans
call ``cussedness''). --James Bryce. Webster's 1913 Dictionary Those who challenge conventional wisdom and the prized beliefs of the day are usually painted as heretics, non-conformists and malcontents. Their criticism and contentiousness are rarely welcomed. They, like whistle-blowers, are often shunned, exiled and pilloried.
This being the case, it takes an unusual spirit to stand up and point to naked emperors or false prophets.
It requires courage to accuse a Joe McCarthy of demagoguery as did Edward R. Murrow during the 1950s:
We will not walk in fear, one of another. We are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular. This is no time . . . to keep silent. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. The serial questioner is not easily turned aside and away, is not readily satisfied with half truths and blandishments. Platitudes and bromides simply inspire renewed questioning.
Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits)
In September, the author will explore the conditions and experiences likely to nurture the development of the serial questioner.
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Click here to learn more (http://questioning.org/subscribe.html).
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Vol 1|No 2|September|2004
Please feel free to e-mail this article to a friend, a principal, a parent, a colleague, a teacher librarian, a college professor, a poet, a magician, a vendor, an artist, a juggler, a student, a news reporter or anyone you think might enjoy it. Other transmissions and duplications not permitted. (See copyright statement below).
Asking the Seemingly
Irrelevant Question
http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/imgcache/190.png
by Jamie McKenzie
(about author (http://questioning.org/aboutauthor.html))
© 2004, Jamie McKenzie, all rights reserved.
Ignorance is bliss, they say.
Really? Who says?Bliss it might be until the sky falls!
Sadly, we are often blind-sided by the unexpected. We are caught off guard and unsuspecting.
In an age when terrorists specialize in doing the unthinkable, we must learn to think the unthinkable and ask the seemingly irrelevant question.
"How do we protect our middle school from a terrorist attack?"
This was a seemingly irrelevant question until the first week of September, 2004, when Russian/Chechen rebels took an entire school hostage and hundreds (338+) were slaughtered. ("In School's Ruins, a Town Confronts the Unthinkable" By C. J. CHIVERS for the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/06/international/europe/06russia.html))
Is it still an irrelevant question? For them? For us?
If we could learn to ask apparently irrelevant questions during the planning process, we might create a plan to meet the unsuspected.
What's the worst that could happen?
Good question - one probing apparently irrelevant domains.
What do we need to know?
What don't we know we don't know?
In this article, I expand upon earlier writings about question types first listed in the "Questioning Toolkit (http://questioning.org/Q7/toolkit.html)," elaborating, extending and illustrating irrelevant questions.
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The previous photo of Rodin's Thinker is the obvious clichéd, frontal view. Visitors to the Rodin Museum in Paris repeatedly capture the face, the frontal view. Few step around and show the back, the straining torso, the rear view.
Much thinking proceeds with the same limited perspective and limited view of reality. One must learn to step around and consider all the angles.
Can we establish habits of mind that tilt toward the unusual perspective, reward walking about and looking askance?
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Pondering?
Wondering what he needs to know?
Is Rodin's Thinker stuck?
Or is he capable of what deBono would call "lateral thinking" - the ability to step out of the box of conventional wisdom to consider fresh possibilities?
Note www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm (http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm)
When we don't know what we don't know . . . http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/imgcache/196.png
It is quite difficult to explore the unknown, in part because it is off the radar and out of sight.
"Out of sight is out of mind."
But the most promising mental territory may be that uncovered by the seemingly irrelevant question.
The irrelevant question is a peculiar member of the Questioning Toolkit above. Its power is counter-intuitive and its practice is rare.
One must learn to escape from the limitations of conventional wisdom and thinking by ranging farther afield. In fact, this kind of exploration requires dramatic excursions into unfamiliar terrain.
One learns to walk around the statue . . .Truth rarely appears where we might look logically. The creation of new knowledge almost always requires some wandering off course. The more we cling to coastline, the less apt we are to find the New World.
As Melville so dramatically pointed out in Moby Dick, the search for truth requires the courage to venture out and away from the familiar and the known. In his chapter on the Lee Shore, Melville comments . . .
But as in landlessness alone resides the highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God --so, better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even if that were safety!
Exploring the Dark Side - the Negative Space of Life
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Artists frequently employ the concept of negative spaces to capture the shape of spaces surrounding an object.
The same concept works well to identify the missing parts of a mental puzzle.
We try to extend our search beyond the boundaries of what we already know. We aim our searchlight into the shadows and the dark places.
We cast light into corners, under bushes, into closets, and through locked doors and barriers.
Web definitions of negative space (http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&oi=defmore&q=define:Negative+space).
How do we build a bridge from what we know to what we need to know?
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What strategies allow us to penetrate the fog, sailing through darkness to emerge with increased understanding?
How do we achieve illumination?
How do we shed preconceptions, bias and false certainties?
How can we create a map of regions never explored?
Can we figure out what it is we do not know?
Strategy One - The Jigsaw Puzzle, Juxtaposition, and Worst Case Scenarios
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We can use the jigsaw puzzle as a metaphor for this kind of thinking. Faced with a pile of a thousand landscape pieces, we hardly know where to begin, but after we gather edges and begin to fill in a few sections, what is missing begins taking form in contrast to what is found.
Extend this metaphor to a cluster diagram. First we map what we know on the left side of a cluster diagram.
We then create a matching set of empty boxes on the right as unknowns.
Web definitions of juxtaposition (http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=define%3Ajuxtaposition&btnG=Search).
Making plans without paying attention to what might possibly go wrong is dangerous - the equivalent of wishful thinking.
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Using the juxtaposition strategy, the diagram would be augmented to force consideration of disappointments and obstacles. The two columns on the right ask important questions.
What could go wrong?
What have we overlooked?
Anticipating problems, obstacles and hurdles strengthens the planning process and reduces the chances of failure.
The same planning process works well when bringing new technologies into schools, when hoping to transform the reading program of a school or when asking what steps need to be taken to increase homeland security.
Some planners call this process scenario-building. The goal is to spin out an array of situations that might arise despite our best hopes and efforts - scenarios ranging from optimistic and provident to disastrous .
Smart planners include at least one "worst case scenario" in their preparations so that they have strategies in mind to protect them against the dark side of life.
Strategy Two - Reversal
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Turn the issue, problem or challenge upside down and inside out. Take the issue, problem or challenge and spin it about to look at all the different angles. If black, look at the white or blue.
Planning to install a new reading program? Consider removal of a reading program, a step usually overlooked when introducing something new.
Introducing an after school program? Consider a morning substitute?
Trying to cut down on the incidence of anti-social behaviors?
Give thought to increasing the frequency of good deeds and good works?
While each of these are a matter of words, semantics and emphasis, these mental frameworks can have a deciding impact on the way a challenge is approached and change is made.
Strategy Three - Grab the Tail
When caught on the horns of a dilemma, grab the tail! Classic problem-solving strategies abound for those who are stuck in their planning. In all too many cases, we fixate on a few options and fail to invest adequately in spinning out options.
We narrow choices too rapidly and then agonize over the resulting scarcity of possibilities. Many organizations rush to deal with symptoms of problems rather than root causes. Later they lament the failure of policy.
Edward deBono preaches lateral thinking and out-of-the-box thinking as a way to capture the process of generating a richer array of choices. Likewise, Roger von Oech writes of unlocking mental locks that stand in the way of generating imaginative and novel solutions.
The folk wisdom of grabbing the tail captures the essence of both.
Strategy Four - Purposeful Wandering - Learning to Get Lost!
Once we accept that we may not know what we do not know, the notion of getting lost takes on new meaning. We hope to leave our biases, our presumptions, our ignorance and our limitations behind as we step over the boundary lines and launch a voyage of discovery and exploration.
We leave our comfort zone and strike out for parts unknown. We escape narrow, provincial thinking and open our minds to the full range of human possibilities. We set ideology behind and give full consideration to what might be true.
Hundreds of years ago, the journey might have been by canoe or sailing vessel. The explorers ventured into uncharted waters.
Today it might be more a matter of exploring ideas. Sometimes we can take advantage of digital tools to expand our understanding.
A thesaurus will point out linkages and associations we might not have anticipated, for example. The Visual Thesaurus at www.visualthesaurus.com/ (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/) provides a particularly vivid example of this exploration process.
The visitor to this site follows trails and linkages that evolve like pathways through a magic forest.
Copyright © 2004 Thinkmap, Inc., 157 Chambers Street, New York, New York 10007. All rights reserved.
Search engines may also support purposeful wandering in powerful ways. TEOMA.com (http://:TEOMA.com/) provides linkages and associated search options that the user might not have considered.
Look up the term "discovery" on TEOMA and along with the usual list of web pages, it will suggest other searches:
Data Mining
Discovery Channel
Drug Discovery
Text Mining
Clark Expedition
Resource Discovery
Programs like these help thinkers to tap into resources they might not have otherwise considered.
Strategy Five - Theater of the Absurd and Beyond the Pale
While it would be nice if the world, human behavior and the nature of life were all logical, reasonable and sensible, much is irrational and very strange. Logical and sensible people sometimes have difficulty thinking illogically, so they are limited in their ability to contend with illogical forces, extremists and highly emotional opponents.
Playrights like Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet and Harold Pinter coined the term in the 1950s.
Planners who limit their thinking and their reading to like-minded thinkers and planners are unlikely to understand the thinking of irrational opponents, insurgents, seers, prophets and demagogues. Unpleasant as it might seem, we must all extend our reading, our listening and our thinking to penetrate the veils and walls surrounding the dreams, wishes, lies, plans and strategies of those who live, think, operate and act beyond the pale. (Derivation (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pal2.htm))
If we never read what dissidents and radicals are writing and thinking, we are likely to wake up to unthinkable headlines when they take actions that seem horrific. If we surround ourselves with true believers of our own faith, we may make very poor chess players when face to face with those of different persuasions.
To avoid horrific surprises, we must extend our definitions of intelligence to include the search for radical, the absurd and the illogical. Rather than suppressing all media that lie beyond the pale, we might sometimes pay attention to some of the laments, the threats and the rallying cries.
Counter insurgency without deep knowledge of an opponent is a good example of theater of the absurd posing as rational policy.
Strategy Six - Taking Soundings and Mapping the Unknown
Long before Captain James Cook appeared on the scene, Pacific islanders had been sailing hundreds of miles of open ocean between islands using quite complicated navigational systems to find their way. Relying upon constellations, currents and many natural clues, they were able to travel far and still find their way home.
Captain Cook devoted much of his career to carefully charting on paper those regions of the world that had not yet been charted (in European terms). With his collection of charts drawn by other European explorers and the help of Pacific islanders, he set about filling in the missing regions by sailing into them to see if there were land forms worthy of charting.
When sailing into a harbor unknown to Europeans, a member of his crew routinely used a lead to take soundings (judge the depth of the water). These were added to the chart as one more measure of the world being described.
The construction of knowledge and especially the discovery of new ideas and possibilities must also proceed by venturing, sounding and mapping.
Vol 1|No 1|May|2004
Please feel free to e-mail this article to a friend, a principal, a parent, a colleague, a teacher librarian, a college professor, a poet, a magician, a vendor, an artist, a juggler, a student, a news reporter or anyone you think might enjoy it. Other transmissions and duplications not permitted. (See copyright statement below).
Serial Questioners and Umble Pie
http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/imgcache/210.png
by Jamie McKenzie
(about author (http://questioning.org/aboutauthor.html))
© 2004, Jamie McKenzie, all rights reserved.
Most important questions require the skillful pursuit of a series of subsidiary questions, yet we are often trained in school to consider
Q/A pairs.
Question ----> Answer
Question ----> Answer
Question ----> Answer
Question ----> Answer
Life is rarely so simple or so cooperative.
When we explore what Michael Leunig calls "the difficult truth," we must learn to live with entire families of questions - whole generations of them spawned by a central or essential question.
How do we pick a leader?http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/imgcache/211.png
One question leads to another . . . and another . . . and another . . . another.
The search for understanding and insight is exhausting, especially since we cannot find or uncover answers to the main questions. We must gather answers to the smaller (subsidiary) questions and then construct answers to the more important questions by synthesizing what we have gathered.
We learn to combine a dozen stories of treachery, deception and deceit to build a case for a captain having a flaw.
Was he fair to the people he encountered on his journeys?
What do you mean by "fair?"
What did "fair" mean then?
Are there stories of encounters that might help us decide?
Can we trust the versions that have survived this much time?
The Traits of a Serial Questioner
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Click on the image map above to learn about each trait or select from the list below.
Most of us grew up with the simple Q/A approach, as teachers tended to dominate classroom exchanges with brief Q/A exercises with wait time of less than 3 seconds.
Classroom discourse was often about recall rather than exploration, and school research, all too often, was about gathering rather than figuring stuff out, building answers or fashioning solutions.
Serial questioning is something quite different.
A serial questioner possesses a number of remarkable characteristics, traits and propensities that may be nurtured by parents, teachers, schools and mentors of various kinds - the subject of a forthcoming article in September's issue of The Question Mark.
Humility (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Humility)
Relentless curiosity (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Relentless%20curiosity)
Indefatigable persistence (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Indefatigable%20persistence)
Dogged determination (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Dogged%20determination)
Open-mindedness (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Open-mindedness)
Tolerance of ambiguity (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Tolerance%20of%20ambiguity)
Thirst for the missing (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Thirst%20for%20the%20missing)
Positive skepticism (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Positive%20skepticism)
Sharpened humor (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Sharpened%20humor)
Edgy wit (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Edgy%20wit)
Vivid imagination (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Vivid%20imagination)
Cussedness (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#Cussedness)
Humility
Arrogance blocks understanding.
If you think you know all the answers, chances are good that the most important ones will elude you. The serial questioner is ready and willing to acknowledge a lack of certainty and an appetite to learn more. Question begets question much like a virulent strain of virus.
Ironically, those who feast on umble pie are more likely to get to the heart of the matter. The origin of umble pie:
The pie referred to in 'eating humble pie' was really umble pie, made from the umbles - heart, liver and gizzard - of a deer.
It was made to be eaten by servants and huntsmen, while the lord of the manor and his guests dined on venison. Source: Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins (second edition, Harper Collins, Publishers) Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Relentless curiosityCuriosity, despite the old saying to the contrary, did not kill the cat.
Where did that saying come from, anyway? Why do we share such a disturbing message with children? Do we really want them to grow up compliant, complacent and disengaged?
Parents and schools must encourage curiosity, awaken it when sleeping and reward it when emergent. Curiosity fuels inquiry, invention and discovery. Without curiosity we have detachment, passivity and boredom.
The serial questioner is always wondering why and how and whether. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Indefatigable persistenceThe pursuit of understanding rarely pays off handsomely, rapidly and easily. These inquiries are not entertainments like pulling the arm of a slot machine or dropping coins into arcade games.
Wrestling truth from the jungle of information available with all the twists and turns, biases and distortions typical of many sources, can be very frustrating, often tedious and usually prolonged. This is not about Play Stations™ and TinkerToys™.
Because insight is elusive and the search may be difficult, persistence - the ability to stay the course - is paramount. It is a matter of spirit - and character. Unlike Trivial Pursuit and various Treasure Hunt games, inquiry into difficult questions is like slogging through mud or briar patches.
The student must be steadfast, tough, unflinching and determined to keep on keeping on. Roget's (http://www.bartleby.com/62/53/I0805300.html) equates "indefatigable" with "Having or showing a capacity for protracted effort, regardless of difficulty or frustration: inexhaustible, tireless, unfailing, unflagging, untiring, unwearied." Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Dogged determination
The serial questioner burns the late night candle down to the nub. As all the other lights turn off and the seeking stops, the serial questioner cannot sleep and cannot rest. The unanswered question is a powerful mistress, capable of inspiring an almost obsessive commitment.
The researching student is stubbornly persevering and tenacious. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Open-mindednessAs much as possible, the serial questioner sheds pre-conceptions and bias prior to research, taking off various filters and lenses that might block discoveries.
(The next portion on open minds is adapted from Administrators at Risk: Tools and Technologies for Securing Your Future, McKenzie, National Educational Service, Bloomington, IN, 1993.)
What is an open mind? A mind that welcomes new ideas. A mind that invites new ideas in for a visit. A mind that introduces new ideas to the company that has already arrived. A mind that is most comfortable in mixed company. A mind that prizes silence and reflection.
A mind that recognizes that later is often better than sooner. An open mind is somewhat like silly putty. Do you remember that wonderful ball of clay-like substance that you could bounce, roll and apply to comics as a child?
An open mind is playful and willing to be silly because the best ideas often hide deep within our minds away from our watchful, judgmental selves. Although our personalities contain the conflicting voices of both a clown and a critic, the critic usually prevails in our culture.
The critic's voice keeps warning us not to appear foolish in front of our peers, not to offer up any outrageous ideas, and yet that is precisely how we end up with the most inventive and imaginative solutions to problems. We need to learn how to lock up the critic at times so the clown can play without restraint.
We must prevent our internal critic from blocking our own thinking or attacking the ideas of others.
An open mind can bounce around in what might often seem like a haphazard fashion. When building something new, we must be willing to entertain unusual combinations and connections.
The human mind, at its best, is especially powerful in jumping intuitively to discover unusual relationships and possibilities. An open mind quickly picks up the good ideas of other people, much like silly putty copying the image from a page of colored comics.
The open mind is always hungry, looking for some new thoughts to add to its collection. The open mind knows that its own thinking is almost always incomplete. An open mind takes pride in learning from others. It would rather listen than speak. It loves to ask questions like, "How did you come up with that idea? Can you tell me more about your thinking? How did you know that? What are your premises? What evidence did you find?"
The open mind has "in-sight" - evaluating the quality of its own thinking to see gaps that might be filled. The open mind trains the clown and the critic to cooperate so that judgment and critique alternate with playful idea generation. Ideas have at least three major aspects that can usually be modified and improved:
1. Ideas are based upon premises of one kind or another. Many people come to their ideas (judgments or conclusions) without ever explicitly examining the premises that lie underneath those conclusions. Premises are basic beliefs that act for an idea as the foundation of a building or the roots of a tree.
Collections of premises are often called assumptions or mind-sets. Sometimes our thinking comes to us already packaged without our even knowing which premises and assumptions lie below the surface, but an open mind knows that all such premises must be re-examined with some frequency to see if they are serving us well and truly match our basic belief systems.
2. Ideas are based upon evidence. Many of our ideas emerge from experience. We collect data, look for patterns and seek laws to help us predict the future. Unfortunately, we all too often collect evidence selectively.
Once people begin to hold an idea, research has shown that they begin to screen out data which might create dissonance, evidence which might "call into question" the value of the idea. An open mind looks at the quality of its evidence with the same dispassionate attitude it applies to its premises and assumptions.
Mindful of the three little pigs who built houses of straw, twigs and brick, the open mind seeks bricks and mortar that can withstand the huffing and puffing of the most aggressive wolf.
The open mind asks, "What evidence do I need to gather? Do I know enough? Has anything changed since I last gathered evidence? Is there new data? Is my data complete?"
3. Ideas may also be based upon logic. Our conclusions and ideas should flow from logical connections between our premises and our evidence.
The open mind keeps asking of its ideas, "Is this logical?
Does this make sense?
Does this follow from the evidence I gathered?
Have I identified all the key factors?
Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Tolerance of ambiguityIronically, while we seek clarity and understanding, complex questions usually defy our wishes and the search for meaning may feel like sailing through thick fog banks with only occasional glimpses of light, of islands, and of shoreline.
Raised on a diet of canned research projects and science experiments, many students will initially expect smooth sailing in broad daylight, and they may soon tire of the fog, complaining that the research is "dumb" or "stupid."
Many cultures now promote simplistic, "black and white" thinking - suggesting that difficult issues can be solved by applying slogans and various sugar-coated pills. The struggle for political power has collapsed into a contest of sound bites and mind candy as candidates propose solutions to quandaries and dilemmas that fit neatly into 30 second TV ads. Because sacrifice and patience are thought to be in short supply, citizens are spoon fed platitudes and bromides.
The best solutions to complicated situations often require an appreciation of nuance and subtlety. Learning to recognize the gray of life - the ambiguity - and to adjust plans accordingly is part of living in the real world as opposed to the false world of ideologues and demagogues who sell simple solutions and false hope.
Certainty is often a warning sign of ignorance masquerading as something finer. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Thirst for the missingWhat we do not know is often just what we need to know. What we do not understand is usually at the heart of the matter. Truth often lurks in the shadows - the negative space and the darkness of life. When we restrict our search to the well lit spaces, we risk blinding by the light.
The serial questioner spends lots of time wondering what she or he may have overlooked. The apparently irrelevant question often proves decisive and crucial. There are many reverse twists in the road, many apparent contradictions and elliptical miscues capable of throwing even the best detective off track. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Positive skepticism
The healthy skeptic is inclined to find out what is substantial and what is credible. Doubt works like a surgeon's scalpel, carving away at the surface and scraping away facades and veneers until the researcher finds something solid and plausible.
Positive skepticism intends to resolve doubt, satisfy suspicion and put aside reservations. The researcher moves toward belief and conviction. Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits) Sharpened humor Humor: The ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is amusing, comical, incongruous, or absurd.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Someone unable to notice the humor in things is unlikely to look for or find the truth.
"There is something funny going on here."
Funny: 1a. Causing laughter or amusement. b. Intended or designed to amuse. 2. Strangely or suspiciously odd; curious. 3. Tricky or deceitful. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
We are inclined to think about the comical side of humor without paying homage to the aspects that inspire exploration and discovery. Noticing the incongruous awakens our curiosity and sets in motion the search for resolution. Suspecting the deceitful inspires the investigation.
Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits)
Edgy witThe serial questioner has a mind capable of cutting through all manner of underbrush, confusion, propaganda, marketing, smog and fog. Questions are the tools for probing and exploring. Sharp edged at times and blunt at other times, questions enable us to exercise our wit.
Wit:
1. The natural ability to perceive and understand; intelligence. 2a. Keenness and quickness of perception or discernment; ingenuity. Often used in the plural: living by one's wits. b. wits Sound mental faculties; sanity: scared out of my wits. 3a. The ability to perceive and express in an ingeniously humorous manner the relationship between seemingly incongruous or disparate things. b.
One noted for this ability, especially one skilled in repartee. c. A person of exceptional intelligence The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Delving into complex issues requires an array of digging strategies such as the following:
Beat the bushes, bore, burrow, cultivate, culture, cut, dig, dig out, dike, dredge, dress, drill, drive, excavate, explore, fertilize, forage, force, frisk, furrow, go through, gouge, gouge out, groove, grub, harrow, hoe, hollow, hunt, list, look around, look round, look through, lower, mine, mulch, nose around, plow, pocket, poke, poke around, prune, pry, quarry, rake, research, root, sap, scoop, scoop out, scrabble, scrape, scratch, search, search through, shovel, sink, smell around, spade, thin, thin out, till, till the soil, trench, trough, tunnel, vacancy, vacuity, vacuum, void, weed, weed out, work. Source:
The Thesaurus at HyperDictionary.Com (http://www.hyperdictionary.com/search.aspx?define=delve) Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits)
Vivid imagination"Picture that!"
If you could not imagine the Grail, it would be difficult to seek it.
Moving civilization and culture forward involves the picturing of new lands, new possibilities and new ideas. Often we cradle these infants in our "Mind's Eye," wary of premature birth. We toy with potentials and possibilities on the off chance that one or more might survive the winnowing process and prove valuable.
Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits)
CussednessWordNet Dictionary Definition: [n] mean-spirited disagreeable contrariness Synonyms: orneriness See Also: contrariness, perverseness, perversity Disputatiousness and perversity (what the Americans
call ``cussedness''). --James Bryce. Webster's 1913 Dictionary Those who challenge conventional wisdom and the prized beliefs of the day are usually painted as heretics, non-conformists and malcontents. Their criticism and contentiousness are rarely welcomed. They, like whistle-blowers, are often shunned, exiled and pilloried.
This being the case, it takes an unusual spirit to stand up and point to naked emperors or false prophets.
It requires courage to accuse a Joe McCarthy of demagoguery as did Edward R. Murrow during the 1950s:
We will not walk in fear, one of another. We are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular. This is no time . . . to keep silent. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. The serial questioner is not easily turned aside and away, is not readily satisfied with half truths and blandishments. Platitudes and bromides simply inspire renewed questioning.
Return to list of traits (http://www.atyafonline.com/vb/showthread.php?p=20#traits)
In September, the author will explore the conditions and experiences likely to nurture the development of the serial questioner.
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