Chapter 1 - Ask questions
The power of questions in developing rational thinking
Questions are the foundation of rational thinking. Without questions, you only use what you already know, and what you already know can be correct, partially correct, wrong, or partially wrong. Questions are addressed to the rational self. The response of the rational self—because there is always a response—depends on the knowledge and experiences you have accumulated up to the moment of the question. We will start with a close-up analysis so you can understand the first stage. You are reading a website right now. Why are you reading a website?
Personal interest: The engine of our actions
The guiding question that regulates the world according to interest. Interest is a very common catalyst; most activities are inspired by interest. Why are you reading a website? To get information. The next series of questions should follow naturally: am I looking for information? If so, what kind of information am I looking for? Is this source of information correct? Should I write down the information and look for other sources for confirmation so I can draw a correct and complete conclusion?
Overcoming boredom and the truth about laziness
Let's go back to the answer "why am I reading the website"—because I'm bored. Why am I bored? Because I have nothing to do? How can I have nothing to do when there are so many things I like and I can choose any of them? Branching out: I no longer know what I enjoy (this is just laziness and lies). No matter how little you have experienced in life, you have found out part of what you like and what you don't like, so you already have a set of activities you can turn to whenever you feel stagnant.
Fear of the new and the courage to explore life
We also have the option—I got bored of what I used to enjoy. The answer involves your desire for something new, beautiful, and attractive. Also, if you hesitate and only do the same activities, there is a high chance you will develop a fear of what is new. Perhaps you don't see a mysterious world of wonders worth discovering in front of you, but rather a threatening world full of dangers. That is a different reasoning and a theme for meditation, but let's get back to the questions. So, why do you perform an action like reading a website?
Body awareness and being present in the moment
What other questions should you ask? Is the position you are in right now chosen consciously by you, or is it just an automatic adaptation to the environment you are in? Why are you moving your toes as you read the website now? Why are you moving the mouse cursor on the screen as you read? Is the answer a matter of body attention? (Perhaps you aren't 100% focused on the reading activity and you are developing other activities, or you can't keep your focus under constant control to concentrate throughout the entire reading.)
Focus training for a sharp mind
Or do you have a patience problem? Why do you read the beginning of the word and skip through the lines? Can you read and pronounce the words you read in your mind? This is how focus is developed. This process of observing your own mechanisms while going through a text is the first step toward superior mental discipline. When you learn to be present in the smallest detail of your actions, you begin to truly take control over your own reason and the way you perceive reality.
Attention is the decision of the rational self
Attention control and the power of voluntary focus
Attention is the decision of the rational self—you have decided to be one hundred percent attentive to something, and focus should appear when you want it to, not when you are forced by circumstances. If a wild animal were to appear next to you right now, you would find that you can focus perfectly, one hundred percent, without even blinking. Focus is one of your weapons. Like any weapon, if it is not sharpened through training, it becomes dull over time. We return to the questions: why are you reading? Why are you moving? How are you reading? How are you moving?
The world is guided by interests—both good and bad
The world around you is in constant motion, and the "why" should be used at all times to identify interests, both your own and those of the beings that cross your path. Let's make a side note to answer you: why did I write this website? Out of kindness, humanity, or perhaps out of ill will, or am I trying to instill a certain thought in you? I will answer honestly: a little bit of each, both good and bad. Questions are of several types: of place, of time, of manner.
Evolution toward rational thinking: The beginning of the journey
When you ask a question, you activate your rational self and take another step forward on the path to becoming a rational being—a human. I encourage you to take "asking questions" to the highest level. Ask yourself why people do what they do, why the grass grows, why animals walk and don't float, or why trees have thorns. Analyze why an online newspaper writes about a single event of the day when many more are happening, or why information is transmitted by a specific person.
Answers are sources of new questions
This is the first stage: to ask questions and seek answers. The stage would not be complete without talking about answers. When you ask a question, your rational mind will offer an answer, but now you must ask yourself whether it is correct or not. You must check the rational mind's set of knowledge and draw a correct conclusion, especially since it involves your own baggage of knowledge where you cannot cheat; you must work and verify every piece of information to ensure it is correct.
The inheritance of fears and the formation of your own structure
When we are children, we learn from parents and friends, but later we develop our own structure of analysis. It is important to understand that many of our fears do not truly belong to us but are taken from our loved ones in their attempt to protect us or from their own fears. Recognizing this mechanism helps us look at our past with more kindness and begin to rationally filter what we keep and what we leave behind to build our own path, free from inherited phobias.
If you ask questions, you find answers...
Discover the power of your thinking step by step
If you ask questions, you find answers about many things. The mechanism of thinking is produced through questions, so you must learn daily to ask questions about everything. You might think you already do this and that it's simple, but I warn you: you certainly don't, and it is in no way simple. You will see, if you try, how much energy it consumes. However, it is an effort worth making because it helps you see the world with different eyes and understand yourself better.
Patience and honesty: Your friends in the search for truth
Let's emphasize the importance of the cycle: asking questions – obtaining answers – asking questions about the answers. It is a continuous movement until you reach the point where you can accept an answer as correct and complete. Although the mechanism is primary, to develop it, you must cultivate your focus, patience, and honesty with yourself. These are essential tools we will discuss further in the following chapters to support you in this process.
Learn to choose the questions that matter to you
Let's complete the first chapter on asking questions with the next stage: what are the right questions? Asking questions is good, but what questions should you seek and find so that they are beneficial for you? This is how you realize what you are trying to find out and how you can establish your interest. Interest forces you toward a set of questions to get answers, but sometimes it can limit your view, casting shadows on things that, although they seem unimportant, are of great significance.
Your personal path to clarity and meaning
Therefore, it is good to constantly ask yourself which question was right or which are the right questions for the moment you are in. The final stage, after you learn to ask questions and seek the right answers, will be the one where you think about why you are making this effort and what you are truly looking for. Here, I won't give you the answer, because it is a personal journey. It is your duty and, at the same time, your beautiful obligation to discover your own truth.
Build a mental structure
The importance of a mental structure in information analysis
The most important thing is to have a structure for seeking and verifying information. Great care must be taken regarding conclusions that are too hasty, based on insufficient or circumstantial data. If you have looked for a piece of information, for example, and the first two sources confirmed it, you tend to form a conclusion. This is a common mistake. Even if the information seems correct and continues to hold up, you still need to see the search and analysis process through to the end.
The trap of hasty conclusions: A case study
Specifically, let's imagine a situation where you meet a colleague who says almost nothing, and has a cold and unfriendly attitude toward you and others. You notice various grimaces and interpret them upon seeing you or other people. You observe her behavior for the first week and conclude that she is a cold, mean person who probably can't stand you—taciturn and introverted. This rapid labeling can deprive you of understanding the deeper reality.
Beyond appearances: The power of context and patience
However, this person we are talking about may have recently had throat surgery; she is recovering and suffering during this time, and since you and the others are new colleagues, perhaps she cannot tell you why she keeps her distance.
Although the information at the moment seems correct, it is only valid within a certain timeframe, being linked to a specific situation that has a major influence. Context completely changes the meaning of your initial observations.
Time and data: Your allies for a correct vision
You cannot know if, after recovery, the person will remain just as unfriendly or if she will change for the better. Therefore, you must gather more data over a longer period of time before applying a definitive label. This patience in collecting information helps you build a solid mental structure, protected from errors in judgment and ready to receive the truth, not just a projection of your own assumptions.
Answers and conclusions
Find your own way among the opinions of others
Answers and conclusions, on the other hand, fall into several categories: your own or copied, received, suggested—meaning, improper. You must take great care when forming a conclusion to verify that very conclusion. An impartial logical framework is mandatory, alongside depersonalization. You must analyze from an objective perspective and look at yourself from the outside. By knowing yourself, you will analyze the justification and motivation behind your actions.
Protect your balance through conscious choices
How does this help you? You will know how you reached a conclusion, and that conclusion becomes a guiding principle in your life. This analysis is very useful, especially regarding health-related conclusions. For example, your group of friends supports an influencer who promotes a lack of movement, laziness, and doing nothing. Indirectly, as a member of the group, you end up hearing conclusions that activity is bad, and doing nothing is perfectly fine.
The power to remain faithful to your own values
If you have a solidly developed mental structure, in which you previously developed a conclusion that physical activity means better health, then you will reject the new information.
Moreover, you will try to convince your friends of the errors they are copying and applying. You will notice the general tendency to follow the crowd automatically, seeking external validation before passing information through the filter of your own reason.
Learn to recognize and avoid the traps of manipulation
The comfort of being given an answer is most often used in manipulation. People without a structure of conclusions based on questions and analysis tend to take everything they receive at face value. A recommendation, solution, or proposal coming from someone they trust becomes something accepted and adopted. But does the person who recommends it, and whom you trust, truly want what's best for you? Do they know your needs? Your desires?
Value your clarity and listen to your intuition
Do they know if you need it or not? Do they know your financial situation—can you even afford it? Another interesting question is: how did they manage to win your trust? Is your answer satisfying, or did you hesitate for no reason? This careful analysis of your sources of trust is a form of respect for your own mind, ensuring that the decisions you make are truly for your long-term benefit.
If you do an analysis
Understand the messages around you through conscious analysis
If you analyze the advertisements displayed everywhere, you will understand a multitude of information. You analyze the shape, the symbols, and the way they are presented. You analyze the text, which words are chosen, why they are chosen or repeated. You observe the symbolism of the images, whether direct or partial, and how they are layered. After that, you analyze the sound: what the tone indicates, what it prepares you for, the type of tone chosen, its timbre, and especially its purpose. What feelings is it trying to activate within you?
From curiosity to the right choice for you
Only then do you move on to the product itself and analyze what it is made of, where it is made, its utility, and what similar products exist on the market. After you ask the questions and seek the answers, you move to the personal perspective: do you need it? Is it useful? Do you truly need it, or does it just improve comfort? Can you afford it? All of these are analyses—first objective, then subjective. And you must do them for everything, as a form of respect for your resources.
Gain self-mastery through constant training
Perhaps that is why, sometimes, it is easier to receive a ready-made solution and skip the training. What does this mean? The training of asking questions increases your speed and accuracy.
Each time you do it, you will handle it faster and more thoroughly. At some point, the process will become almost instantaneous, and the people around you will say you've done something superhuman, like magic. It all starts with your desire not to let yourself be driven on autopilot.
Begin the journey with small steps, starting with your own habits
You must build your question-asking structure from the near to the far. Analyzing yourself is the first step. You wake up and drink coffee. Why do you drink coffee? You go to work. Why do you go to work? You plan vacations—why do you plan vacations? You blink—why do you blink? In the questions you ask, the structure is important. You ask the question, observe how you ask it, and its wording. You notice your interest formulated in the question and analyze if it is correct.
Evolve by seeking your own wisdom
You analyze whether the question is complete or partial. You look for improvement, then you seek solutions, answers, options. Are the information sources good? Are they sufficient? Do you need to include a timeframe? Reading this, I suspect you're beginning to understand what I'm trying to do. I want you to gain the construction, because with it comes a hunger for knowledge, and you begin to seek wisdom. This in itself is evolution, regardless of what level you are at in this moment of your life.
The promise of a life lived with meaning and clarity
The search for wisdom may look like something sensational now, but I promise that, along the way, it will seem normal to you. Others, who do not apply this training, will still consider what you are doing to be sensational. It is your path to clarity, a journey you fully deserve. Continue to ask yourself questions and build your own structure, because this is the safest foundation for a free and self-assumed life.
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