THE PROBLEM WITH ANSWERS

We all want answers. I think I can comfortable say that without contradiction, namely, we all want answers. Don’t you? I think this is a pretty basic human drive— to wonder about things, to be curious, and to want answers to the problems and challenges that we face in life. And given that, I think we could also say that we all like answers. Scanning the displays and the books at any bookstore, it seems that answers also is a big selling point.

But there’s a danger in answers. That’s why we need to be aware and to beware. Why? Because answers, especially pre-mature answers, are dangerous to your thinking capacity. Now if you have never before considered that answers could be dangerous, this may be a new perspective for you. What is the actual danger when you find an answer to something or when you draw a conclusion, and have an answer to a question or problem? To understand this danger, I’ll first frame the role of questions and answers, that is, problems and solutions.

Here’s the frame: we think to mentally work over an idea about something. That’s why real thinking primarily involves questioning, exploring, wondering, and intense curiosity. It involves positing one idea, then another, then turning them upside-down, and looking at them from various points of view. Thinking is work. It is not just parroting what we’ve heard. It involves working first to understand the idea, playing around with it, then testing it, checking its source, thinking it through to what it leads to, consequences, repercussions, and much more. Real thinking refers to an active mind alive with ideas.

It is thinking that truly distinguishes us from other species. A parrot can say words. It can hear and repeat words, but it does not think. It does not really understand what the words mean or what it is saying. It is parroting. And that’s what a lot of people do and call it “thinking.” But they are mistaken. They are not truly thinking, they are repeating talking points and ideological creeds that they learned by rote, etc.

If real thinking is the mental effort of working over ideas for understanding and discovery, then the end result of thinking is to reach conclusions, create solutions, and get answers. Yet here is a strange and ironical fact about answers. The irony actually makes answers dangerous. Namely, when most of us get an “answer,” we stop thinking.

That’s an amazing thing, don’t you think? Answers bring an end to thinking and your mind stops working. There are several explanations for this. One is that we mostly think in order to solve problems and get answers. So when we reach that goal and get some answer, our purpose has

come to an end. So we stop our exploration. We stop thinking. And if you especially feel satisfied with the answer, the search stops, there’s no more inquiry, and so you close the file that you opened in your mind. You have no need to keep thinking.

What other danger is here? Not only do we stop thinking, we tend to grab ahold of the first solution and go no further. So the possibility of finding an even better solution goes away. The possibility of continuing the search and finding the next-level solution, and the one after that, the next-level solution to that solution, and so on — all of that is lost! After all, how many times have you arrived at an “answer” — a solution or some workable idea and then later, someone showed you something ten times better? Or you stumble upon an idea that went far, far beyond your first solution?

Answers stop the creative problem-solving process. Talk about danger! What could be an incredibly important creative solution is stopped mid-stream as you eliminate even that possibility. Answers can deceive you into thinking that you’re done, that there’s no more surprise or mystery.

For others, having an answer satisfies their need for closure. This refers to the meta-program of closure/ non-closure, this perceptual filter relates to how comfortable you are when information is presented, like a story, but the story is not finished. Those with a filter for “closure” feel anxious until it is closed. Once closed, however, they can now feel okay or satisfied. For others, an answer enables them to feel smug, even superior. They use it as a psychological defense for a faltering sense of self value. They really misuses an answer.

This also answers why, as noted in the previous post, thinking is currently in short supply. People keep cutting off thinking. They end their mental exploration of a question or problem for too soon. Wanting mental ease and comfort, they grab an answer (no matter how inadequate). For good healthy and vigorous thinking, this is a problem.

Solution? Learn to think with clarity and precision. Start with Winning the Inner Game, Movie Mind, and then go to Creative Solutions. Those books will give you the foundation then for NLP and Neuro-Semantics. To your thinking excellence.