[Neurons] 2018 Neurons #7 The Problem with Answers

Sun Feb 4 22:40:35 EST 2018

From: L. Michael Hall

2018 Neurons #7

February 5, 2018

Thinking is in Short Supply #2

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.

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net

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Dr. L. Michael Hall writes a post on "Neurons" each Monday.  For a free
subscription, sign up on www.neurosemantics.com.   On that website you can
click on Meta-Coaching for detailed information and training schedule.   To
find a Meta-Coach see  <http://www.metacoachfoundation.org>
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Products, there is also a catalog of books that you can download.   

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