The question we start with is rarely the question we end with.
But, a question is a start because the question we start with will inevitably lead to a whole different question, in fact a different kind of question. And, one closer to the ones we really need to be asking.
While, conceptually, the question is the same for all of us, it also is unique to each of us.
We often don't ask questions because we don't really want to know. Among other things, we're afraid of the work it may require of us. But, at the same time, we risk forfeiting something too significant, if we don't ever ask our question.
Usually, the question surfaces from some kind of hardship. It comes because of something difficult happening to us or to someone we deeply love.
So, what is the question anyway?
Why?
That's often the leading question; why?
Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to them?
Why pries open the fact that we still care. We may organize things to avoid caring a lot of the time. But, the fact is we still care. And, when it hurts bad enough, we show it.
'Why?' leads us forward, often into uncharted waters of our experience. Our experience, so far, is not all there is. There is more. And, 'why?' forces us into it.
Many times (usually after the fact), we are grateful for what we discover in this new terrain. We know we wouldn't have gone there, if the pain of 'why?' didn't drag us into it. 'Why?' brings us to a new place. It is often one that moves us past thinking mostly only about ourselves. It expands the version of itself to include something bigger, a larger question.
What is this all about anyway? That informs both our question and the one we all are facing. The mere fact that we recognize something we all are facing is evidence of the journey questions take us on.
We can spend a lot of time in our lives on this one.
But, beckoning us further is yet another question, how?
'Why?' leads us to 'What?'. 'What?' leads us to 'How?'
How then (with this now much wider point-of-view), do we want to live this life?
How we do things is what matters. It is what impacts the whys and whats for everyone.
So, let questions lead us to where we need to go.