Alexa Mergen's Blog - Posts Tagged "query"
Wherefore & Attention
"You notice things and you don't only notice but you ask why," John tells 47 in Walter Mosley's novel.
Before you can create, make something, effect change, you have to notice what is, and patterns. Sometimes, though, it is enough to notice without asking why. When it comes to accepting a fixed situation, with factors beyond your control, why questions can lead to frustration. (Think: difficult bosses, estranged family members, addicts in denial.)
But when looking to adapt, amend, modify, revise, asking why is necessary. Yet, why is overused; it's a weary word. Substitute wherefore and breathe life into the action of wondering for what reason? for what purpose? Wherefore connotes movement in space--where--and time--fore.
Notice. Ask wherefore. Querying places the seeker in time and space, paradoxically anchoring and stirring. Isn't this why we are here, now?
"Time, like all other things, moves in a circle."
Before you can create, make something, effect change, you have to notice what is, and patterns. Sometimes, though, it is enough to notice without asking why. When it comes to accepting a fixed situation, with factors beyond your control, why questions can lead to frustration. (Think: difficult bosses, estranged family members, addicts in denial.)
But when looking to adapt, amend, modify, revise, asking why is necessary. Yet, why is overused; it's a weary word. Substitute wherefore and breathe life into the action of wondering for what reason? for what purpose? Wherefore connotes movement in space--where--and time--fore.
Notice. Ask wherefore. Querying places the seeker in time and space, paradoxically anchoring and stirring. Isn't this why we are here, now?
"Time, like all other things, moves in a circle."
