“Why?” is a question invented by very small children to wear down adults into submission. Everyone who has had, or has looked after, young children knows this to be the case. Any and every explanation is followed by another why? It’s a brilliant question and one that as adults we don’t use enough. Or answer truthfully enough.
Why truth matters so much
Politicians lie. We know that. But they are not the only ones. Lying is rife throughout all human affairs. It always has been and, until there is such a thing as an enlightened society, always will. Even with climate change threatening the world’s ecosystem as never before, the lies continue. We have to keep challenging and we have to keep asking why?
And don’t forget to ask yourself
Like the child querying everything, we need to ask it of ourselves, not just others. We can only have an enlightened society if everyone lives truthfully. As individuals, some self-examination can be very revealing. Why am I doing this? Why do I keep doing it? What makes me resist change? What is my real motive in everything? It sounds quite painful but actually, like learning to say no sometimes, it can be a huge relief. And we can stop wasting huge amounts of energy on things we don’t need to acquire or don’t need to do. That’s better for the world, too.
Learning how to do less to accomplish more is an essential key to life. The Art of Not Doing is a book about just that.