Secret of Five Ws and One H

 

I am asking my friend Five Ws and One H

I believe what sets us homo sapiens apart from the rest of animal species is our sense of curiosity and wonder, besides the physical ones of course. Despite being among the weakest and least suited to survive in terms of physical abilities, it is humans that practically rule the world and dictate, as we sadly see now, the very future and existence of our only home, planet Earth.

 

If we didn’t have a curious mind, we wouldn’t have evolved beyond our basic needs of food, shelter and reproduction, just like other animals. The entire fields of art, science, technology, design, and everything that a modern society takes for granted evolved due to our sense of curiosity and wonder. Ironically, we find that by and large, among the younger generations and children, this very element is either nonexistent or waning rapidly. Very few are curious to the point of being annoying. These outlying children upset the carefully balanced society created by non-curious, non-evolving and non-progressive adults. No one wants to stir the pot, none wants to be asked questions hence we do not encourage our children to be curious. The exchange of information and so called education as we see in the schools and academies (barring few) are all one sided. Accept what is being offered without asking any questions. Memorize the information and then vomit them out in the exam. It is funny to observe that these days the exams by and large are not a test to see how much the child really knows but how much does she know of what is being asked. I think by and large our education system and examination system in particular is a complete failure to either open up a young mind or to gauge its true potential.

 

We cannot blame the kids for a closed mind when we force them to sit within closed boxes, often enclosed inside hermetically sealed atmosphere where she doesn’t even breath or feel a single puff of fresh air. When I wonder why children don’t ask questions, I often wonder perhaps because we adults are afraid to face such curiosity. We don’t wish to appear clueless in front of our kids. Whereas what we don’t realize is that learning is a life long process and no one knows everything at any stage in life and what better way to learn than to join forces with children and learn together. There’s no shame in admitting that we do not know something, rather than telling the child to not ask silly questions or to say that the child should not ask child-like questions.

 

In Zen we say that the answers are all out there, we only need to ask the appropriate questions. So why aren’t we asking the questions? Why children of today aren’t curious? I love interacting with children and adults (those who are children at heart) and whenever I do, I prod them to ask, not only to me but within their own minds. In my public talks, all the appropriate questions are often asked by kids. Adults are either ashamed of their ignorance or so sure of their omniscience that they strangle the very element that make them human in the first place. Our brains are super computers with unlimited powers of understanding, assimilating and analyzing. Yet we seldom switch it on and put to use. Most of our brains are engaged in only one thing – memorizing and repeating what we memorized. But the greater part of the brain that should be probing, asking, pushing, prodding, analyzing, and dissecting, isn’t being used. We read that the sky is blue and we memorize that and repeat it when someone asks us what is the color of the sky. We seldom stop to ask, why is it blue, and perhaps never ask what is its color seen from another star or planet. Rarely have I seen someone wondering why the sky color changes through the time of the day or at different seasons, or at different geographical locations. Why does it have so many different shades of blue, or so many other color shades? I am just citing one simple example of something so obvious and visible around us. There are countless such examples in our daily lives. For example the beverage of tea. How many children really wonder where does it come from, how is it made, why was it harvested in the first place and when did it become a global phenomenon.

 

I guess by now I have made my point clear so without more ado let’s get to the title of this post. The Five Ws and One H that makes us human. Every journalist and scientist is taught this during their elementary curriculum and I wish and hope we start to teach our children too at home and schools. One of my climbing Gurus, the great Walter Bonatti had told me once that mountains do not teach us anything they only teach us how to learn or how to be curious. So let’s look at my take on these Five Ws and One H.

 

These are (in no particular order of priority) What, Why (and Why not), Where, When, Who and How.

 

Let’s do a thought experiment and I would request you ask your children to join you, or if you are a kid reading this then ask your elders to join you. It would be fun.

 

Imagine you and your friends enter a room blindfolded. You have absolutely no idea what to expect once your blindfolds are removed. As you enter that room, are you entering with a sense of curiosity or a sense of fear and apprehension? After all the aim of this thought experiment is to take you to face something unknown.

 

Now unknown can cause any of the two emotions within us: fear or curiosity. We can either be afraid of the unknown or we can be curious. If you remain afraid then you will curtail your minds and imprison your life (by your own self) whereas if you are curious then you will unleash infinite potential for growth and excitement and happiness. Because the quest for knowledge and to whet our curiosity is the greatest elixir of life that can offer us unbound merriment. And that’s exactly what I do, I am curious about what I don’t know and I literally don’t know anything so I am perpetually curious and excited and merry. So first decide what you want to be, afraid or curious.

 

So when your blindfolds are removed, you open your eyes either with fear or curiosity. If you open with fear then you won’t ask and seek, you will hide and cower. If you open with curiosity you will jump up in joy and excitement and that acute sense of wonder that all of us have somewhere deep within. Being afraid is like putting chains around your thoughts and body while being curious is like breaking free from that chain and becoming boundless. Being curious is becoming free, being afraid is becoming enslaved. So first decide which one of these two you wish to be. To be a slave or to be free. And I presume that each one of you want to be free. So be curious. And curiosity like anything else in life must propel you into action, else nothing is achieved. If you keep your curiosity bottled inside and are afraid to bring it out then too you are not free. And the beginning of bringing your curiosity into action is to ask these Five Ws and One H to yourself and then to others. It doesn’t matter if the answers are not immediately forthcoming. In fact the answers should not be easy to find.

 

So when the blindfolds are removed and you open your eyes, you see something that you have never seen in your life. Now instead of focusing on what you know about what you see, begin by asking of what you don’t:

 

What – what is this object? What does it do (after all everything is supposed to do something)? What does it feel to touch? What happens inside of this object? So on and so forth.

 

Why / why not – why is this object created? Why is it here? Why does it behave in this manner? Why does it have this color or shape or size? So on and so forth.

 

Where – where is this object coming from? Where is it supposed to be or go? Where can I find more such objects? So on and so forth.

 

When – when was this object created? When will it start working? When will it stop working? When can I start using it? When can I break it open (no harm in that)? When can I get another one or something even better? So on and so forth.

 

Who – who invented/created/discovered/made this object? Who can repair it? Who can run it? (can I make/run/repair it?) so on and so forth.

 

How – how is this object made? How does it function? How long can it go on? How far can I take it? How easy or difficult it is to make this object? So on and so forth.

 

What – signifies identity, utility, spatiality and helps us to recognize the object.

 

Why – signifies the justification of the object and applicability and helps us to recognize its deeper meaning.

 

Where – signifies location, be it geographical or regional and helps us to recognize its origin and availability.

 

When – signifies the timeline, antiquity or modernity of an object and also if it is still relevant to our present context.

 

Who – signifies the inventor/creator/discoverer of the object and helps us to recognize the genius of the same and also an inspiration to follow ourselves.

 

How – signifies the functionality, inner principles, design, intricacies, and such inherent components that make the object functionally useful or functionally useless and helps us to recognize the grand design of the object.

 

Though I have used an object in this thought experiment, you can easily substitute it for some natural phenomenon, like we said the color of the sky and ask the Five Ws and One H. You can also do the same with human emotions, especially the sad ones like grief, misery, or caustic ones like anger, envy, hatred. You will find your answers surely. And even if you don’t, you will be better off than before when you didn’t ask the Five Ws and One H.

 

That’s the magic and secret of the Five Ws and One H. They perhaps make us more aware and fulfilled and happier and even if they show us our ignorance it is for our own good that we all acknowledge how little of what we know we really know. And how little of what we know we put to practice, and how very little of what we practice we actually practice upon ourselves.

 

We preach but seldom self practice. We wish to change the world yet we seldom change ourselves, forgetting that we ourselves are an integral part of this planet and society and not aliens observing the rest of us from your exalted aerial throne.

 

Therefore my request to all you adults, parents, educators, society leaders (political or religious) please ask yourselves and allow the children to ask too. Acknowledge your ignorance and join hands with the young minds to begin the adventure into the unknown. And to the children I request, please do not be dissuaded by the adults if they discourage you or say: don’t you know this, this is so simple, don’t ask childish questions, etc, etc. Ask, let your Five Ws and One H be heard above the din of the society that is trying to shut you up. And after asking, take action and start your adventure of ignorance.

 

Let me now conclude what is often quoted about Sir Isaac Newton. While at his death bed, someone asked, at the end of his life and having achieved so much, what did he feel like and Sir Newton replied:

 

I am but a little child walking upon the sea shore picking up a pebble or two while the vast oceans of knowledge lie unknown…