Experiencing "now" through questions rather than answers

Now as the Ultimate Cognitive Strange Attractor (Part #3)

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The importance of "now" is a theme explored by several authors (Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: a guide to spiritual enlightenment, 1997; Peter Russell, Spirit of Now; Peter Senge, et al, Presence: human purpose and the field of the future, 2008). Potentially more relevant to the sense of "feeling alive" for many, it is the principal theme of many songs -- characterized to a remarkable degree by WH-questions aroused by romantic relationships. The issue here is how focus is given through questions on the nature of "now" in feeling alive. The potential of questions in this respect has also been considered separately in relation to "enlivening" organizations (World Futures Conference as Catastrophic Question: from performance to morphogenesis and transformation, 2013). There is a case for exploring "now" as a question rather than an answer.

Physics frames reality objectively in terms of a complex known as space-time -- combining space and time into a single interwoven continuum. This essentially fails to address the question of how it is possible to feel alive within this context. The argument can however be developed by recognizing that "space" implies the question "where" and "time" the question "when" -- both being questions significant to the immediate sense of being alive. This suggests the merit of recognizing the role of other key questions vital to that experience. Commonly recognized are the so-called WH-questions, of which (as discussed below) there are possibly seven: where, when, what, which, who, why, and how.

Some possibilities are indicated by the following:

• Strategic Implications of 12 Unasked Questions in Response to Disaster, 2012
• Generating a Million Questions from UIA Databases: Problems, Strategies, Values, 2006

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