Well it sounds silly if you haven't you should as "Did you read the question?" is an excellent advice I have twice heard from two different teachers in my life decades apart. And I am going to talk about both, and at the end of the essay, you will also gain the wisdom it provides.
First exposure In mathematics.
Maybe I was eleven or twelve years old when I first heard my late Math teacher, used to chant the above mantra. Whenever he gives a math problem he reminds students to read the question. I am not sure whether everyone in the class payed attention to what he said, but Me being a listener, I always remember what he told us to do. Read the damn Question! Mathematics is all about answers right? -> Wrong! Mathematics is always about the question. If you start jump into soving the problem I am sure you will end up with some answer, yet it may not be the correct answer, as you haven't read the question. Read it once, read it twice, read it as many times as necessary till you understand the every word of it. Every puzzle of it. Sometimes starting with the answer helps, yet atleast at the middle of it you should read the question again. Even after answering the question correctly you should read the question again. Sometimes I used to do that. When I got the answer which seems to be correct I would plug in the answer to the question again to see whether I can come to conclusion that it is the answer, and the Question is correct!
It may be hillarious to think, but a profund wisdom, if you have not got the correct answer to your math problem, maybe you have read the question wrong in the first place. After all in math if you follow the rules you are gurenteed you will end up with correct answer 100% of the time. You just have to master the art, just like an artist.
What about life? What about the problem of life? Have we read the question correctly?
Second exposure In mindfulness
Second exposure to understanding, or reading the question, came from a Monk. As you guessed it, as the blog is about mindfulness, this time, after so many years I couldn't help but notice the similarity to the solving math. So, many answers to the life I have got wrong, and I have kept piling up wrong answer after wrong answer, to problems of life. And during this time, and in between mindfulness, a teacher asked me to read the question again. And it is same wisdom from mathematics.
Let's look at how we can understand the problem of life. Remember not to focus too much on answers, as we will get it wrong, if we do not know what question we are trying to answer. I want you to remind yourself a problem you face. Something you are trying to solve, and try to understand the question at the end, following examples.
Did you read the question? Example
Imagine you are trying to do some creative work, while there is a lot of noice. That damn construction is going on in the next apartment is all you have is feeling of irritaion. That is a problem right?
Traditionally we will start looking for answers. We either try to stop the sound, block it with a headset, or we will run away. We might even get angry and blame the noice. All we want is to stop it. But mindfulness is all about the question. Observation and answers doesn't matter, we have to investigate the question.
I hear a disturbing noice. I want it to go away.
Who is hearing the noic? Who is this person who wants this thing anyway? It seems, every time when we try to answer the questions of life, we will end up asking the question who we are in the first place. And that is a good way to look at life. Then we can understand, it is the being that creates the problems of life. It is not you, living in a world full of problems, and you are getting stressed. It is more like you are the creator of these problems. If you are the creator of all your problems, answers are there in the problem itself. Within yourself. No matter how much we try to change the enviornment, we would not try to solve the root cause of all problems, unless we look at the question each and every time. And that is how mindfulness can gain momentum. Like any other skill, this method will help us to be at peace with the chaotic universe.
Then you will understand, it is not about solving mathematics problems. It is asking about who is this guy who wants to solve mathematics and why? Otherwise maths problems will keep comming back.
How are you going to solve problems in your life? What is the latest question you have got? Have you read the question correctly?
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