Questions and Innovations: Circles of Wisdom

Asking questions is a powerful tool. It is said that it is easier to give answers than ask good questions. Even before Socrates used the Socratic question (what is the Socratic question? ) wise teachers sought to steer humans away from easy answers and toward the discovery of wise questions.

Some do not like questions. In fact, they dislike questions and tend to call them noisy and heretical. Socrates himself, choose to drink hemlock because he asked too many subversive questions and yet would not abandon the question. Life or the Question?

So what are good questions?

Let us start with the golden mean, since it is a question that suggest both gold or value and mean or balance and meaning.

“BECAUSE QUESTIONS ARE INTRINISICALLY RELATED TO ACTION, THEY SPARK AND DIRECT ATTENTION, PERCEPTION, ENERGY, AND EFFORT, AND SO ARE AT THE HEART OF THE EVOLVING FORMS THAT OUR LIFE ASSUMES…Creativity requires asking genuine questions, those to which an answer is not already known. Questions function as open-handed invitations to creativity, calling forth that which doesn’t yet exist.”{THAT IS, INNOVATIONS.}

Before we get back to the question of the golden mean, let us imagine a circle of wisdom, where diverse people join in conversation. The members of the conversation are just beginning to introduce themselves as they take their seats.

Questioner: Welcome to the circle of questions. There will be three rounds of conversation in which people will join different groups. One person will remain where they are from each group to share the questions and dialogue of the previous group. Individuals from other conversations will be brining seed ideas from their past conversation to the next round of discussion. Try to capture the essence of what has been said in drawings, symbols and words on your paper tablecloths (with colorful markers). Continue to link ideas and questions. Certain patterns may emerge around common themes. Some will lead to “aha” moments.

-(a brief silence ensues, then the conversation at one of the tables begins)

David C: I am David Cohan. I am not from New York City. I am from France. Why don’t I start. I think questions open doors to discovery. Doesn’t the word question come from “quest” – to be on a journey, to search for something important?
Tanita: I am Verna’s partner. I am from Brooklyn. For me, a good question opens that search into the realm of possibilities. I wonder weather wise questions which are framed after a series of questions are asked creates an opening for everyone to think about their questions. What are the questions they ask? What would they like to know?
Ann: Hi, I’m Ann Wallace. I was born in the Midwest but have lived in Manhattan for most of my adult life. I think that sometimes we try to hard to find the solutions before we have even asked effective questions. But when you begin to ask questions, when you set out on an exploration, it deepens the collective understanding of each other’s perspective.
Peter: I suppose you can tell by my accent that I am not American. I am Danish and am here with my daughter, Becca. When I think about questions I wonder what questions I should ask my child? I know that I have to ask a question that is alive and energetic so I can catch her attention.
Tanita: Do you agree with that Becca.
Becca: When I ask a question I am very practical. I would like an answer.
Ann: Effective questions do produce answers. But, that does not have to be the primary goal of a question. I have found that the most energizing questions engage people’s values, hopes and ideals – questions that relate to something larger than themselves to which they can connect or contribute. The energy level goes was down when there are only questions about removing pain or fixing problems.
David: But that comes up.
Tanita: I think you can address questions about pain. But the context can in which the question is asked can help evoke different possibilities rather than more pain.
Ann: I think questions create a certain tension that pulls us forward from our current knowledge, perspective, and understanding to new learning possibilities. New ways of approaching our questions.
David: And it is not just one question. It is more likely to be a series of related questions that build on each other. You have to be aware of what questions are evolving in the group so you can find the next question that will take the inquiry forward and deeper.

(Tanita raises her hand quietly. She asks groups to switch and people quietly move around for the next round of conversations.)


Looking at questions that have worked for others or seem to keep popping up again in history stimulate our creativity and allow us to learn new information that may be useful as a form of wisdom, providing us with a personal or collective insight.

What is the Golden Ratio (or Phi)?

The golden ratio was a question asked by the circle of Pythagoras. They were seeking order and harmony in the universe. To find this order they needed to study numbers. This was the foundation of arithmetic. The science of numbers was different, they insisted, from logistics, the art of pure calculation. By creating this separation, they gave arithmetic a special place outside of the needs of merchants.

The story of Pythagoras and his journey is fascinating. Clearly he, or someone from his circle encountered the Kabbalists. But to get to the heart of the story. Surely you have heard of pi, it is one of the most famous numbers in mathematics. What has alw3ays fascinated mathematicians is that a number defined on the basis of a geometric shape as simple as the circle bears so many mysteries and is rich with complexity. But less is heard about the golden number phi, the sister of pi.

Phi was used by the Egyptians who gave it a value of 1.614. and used it in build the pyramids. In Egypt, the golden number was part of a secret knowledge kept by the priests. But Euclid discovered its geometric demonstrations. The Greeks, who used it for the Parthenon, attributed the discovery of the golden number to Pythagoras.


The golden number often plays a key role in the balance of a painting or a construction. Phi can be applied to the human body to discover harmonious dimensions. Plato claimed that when calculating the golden number, human thought reached the mysteries of how God had decided to order the universe.

It seems that the questions that has troubled and aroused interest for quite a long time is whether phi represent an equation and a geometrical counterpart which can be found in the universal fabric of our cosmos. This is what makes it such a fascinating question for mathematicians, architects, painters, scholars and cabbalists throughout history.


Should this be one of the questions of the circle of wisdom? That is up to you. Join a circle of wisdom and bring your questions and your patience. Listening and dialogue offer you a new opportunity to learn and grow, perhaps even gain some wisdom. What do you have to loose?