Truth is unknowably infinite. We can’t interact with the infinite. So, we approximate. Though necessary, approximation brings the unpleasant side effect of rounding error. Our awareness will always include things that are not correct or incomplete, and each example of this has the potential to cause unnecessary suffering.
The extent (and accuracy of) your approximation of truth defines the degree to which you benefit from it. Our approximation informs how we interact with life and provides the means for action, but also limits our thinking and prevents us from perceiving what is better.
We should always seek for more awareness: on things we think we know, on things we know we don’t know, and on things we don’t know we don’t know.
In order to expand our light and truth, asking questions is necessary. Jesus frequently taught his disciples by asking questions. Questions are the best way to obtain further light and truth on any subject. Questions are so effective at expanding awareness because they are the most direct way to leverage the light you already have within you.
It is vital to understand how you receive light and truth from God. It doesn’t come from other people or experiences. It comes as you pay attention to the light inside of you in response to the external catalysts. One way you can pay more attention to that light is to learn how to actively query it.
The light within you is a gift from God (see John 1:9). This light acts like an oracle. You ask it questions, it gives you answers. This mechanism is meant to be a central part of how you learn and grow. Ignorance of how it functions or voluntary failure to engage it is equivalent to turning away from the very purpose for which you were born.
You cannot claim to love light and truth and simultaneously despise, reject, or neglect the light within you. Those who do so demonstrate they are unfit, or “unworthy,” to receive more because they do not access greater light and truth even when given abundant opportunity to do so. Consequently, they are damned, which literally means stopped in their acquisition of knowledge.
31 Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light.
32 And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation. (D&C 93)
Failure to ask questions, receive answers, and act in accordance with the light and truth received is likened unto burying one’s talent:
14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25)
Those who voluntarily neglect or refuse to receive more light and truth from God by failing to ask questions or by not acting in accordance with what they have received and believe to be true actually lose light and truth and are taken captive by the devil (see 1 Nephi 10:19; Alma 12:10-11; D&C 93:39).
God can only reveal as much truth to a person as they are prepared to receive. What happens, then, if one asks a question whose answer they are not ready to receive? God’s answer to such a person will be partial—it will consist of what they are ready to receive. To the person who is fully ready, the full answer will be given. This is one reason why two people can pray over the same question and receive two seemingly different answers.
We seek further truth by questioning our present understanding of things. If we assume we know everything, or that everything we know is true and final (which is the same), we shouldn’t be surprised if we are not given more light and truth. To counter the corrosive influence of confidence, Paul said, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” (1 Corinthians 3:18)
Asking questions is among the most important skills we must develop in our quest to know God. Good askers have confidence in God’s willingness to respond. They are suspicious of what others say. They realize that the vast majority of people have no idea what they are talking about most of the time. They are also suspicious of what they already believe they know. They are willing to be wrong. They are able to suspend judgment on an issue until more facts are gathered. Because their belief is constructed based on their observations over time, they expect that their belief will change as they make more observations.
We ought to believe what we have found to be true, not evaluate what is true based on what we already believe. Moses’ journey closer to God was punctuated with moments where he learned things he had never before supposed (see Moses 1:10). We are no different. We progress towards God not only by learning new things but also by rejecting old things we previously believed in that are false. If we limit our investigation to what we already believe to be true, we will never approach closer to God than we currently are.
Jesus repeatedly said, “ask and ye shall receive.” Magnificent things happen when you ask why. “Why” questions have high information answers. They are very effective at triggering a conversation with God.
Scriptures are a fantastic generator of questions to the insightful reader. How much more could everyone learn if they would stop when they don’t understand something, and ask the Lord instead of skipping over mysterious portions! Learning truth while reading the scriptures is like ironing a shirt. If you pass over a wrinkle of misunderstanding you are assuring that the job will have to be done again. It pays to ask yourself why you are bothering to read the scriptures in the first place. If your purpose is to cross off the task of reading from your list of things to do, skipping questions fulfills what you are after. If you are reading to seek further light and truth, then smoothing that wrinkle is the reason you are reading in the first place.
Sincere questions are often responded to with advice from others to “just trust God.” This is equivalent to receiving advice to stop growing in your awareness. God will answer any sincere question. Beware of any who tell you not to ask questions or that certain questions are off limits. They are of limited understanding, and listening to them will ensure your understanding will never grow beyond theirs. “Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.” (2 Nephi 32:4)
God doesn’t want you to just trust him. He wants you to understand. Don't stop at “trust God.” Ask him why. If you don't come to the point where you understand why something is as it is, you haven't derived the value God intended you to get out of the experience. You are paying the full price of experience without getting the most critical part of the bargain in return. If God really does all things out of love, and the scriptures are true, then you should be able to learn how it is that whatever you are experiencing is a part of that.
We take too much for granted. Relentlessly ask why. We ought to ask why for everything we believe, and if there is no answer, look for something better.
Questioning doesn’t just mean asking God. Asking “why” isn’t just about praying and asking God why something is the way it is. Asking “what” isn’t just about praying and asking God more about something. God has given us time, resources, and intellectual capability to reason things out. We should pray and ask God questions, but it would be foolish to think that he will answer us if we are not doing what we can to find the answers ourselves.
Information is rarely presented in terms of premises. Rather, information is almost always presented as conclusions. Premises—not conclusions—are the key to new truth. Asking questions is the key to investigating the premises that the conclusions we hear rely on.
Each principle stands or falls on its own. It is a false tradition to assume that because one principle is true, all principles bundled together by some person or group are also true. We must learn how to ask specific questions, which might have limited application.
Asking questions enables a person to break the conclusion handed to them into the premises it is based on and test each one of those premises for contradictions. Since all people hold different quantities of truth, it is essential to interpret premises in the light that you have, not rely on the light of another to do it for you. Furthermore, for the same reasons, investigating the premises of another’s conclusions can lead to your discovering that they have more light than you.