Occasionally, I ask questions about my experience. “What is that?” “Who did that?” “Why?” Usually seeking to place blame on someone else or to justify my behaviors or position – to make me feel right. In other words, I’ve used a question as a defense.

I may use a question to satisfy a need as in, “What must I do now?” Answering a question in order to satisfy a perceived need tends to settle my consciousness back into the safety of First Degree Illumination – the “non-disturbed state.”

Questions are the doorway to Third Degree of Illumination consciousness – choice. And yet, I see that I also use questions in Second Degree of Illumination defense. That’s due to the nature of  questions and the presuppositions (intentions) behind them. When I ask a question, the answer to which I already know, I’m likely to invoke confirmation bias to satisfy my question and defend my belief or behavior. I’m not questioning my defense – instead – merely defending with a question.

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