March Q&A -- Michael Samadhi

QUESTION -- Why?
(It's a philosophical question)


I don't know much about philosophy.


This question does, however, remind me of the thing that we teach school children about good "news" reporting or writing.  A reporter, we tell the young ones, asks a set of questions:  

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

Why?

Questioning seems to be a uniquely human activity.  Consider:

• Ants and termites and bees all recognize who is part of the hive or nest -- and who is not.
• Birds know what to look for in nesting season, as do those animals who den through the winter.
• Migratory birds and butterflies understand when to come and go; they do not need to ask.
• Spawning salmon know where they are headed without any sort of map or GPS.

Only humans ask questions, and the most uniquely human of all the questions is that "why?"  Why did this happen to me?  Why didn't I get chosen?  Why are things like this, or not like that?  Anyone who has ever lived with a two-year-old child has likely encountered that very human, "Why? Why? Why? ..."


Those of us with BDSM orientations may find that we have even more occasion to ask "why?"  Why am I like this?  Why do I want/need/like/feel the things I do?  Why can't I be like the other people I see around me.  For so many of us, myself included, the path has led through a thicket of why's.  I guess that makes BDSM radically, seriously, sincerely human.


Sue (swan)