At the Orphan Wisdom School answers are tolerated, entertained, given a seat at the contemplative table. But questions, questions are the honoured guests.
Questions are where certainty gets the night off. Questions are where discipline and inquiry meet. They’re underwritten by grace. And a good question will always survive the answers it prompts, still shining there, still worthy of amazement.
Good questions are rare these days. Putting a question mark at the end of an argument doesn’t make a question, though many seem to believe it does.
Stephen’s events are not a place for ‘debate’. They’re a place where elegant disconcertedness belongs, especially these days, especially given the themes of the evenings. They’re a place where wonder will occupy the hallowed place. Your questions will animate the proceedings. Stephen Jenkinson won’t know anything about what you’ve asked until the event goes live, when someone will ask it for you. It may have to be shortened a bit in an effort to serve the event and the participants. If a lot of people participate in this way, we’ll have to choose from among the questions you send.
Do your best to ask a question that takes about a minute to ask, at most, and that bears in mind the theme of the event.