Meditating on the right questions

Meditations all have a common cause. In fact, they're not so much about the existence of a problem and a need to address it, but rather they stem from the very human desire to analyze, to make sense of, to bring order to where there is chaos in the mind. People will debate forever, say, the purpose of the state or the origin of beauty, but is it really the implications of these questions alone that drive us into discourse? I suspect that there is more. Meditation is not solely for the achievement of a goal, but also to identify the form of a question that's worth answering. In so doing, we render a complex problem into something tractable and worth solving.

I am of course writing not about meditation in the Eastern-mystical sense, but rather about the act of pursuing a problem, investigating its premises, eliciting its subtleties, and reducing it to its bare essence. I think the art of meditation, if it may be called an art, is something that every man, woman, and child should practice, consciously or otherwise. It is a unique ability of the human mind. And, being fundamentally human, it can satisfy in some primeval way, much like the view earned from a hike in the Rockies above timberline or the final product of many hours spent painstakingly stripping, sanding, and then refinishing an old wooden table. Much like the latter example, it is an active sort of fulfilment which requires the brain to make concrete an abstract image rather than to simply appreciate some innate aesthetic quality.

So I propose this to those struggling to make sense of something in their lives: it is the nature of human beings to meditate, and this can be used to your advantage. Think about a question that relates to your problem and decide whether it intrigues you, whether it makes you want to turn it over and examine it from every angle. If it doesn't, your natural faculties of meditation cannot aid you and it may not be worth your efforts to proceed further with a solution. Reformulate the question  and try again. Through a process of trial and error, you'll happen upon the right question that cuts to the heart of your problem.

Addendum: I found an interesting blog post that stated that people minimize the negative feelings associated with an unfortunate event if they can "make sense" of it. However, "making sense" of some act also reduces positive feelings from an event as well.