My favorite form of intimacy has always been asking questions, not to pry, but to understand the architecture of someone's inner world. The way they think. The way they feel. The way their past still echoes in their present. There's a depth in people that never shows unless someone asks the kind of questions that require honesty instead of performance. What shaped you. What steadied you. What you learned the hard way. What you still carry even when you pretend you don't.
Related in anthology
- Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas. — Marie Curie on curiosity about ideas is close to this intimacy made of questions.
- An expert is not someone who gives you the answer, it is someone who asks you the right question. — the value of the right question, here as a skill