One major idea in Zen Buddhism is to confound or confuse the intellect. Although the intellect is important, there is a higher intelligence to arrive at with curiosity instead of certainty. The trouble with our usual approach to confusion is that we so desperately want it to go away that we’ll hastily arrive at a resolution whether it’s an appropriate one or not, simply for the sake of allaying the great discomfort that goes hand in hand with confusion. We might impulsively say something hurtful that we later regret, or break off a relationship rather than sitting with the possibility that the other person might do it first. Zen teaches the student not to arrive at a conclusion using solely the intellect, because the intellect itself has it limitations on understanding reality. Curiosity is better than certainty; asking questions is more important than having an answer.