...It's like one of those questions where a master - or life - sends you back, again and again, until you find the one correct answer.
Sometimes, when you come up with a wrong answer, a master - or life - whips you or simply remains silent because you haven't actually found anything coherent, grounded or real.
And that's not punishment.
It's meant to shake you out of borrowed "truths", what you think you know, make you keep looking, keep doubting, until you find, instead of settling, complying.