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Explanation Is Not the Same as Leverage
Why is a useful question. It can uncover causes, history, incentives, and mistakes. Trouble begins when we expect an explanation to change what it explains.
We may understand how a fear began without gaining control over it. We may learn why a relationship became difficult and still need a new agreement, a boundary, or repeated practice.
Explanation answers how we arrived here. Leverage concerns what can alter what happens next. The source of a pattern and the action that changes it need not be the same.
Understanding is neither useless nor magical. Once we know why, another question may be needed: given what we know, what actually changes the situation?