Rainwalk and Offhand are not contradictory. People like Lennon and Ian were asked about spiritual meaning-of-life questions - particularly back in the 1960s, when that was a big topic of discussion. So, Offhand is talking about the impetus of the questioning - and why Ian would be asked, and Rainwalk is talking about the specific topics he was asked ("Should I love or should I fight, is it all the same to you?"), and what his response was - and why ?
There is a good illustration of Offhand's comment in a documentary about Lennon, where some obsessed fan is hanging around outside Lennon's home, and Lennon finally invites him in. The fan then starts asking about tiny subtleties of meaning in lyrics and Lennon replies that the fan has thought about the lyrics more than Lennon has !
BTW, Rainwalk (7 1/2 years after your comment) - you did very good to get to your very correct conclusions by 37 !
Rainwalk and Offhand are not contradictory. People like Lennon and Ian were asked about spiritual meaning-of-life questions - particularly back in the 1960s, when that was a big topic of discussion. So, Offhand is talking about the impetus of the questioning - and why Ian would be asked, and Rainwalk is talking about the specific topics he was asked ("Should I love or should I fight, is it all the same to you?"), and what his response was - and why ? There is a good illustration of Offhand's comment in a documentary about Lennon, where some obsessed fan is hanging around outside Lennon's home, and Lennon finally invites him in. The fan then starts asking about tiny subtleties of meaning in lyrics and Lennon replies that the fan has thought about the lyrics more than Lennon has ! BTW, Rainwalk (7 1/2 years after your comment) - you did very good to get to your very correct conclusions by 37 !