One-Sentence Answers to Life's Greatest 11 Questions

Is Overthinking Existence our Biggest Problem?

“The truth is simple. If it was complicated, everyone would understand it.”

- Walt Whitman

Are we overthinking this? I mean, life. Do we overthink life? Is it possible that our zeal to know everything is working against us?

Let’s start with a few givens that are rarely questioned:

• Life’s greatest questions cannot be answered with certainty

• The pursuit of truth is an unceasing quest that is never complete

• Claiming certainty is conceit, embracing mystery is humility

That we accept the above notions is understandable. It’s true that existential questions such as the existence of God and what happens when you die can’t be answered conclusively. See The Thinker below. Like him, we’re all trying to figure it out. Right? In addition to having a gym addiction and indifferent toward public nudity, he is obviously in deep contemplation about life.

All the great thinkers emphasized how little we know. Socrates wrote, “I know that I know nothing.” According to Confucius, “To know is to know that you know nothing.” Plato said, “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” Quotes like this enshrine uncertainty as the hallmark of true wisdom.

Let me ask you something: Who decided what questions need answered in order to live a whole, fulfilling and liberating life? Depending on who you ask, the questions will be different. Religion will orient the questions around God. Psychology will proffer questions about the human psyche. Philosophy focuses on questions about human existence. These fields of inquiry unquestionably hold great value to many people, including myself.

I recently read a book entitled, The Sunny Nihilist, by Wendy Syfret. Her contention is that we are so consumed with finding answers to life’s greatest existential questions that we can’t even enjoy the life we have. She writes:

“Now we are being asked to find meaning in everything we do. From our morning coffee to our weekend laundry load, each event or chore needs to be optimized and elevated into a clear-eyed statement about existence.”

But for the purpose of this article, I want to push back on the idea that the best we can really do in an infinite universe and complex human existence is celebrate uncertainty, embrace mystery, continue the existential wild goose chase, and make do without conclusive answers to life’s most important questions.

Embrace Certainty

Is it possible that contrary to the reification of uncertainty, we actually do know sufficient answers to life’s truly important questions?

With all due respect to Socrates and Plato, perhaps the reason our lives and world don’t work is NOT our lack of knowledge.

In 2023 the self-improvement industry was estimated to be valued at $41.2 billion dollars. On TikTok, the ‘self-improvement’ hashtag boasts a staggering 8.3 billon views, while ‘self-help’ has 833.8 million views. Of course, personal growth and bettering our lives can be a worthy and rewarding endeavor. But one reason why the self-help industry thrives is because it has sufficiently convinced us that there is perpetually something more to know and do in order to have the life we desire. Don’t ask me how people found happiness before Tony Robbins and Eckhart Tolle, but miraculously they did.

It is my contention that the most significant things you need to know in order to live life meaningfully, you already know. It is not a mystery or cloaked in uncertainty.

Of course there is mystery and uncertainty in the lived human experience. But sometimes we take this too far and become distracted or paralyzed by an overinflated sense of unknowingness.

If any person relied upon critical thinking, direct experience, vigorous self-reflection, and the common wisdom within our reach, we may find we actually do know enough to cultivate a meaningful and satisfying life.

Answers to the Epic Questions

The well-known and highly-esteemed philosopher, Dr. Seuss, wrote these profound words, “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

I’m not claiming to be Aristotle, Einstein or Marilyn vos Savant, but I think I have reasonable one-sentence answers to the questions that throw people off. I’m not saying that my answers are the “right” answers or that they should wipe clean all existential angst a person might feel about their place in the universe.

You know from previous articles that I am fond of various fields such as philosophy, psychology, spirituality and religion, and what we learn from them about ourselves and our existence. In a conversation with someone who recently left religion, they expressed their weariness in running the hamster wheel of trying to figure “it” out. You know… like the big ‘It’ - the right-answers-to-the-monumental-questions… ‘It’. In response to this, I decided I’d devise one-sentence answers to a list of life’s greatest questions.

So here goes nothing!

Where did we come from?

The unfolding of the universe is a grand narrative told through a variety of theories and myths, and what we are as Homo sapiens today is the culmination of an evolutionary process, starting 315,000 years ago.

What am I?

Each of us is the human embodiment of a primordial vitality to metabolize, evolve, self-organize, adapt, diversify, unify, harmonize, repair, compose, regulate, restore and transcend the rigors of existence.

Why is there evil and suffering in the world?

We are the cause of evil and suffering, and the condition of the world is the result of our beliefs, values, mindsets, ideologies, neuroses, ignorance, choices and actions.

Does God exist?

“God” is the term often used to indicate ultimate reality, and despite differences about what that reality means and is experienced, there is consensus of there being an underlying ground of all being.

What happens when we die?

Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism, after which the essential energy or soul of that entity continues in some form.

Are human beings good or bad?

“Good” and “bad” are words we use to indicate that humans are capable of both constructive and destructive behavior, relative to the endeavor of human and planetary survival and flourishing.

What is the meaning and purpose of life?

Life’s purpose and meaning is determined and created by ourselves through our viewpoint and response to the realities of the human experience that arise in each moment.

How should we live?

Identifying what matters most to you in life and consistently aligning your mindsets, choices and action with it is a good blueprint for living, coupled with upholding the golden rule in our associations with others.

Which religion is right?

Religion is belief in a god or gods and the activities that are connected with this belief, and any religion can be appreciated to the extent that it inspires love, peace, compassion, virtue and wisdom in the world.

How can I be happy?

Life is characterized by impermanence, fragility and change, but more deeply rooted is our ability to live our highest truth and embrace life’s joys and sorrows in ways that make us more profound human beings.

How can I know my life matters?

Love is the ultimate fulfillment of all philosophy, religion, and spirituality, every expression of love matters, and the greatest human question in every moment is: “What does it mean right now for me to be love?”

In Notes from (over) the Edge, I wrote:

“That moment when it hits you that your life won't last forever and you think about the people you love deeply and thinking about it aches, and you don't know if it's because sometimes you love people so much it hurts, or because you wonder if you missed opportunities to love them or could have loved them better, and you are reminded once again that there is nothing more important than love.

The greatest single need and desire of humankind is love. To love is the greatest power and freedom we possess. Every thought, word, and action motivated by love, transforms our reality. Love is the highest expression of what it means to be human. The chief characteristic of true enlightenment is love.

The best I know to tell you is don't leave love left undone. Go all the way with love. There may be things you don't accomplish, attain, or achieve in your life. Do not let shrinking back from love be one of them. If you are fortunate, you discover that love is the only thing that really matters, love heals everything, and love is all there is.

On your way out of this world you will look back and see it was always about that... it was always love.”

I realize that my 11 one-sentence answers aren’t going to satisfy everyone or achieve world peace. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, “Life has no meaning a priori. It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.” Perhaps it’s a liberating fact that life has no inherent or absolute meaning. Life has the meaning we create and bring to it. What sense does it make to spin our wheels asking questions to which we are the only answer.

In Summary

• Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

• Who am I to question Plato, but maybe we know more than we think.

• Love is the answer to every question worth asking.

“Live your way into the answer.”

- Rainer Maria Rilke