43 existential questions to reflect on

Existential questions are a recurring theme in each of us. We like to meditate on the meaning of life, where we come from and where we are going. Also reflect on the past, present and future.

Your answers require great thought. Sometimes there will even be no one that is correct, but rather different perspectives that help us better perceive the reality in which we live, our world and our relationships.

The best existential questions to reflect on

Below we leave you a selection of questions that you may have asked yourself on more than one occasion. These are very deep questions that will help you get to know yourself better and sometimes even question yourself.

1. What is success?

Success may be an important part of one person’s life, but not others. Not everyone wants to succeed. The question is not this, but What does success mean to you? How do you measure it? What are its characteristics?

2. What is the meaning of our dreams?

The interpretation of dreams is a line that becomes more important year after year. The reason why we dream is not entirely clear, although experts believe that we do it to rehearse experiences that we can apply in reality.

3. What is happiness?

Along with success, happiness is another of the most precious aspects of modern life. Is it something you deserve or something you earn with your sweat? Is the idea of ​​happiness the same for everyone? Where is the limit between happiness and unhappiness? And finally, what makes you happy?

4. Can good and evil be interpreted objectively?

What is good and what is evil are both philosophical and scientific questions. Is there a way to behave correctly? Are we good or bad by nature or are they more about aspects that we learn?

5. What is there after death?

Another existential question that concerns both science and philosophy. Several researchers have found evidence of episodes of consciousness when it is clinically undetectable, and several experts have even suggested an increase in cellular activity after clinical death. And you do you think?

6. What determines creativity?

Why are some people more creative than others? Is it something that can be trained? How is creativity explained on a scientific level?

7. How do we know we are doing the right thing?

The distinction between right and wrong is another of the great existential questions to answer. What criteria do you use to know that you are doing something right? Are they the same ones you use with the others?

8. What is your purpose in life?

Many believe that the question about the meaning of life is actually about the purpose of life.. Is it something you choose or is it given to you? Can you change it at any time? Should it revolve only around your interests or consider those of others?

9. What is our biggest mistake as humans?

I’m sure you can think of several, but which one would you say is the biggest? Think not only in relation to the present, but also in the course of humanity…

10. What is consciousness?

The problem of consciousness is one of the greatest interests of scientists. Hundreds of theories have been devised, including some related to quantum physics.

11. Is there a limit to technology?

That is to say, is there a maximum point where man can achieve progress in terms of technology? Or are the possibilities eminently endless?

12. What is truth?

What are the objective criteria to classify something as truth? Is there a shared truth? Or is all truth itself a subjective experience? What is your truth? And most complicated of all, do you demand that others agree with it?

13. Are we part of a simulation?

Reality as a simulation is something that became popular with The Matrix (1999), although their postulates already existed long before. What do you think?

14. Are all lives worth the same?

A philosophical and bioethical question that is very present in today’s society.

15. Is suicide morally or ethically justified in any way?

Can we interfere with the will of a person who does not want to live when it is a rational and fully conscious decision?

16. What makes you different from others?

Your personality? Your physical characteristics? Your tastes, needs and inclinations?

17. Do soulmates exist?

Many will answer yes, while others will flatly reject the possibility. How do we explain the millions of cases that claim to find their other half in another person?

18. Is one life enough to do everything we want?

Or, on the contrary, is an average life short? Is one life enough if we know how to manage time?

19. Will our species become extinct or will we be able to last indefinitely?

99% of the species that have existed on the planet have become extinct. Will the man have the same luck?

20. Does destiny exist?

If so, why? Where does it come from? How was it established? Can we influence it in some way?

21. How free are you when making your own decisions?

One of the most important existential questions, one that is also connected to the previous one. Can you say that you are 100% free when making decisions?

22. Are human rights universal?

In December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated. Can we philosophically and legally say that these are universal? What role do states play in them? How to ensure that they are fulfilled?

23. What is love?

Love is a very important experience not to make it part of a list of existential questions. What is love for you?

24. Is there a creator?

Most of the world’s great civilizations have managed their beliefs around that of a creator. Is this a rational explanation to account for existence? Is it an obsolete concept? What criteria do we use to reject or accept your idea? Is the idea of ​​a creator coherent in itself?

25. What is the most important thing in life?

The family? Stability? Health? We can list many things, but which of them would be placed at the beginning of the pyramid?

26. Is wisdom or intelligence worth more?

First we must define what wisdom is and what intelligence is. On a day-to-day basis, which of them is most productive for human beings?

27. What is time?

That time is relative is something we have known for 10 years.. How can we explain it? What regulates it? Is it something eternal? How much does our ability to interpret reality affect what it is?

28. What is beauty?

Is there an objective concept of beauty? What it is for you?

29. What is personality?

How is personality created? Can we choose it? How does our life experience influence it?

30. Is suffering an avoidable condition in life?

If suffering is avoidable, why do human beings voluntarily choose it?

31. Where do the memories we forget go?

Researchers know quite well how the memory mechanism works, but there is a lot to discover about it. What exactly are memories? What happens to them when we forget them?

32. How well do you know yourself?

What you know about yourself is something important to improve and advance. The question is: is it possible to know yourself completely or is it more of a constant process throughout life?

33. Is war a necessary evil?

To what extent are wars necessary?

34. What exactly is that voice inside your head?

Is it your conscience? Why does it sometimes seem to have a life of its own? Why does he sometimes advise you things that go against what you want to do? Is it perhaps the voice of reason?

35. Will human beings continue to evolve in the future?

There is evidence that yes. Be that as it may, what do you think man will look like in a million years?

36. Could we live without the internet?

Objectively, can today’s man give up the Internet? How dependent are we on it?

37. How many senses do we have exactly?

Most people will answer five, But the truth is that many experts believe that the final list may include a dozen more.

38. Can money buy happiness?

One of the classic existential questions that we couldn’t leave off our list. What is the relationship between money and happiness? What role does money play in your life?

39. Where does self-esteem come from?

Is it related to consciousness? With personality? With reason? Or is it rather a social issue?

40. Can man ever become immortal?

If we think long term and about the advancement of technology, then the answer may be very close to yes. However, we should consider again what we think about life: Would our consciousness in the cloud or in a machine still be life?

41. How long will they remember you after you die?

Objectively, they will remember you until the last person who knows your name dies.

42. Will religion disappear in the future?

Another of the most pertinent existential questions to assess the actions of the human species in the long term.

43. Why does man have the need to express himself artistically?

We conclude this selection of questions with a question that alludes to art. Where does this need to communicate through art come from?

We are sure that most of the questions we have chosen have been of great interest to you. Some may have moved you, others you may have thought are a paradox or even madness, but if you have thought about them, our purpose has been fulfilled.

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