Attempting to Comprehend the Incomprehensible is a Waste of Time.

By: Krutika Surve

Mental Health Columnist

As humans, we are always asking ourselves questions about our lives. Whether you’re a philosopher, scientist, random citizen, or even a child, we are consistently curious about the world. It’s the first step to getting answers. We would not have been able to advance so fast if it weren’t for asking questions. I am fully aware of that, and I am sure you are too. 

Along with questions regarding subjects like science, art, and history, we ask ourselves philosophical questions like “what is the meaning of my life?” and “what is my life’s purpose?” These questions fall under the umbrella of “what are the truths of life.” When we ask ourselves questions like these, I begin to wonder, does it even matter? 

These questions are there to inquire about our value as humans. People have different takes on it. Some can see it as something religious. Some can see it as something pertaining to evolution. Others may see it as more philosophical. We use these questions to fill in the gaps of our existence even if we don’t entirely hold the evidence for it. We are using them to comprehend what we don’t understand. This is okay. If this brings people comfort, who am I to say anything? But I have to ask, do we really need to understand the idea of our existence? 

I’ve always been taught to look at a situation from multiple perspectives. Despite this, there is a lot that baffles me about this world. I am dumbfounded by the consistent hate and violence that we have essentially become desensitized to these days. Along with the concept of love and grief, these are things we don’t understand. These concepts are nothing new either. They have been prevalent for thousands of years. When we ask ourselves these existential questions, what are we expecting from them? 

These are questions we will never receive the answers to. Why? Because there are 7 billion people globally and the potential solution to these existential questions would have 7 billion variations. These questions are so nuanced that it would be impossible to receive a straightforward answer. “What is the meaning of life?” and “what is our life’s purpose?” are broad and challenging to answer even when about just one individual. 

You can’t even get an answer to the question, “what are the truths in life?” because then you would have to understand what the truth is, and truth is a relative idea. We can pretend like everything is black and white and true or false, but nothing is. Even simple things like me typing this on my laptop has the potential not to be true. I am typing on my laptop; that is true to me. But if you, the reader, don’t see me typing on my laptop, is it true? I could very easily be writing this on my phone or a desktop monitor. Looking at it from an even bigger scope, if we were to live in the matrix, and this is all a simulation, something as simple as my typing into my laptop would not be true. 

I ask, “what’s the point?” because I have spent way too much time and energy trying to define myself and my role in this world. I have exhausted myself trying to understand things that I don’t. Am I enough if I don’t make a certain amount of money or attain a certain amount of success? What if I’m not pretty? If my friends don’t like me? If I don’t get a job, is it because I am a bad writer, and my degree isn’t worth anything? Although really, who the hell cares? My value isn’t dependent on anything. It’s just there. We can ask as many metaphysical questions as possible, but it doesn’t affect us. We still get up every morning and go back to sleep at night, fall in love with our partners and laugh with our friends, grieve the loss of our loved ones and attempt to move on from tragedy. These questions about our meaning, our purpose, and our truths are trying to apply sense to something nonsensical. 

It doesn't matter. Why should we stress over things that don’t matter? What are we gaining from asking these questions? Philosophers can do what they want. If they somehow don’t get anxious about the realities of our existence, more power to them. I am not a philosopher. I do not want to be asking myself what the value of my existence is. I exist anyway, but theoretically, we could still be in the matrix. I do worry that my naivete can possibly hinder me in terms of going about my own life. Like I said before, asking questions is the first step to getting answers. I don’t need to understand everything. I have made peace with that. I can control the things I do understand. Instead of wondering, “what is the meaning of life?”, “what is our life’s purpose?” and “what are life’s truths”, I’d rather spend my time and energy asking myself, “what can I do to make the most out of this, whatever ‘this’ is?”