Saturday, April 19, 2014

The Bothersome Question of Existence

Existence bothers me. I question whether it is morally appropriate to laugh about life when we don't know a thing about how it really came about.

(Sure, we can speculate and formulate, and pinpoint moments back to the Big Bang, but how is it that at first there was nothing and then it blew up ??

Who blew up the nothing?




Thankfully, Existence bothers other people even more. Unafraid to lampoon the extremists fanatics associated with any social, political, ethical, economic, or religious viewpoint, Existence is the most important topic in the world.

The fact of the matter is that people who think they have a "corner on truth" need to have their head examined.



After all, people's perceptions of truth are just that, perceptions, and it's OK to examine them. What some people say about Existence is not anything new, but I think it is something interesting to consider. Ask any number of people about the meaning of life via the phenomena known as "existence" and you'll get a zillion different answers (yes, a zillion). What about the people in the middle who think about these questions but offer no answers? Where do we put them? 



Part of being a philosopher means never holding any belief so sacred that we are never, ever willing to dress up in Superhero costumes... *ahem, I mean, never, ever willing to doubt it - or laugh at it - or blog about laughing at it. In other words, we need a healthy dose of skepticism (even if you're an optimist) about any belief, and this is one of the most important lessons that Existence, along with philosophy, teaches us. 


Are YOU bothered by Existence? More importantly, are you bothered by the real life *&^%$#@! people, events, and situations that Existence  throws at us? 

I have to admit, I've been turned off of Existence by certain hostile actions or insensitivity shown to a person or group. But I must also admit that there is value in existing, if only to have the opportunity to think about stuff. 


You see Existence, just like philosophy, is misunderstood. People think that Existence is all about shock value for the sake of some other being who created all this Existence in the first place in the same way that they think that philosophy is all about thinking about Existence for the sake of thinking about useless ideas that cannot be solved. Nothing could be further than the truth. 


Believe it or not, the goal of both Existence and philosophy is to give people something to do with their "existence" ... which makes Existence a whole lot more fun and interesting. Just like people ask questions about who they should marry, what they should become, and how they should live, Existence, on occasion, begs us to question the bothersome question of why exist vs. not exist at all. 

Is there a choice in the matter? In some ways, yes. We can choose to unexist in corporeal form, but whether we persist in our "existence", well, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe we cannot unexist ourselves. I mean, think about it, if Existence exists, and we are held in that Existence, whether we are breathing or not, it doesn't seem like we're going anywhere "outside" of Existence. Maybe Existence  is all there is... 



If Existence is all there is... Do we have an obligation to exist? What are the laws (other than physics) governing Existence? Can we break them? Are certain forms of Existence truly better than others? Did we sign up for Existence? Did someone create us and place us in their Existence? Are we such things, as Shakespeare says, that dreams are made of? 


Can we censor Existence

Can we boycott Existence

Can we protest Existence

The author of this blog is bothered by Existence in a good way. This blog has given the author a platform upon which philosophical reflection can be presented ... and then, like the Big Bang, blown up and made incomprehensible. 

Why, you ask? 


For giggles... 




By the time you get through reading this blog post you should have formulated a few bothersome questions about Existence of your own.

Such as ...


Why think about Existence
Is Existence funny? 
Is Existence serious?
Must we Exist?

What should one do if one finds oneself in a state of Existence?
What should one think about Existence?
Can we unexist ourselves?
Would we want to unexist ourselves?

Does the Easter Bunny Exist?
Does Santa Exist and, if yes, does he have to file for Obamacare?
If I make up a ridiculous story about Existence, how many people will believe it?

What does nonexistence look like?
Where did Existence come from?
What language does Existence speak?
Does Existence have a personality?
Does Existence like everything about itself?
Does Existence ask questions? 
Does Existence have a choice in existing?

Is human questioning a form of Existence questioning its own "existence"?
What can we learn from questioning Existence?
Why do some beings Exist seemingly just to annoy other beings?
If we are all part of Existence, why must we have conflict?

Does Existence dream?
Are we the dream of Existence?
If we are the dream of Existence, why does it hurt when we stub our toe?

Does Elvis still Exist?



That's enough questions on the bothersome matter of Existence for one day. Now, I'll go back to my daily life Existence and wrestle the controversial topic of "What's for dinner?" a question everyone asks, and yet few can provide satisfactory answers for ... 



















3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a formula I have been fervently working on in the last minute. It’s based on emotional state of mind and philosophical paradigms of the greatest minds who ever lived. I believe I have cracked the question of how, why and what existence is.

Please be patient as it requires a great deal of grey matter to fully understand the genius of it.

Without further ado here it is:

Existence:

E-x = is + (ten-ce) = is ten … therefore the answer to existence everyone seeks is in fact….. ten.

Is the notion of existence a paradox? Surely it cannot exist without the ask. If we fail to ask the question, existence no longer applies. Therefore if we do not exist ………………………………

Formerly known as Mark (but is not here… you cant see this…it’s just your imagination)

Soph Laugh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Soph Laugh said...

By golly, the equation that heretofore could not be solved has been cracked by the individual formally known as Mark.

For the human species, cracking the xistance code is by far the most important vehicle for understanding. However, xistance is only a device by which existence is possible; existence requires the participation of the brain in xistance.

After watching 'The Curse of the Jade Scorpion' I found my deep appreciation for being overinsured and recall Briggs saying "You know, there's a word for people who think everyone is conspiring against them." To which Woody Allen replies, "Yeah - perceptive!"

With this being said, your perception of having cracked the code of xistance is indeed a major accomplishment - drumroll - and one worthy of installing mathematical receptors at the back of the head to more deeply appreciate the phenomenon known as "NUMBERS" ...

The simple beauty of your equation lies not in its conception, but in its symmetry, which as the world shall soon see (once your theory is accepted by the Nobel board of highly complex stuff figure-outers) is the type of thinking one appreciates when difficulties such as those associated with participating in xistance have to be overcome.

In closing, ten helps to illustrate one of the many retrospective musings one can have which touch upon two important topics: the role of symmetry in the "primitive" process of perception, and the rules that underlie both symmetry and xistance. The later topic will be the subject of later blog posts.

As ever, muchos mercis for your readership and commentship.

Signed,
Sophus Maximus Gesundheit