the problem of existence and its possible solution

a lot of philosophers have spoken at great length on the problem of existence. and there’s always been a debate around whether to live makes more sense or to die?

considering that death is a certainty, why should one go about striving so hard for an existence that will eventually be taken away from him? of what value is life if death ultimately wins over it and neutralizes everything? to what end do we work throughout our lives only to be removed from existence forever?

this is a nihilist question and the optimistic enthusiasts don’t ask this question. in fact, they don’t even care to think about it. to them, the questions that cannot be answered or the questions that leave you numb should not be asked at all for if there’s no good answer to such questions, why bother asking them?

and then there are scientists who consider aging as a disease that can be cured and thus longevity is on cards for them. but even if for a moment, in your wildest imagination, you rule out death for a while, and imagine that one can postpone dying, can we say that we are immortals? no. cuz no matter how many years you add to your existence, eventually, on a long enough timeline, you are just a fart in the wind.

let’s say you’ll live for the next 1000 years, and then too, as the technology by then wouldn’t let you die, cuz of singularity, you decide to live another 2000 years. and then what? will there ever come a time when you will be bored of your existence or not? and your peers would already be dead. what exactly will keep you going? certainly there will come at a moment in time in the future when you’d finally say, “okay, i’ve had enough of this breathing, eating, sleeping and shitting. let’s fucking end this.” you’ll have had enough. so you’ll voluntarily put an end to it.

so if ultimately, given unlimited time to live, you still take your own life, we can at least come to a conclusion that life is transient, no matter how many years you add to it, it will still end someday.

now the question becomes a more specific one. that is, if we only have a limited time to live, how exactly should we live it? and to this question, hell many philosophers came up with hell many theses. some in favor of love, some in favor of power, or fame, or pleasures, or servitude, or wealth, or desires, or wisdom, or social status. and there have been people who spent going after these goals all their lives and ended up dying anyhow. they didn’t take with them any of these things. they just disappeared into thin air, leaving behind the aftermath of their actions.

so at least we can come to another conclusion that one’s actions while they are alive are not an end in itself. such actions have consequences and some such actions have serious aftereffects, not only to their own lives, but to the lives of others too. considering this fact as true, we cannot now say that no matter what you do, it doesn’t matter, cuz it does. it affects you and your surroundings, your future and the future of the people you associate with. not all your actions will amount to extraordinary outcome, but some of them will.

so now we reach at the conclusion that in our limited time that we get on this planet, what we do matters, and our actions have consequences. so the new question that come out now is if our actions have consequences, what set of actions should we take that maximize the possibility of a good future? why good future? well, would you like a bad one? what makes you ask such a stupid question? we’ve had bad past a number of times, and do you want to remain the same mistakes to have a similar miserable existence in the future? of course, no. that’s why a good future is expected and all our actions that we take in our limited time on this planet should amount to a possibility of a good future. why only a possibility? cuz you’re no god. you don’t know what your actions might lead to. sometimes, good deeds amount to mishaps. such is the nature of existence. it’s a chaotic whole, to be honest, and at most what we can do is do our best and hope for the best, without fretting over the outcome that no one can predict to precision.

hence we come to our final conclusion of this discussion, which is:

we get to live on this planet for a limited time. then we die. but that doesn’t mean that our existence doesn’t matter. our existence becomes importance because whatever actions we take while we live affect our future and the future of those we associate with. all our actions have consequences. some of our actions have serious consequences. we do not want bad consequences cuz we don’t want a miserable future. we want a good future. so the only way to live is to live in such a way that our actions amount to a good future. or at least we should hope so. and that, dear folks, is the solution to existence.