For today's blog post I'm going to attempt to answer ten philosophical questions. I haven't seen any of these before, and I'm going to write my answer right away. Here we go:
1. Why is there something rather than nothing?
In my experience 'nothing' can be A LOT. If you say nothing you're still communicating, if you eat nothing you're communicating, if you have nothing you're communicating, plus you still have you, your thoughts. In a vacuum there's meant to be absolutely nothing. But is that even possible? 'Nothing' is something we have a word for. People say before the universe existed th3ere was nothing. '0' is nothing. But that's not true, is it? '0' means something to us, it means SOMETHING. Nothing MEANS something. If we say: "If I spend this last 5-pound-note I'll have nothing left" we have a concept of what nothing means. Whenever we have a concept of something, it becomes something, at least in our heads. Therefore nothing IS something and cannot exist. At least not in our human brains.
2. Is it worse to fail at something or never attempt it in the first place?
Well, from a law student's point of view, it's certainly worse to fail at something you're doing, rather than never attempting it, because if you only think of doing something and don't share these thoughts there is no crime. From an anxiety sufferer's point of view I would say that it depends on the situation, but for me, personally, I feel absolutely terrible about either. So, sticking with this logic it is a lot worse never to attempt something in the first place because if you do attempt it, the chances of not failing and therefore not feeling terrible are a lot higher than if you never attempt it in the first place - because then you cannot win.
3. What is the meaning of life?
The meaning of life is life itself. Not 'I think, therefore I am', but 'I exist, therefore I am.' The meaning of life is all these instincts we have for survival: Eat, sleep, make friends, love, pee, run, have fun, have new ideas, be creative, have a family, do sports, music, art, religion... All the things that are important to us are the things we need to survive. You might say: "But animals don't have music, or art or religion (that we know of), surely from an evolutionary point of view these would not be needed for survival?" But that's my point. It is not a disadvantage for us that we need more to survive. It gives us the tools to develop further, and, eventually, to evolve.
4. Does God exist?
Two answers to this one: a) We don't know. b) yes. Sorry, atheists! I symphathise! If we include in what exists also what exists inside our heads - and why on earth should we not? The answer is clearly yes. Of course God exists in the heads of some people. If we do not include this, the answer is: We don't know. You want proof? You can have some. People are working there heads off trying to persuade people that there is a God and finding proof. For me, that's no good. We already know that God is not a physical thing in our traditional sense of the world. Physical proof, for me, disregards what God is about. Feelings, community, future... Whatever your religion is about, if it's mainly about physical objects then that's not a religion about God in everyday use of the word. It's not a physical proof thing. Which also makes it difficult to disprove. Which does not help the debate. So: Why can't 'we don't know' be a valid answer to this question? For me it's certainly a valid answer!
5. Is our universe real?
It's as real as we are! And if we're just stories inside someone's dreams - well then we're real inside these stories, inside these dreams.
6. If you could choose just one thing to change about the world, what would it be?
I'd change apathy to empathy, energy and drive.
7. Who am I?
Is that you or me? I don't know who you are, so I'll just say who I am:
I am a person. A complex being who cannot be imagined inside someone else's head without being stereotyped (side note: As we mostly can't help stereotyping people, try stereotyping people with love instead of ignorance and intolerance). I differ from other such persons in multiple ways: I look different, speak different, think different. In a way, I am an alien, and so are all the other individuals. It is impossible to completely understand another person. I can't even understand myself completely. I exist inside people's heads in multiple versions, each slightly, some very different. These little selves inside other people's heads do change. They change with the person whose head they inhabit and they change themselves, too, dipping into forgotten or misremembered memories from time to time. We all have a version of ourselves inside our heads. But it doesn't even come close to what we are. We try to stereotype ourselves but that's bound to fail. We as people are more than we can define. But that has to be okay. You can celebrate every time you find out something new about yourself. You can dip in more deeply into parts of your personality you need to dip in right now. The possibilities are endless. To answer the question: You, and me, are swirls of endless possibilites, with the ability to rearrange patterns, create new ones or even abandon patterns altogether.
8. What is the relationship between body and mind?
One conceals the other.
9. Do we have free will?
Nope. There's no such thing. We are social beings whose actions will always influence others. We know that. We are beings who bring certain genes to the world which they did not get to decide on. We are beings who are raised to fit into stereotypes, raised to be 'easier' for our parents and/or for society to handle, raised to be adults. We did not choose any of this. As long as our decisions affect others and that knowledge in turn affects our decisions we don't have free will. As long as we're pre-programmed by our gene pool we don't have free will. As long as we are raised at all we don't have free will. There's no such thing. But, of course to the extent to which we do possess it, the freedom of choice, which may be limited, but be our choice and not a random other person's, is one of the most important things to be granted and protected in the world.
10. To what extent do we shape our own destiny and how much of it is up to fate?
I don't believe in fate. Or in destiny. I believe in lucky and unlucky coincidences. These can be random. All we can do is stay positive and work hard and not lose hope. For I do, very much, believe in the power of hope.
