MEANING (Philosophy)---Asking the Ultimate Questions

ASKING ULTIMATE QUESTIONS The philosophies and religions of the planet Earth will come and go, but the ultimate questions will always be alive and relevant. And perhaps if we find the answers of traditional religions unsatisfactory, we can learn to love the questions and explore how to ask them ever more deeply.

MEANING (Philosophy)---Asking the Ultimate Questions


ASKING ULTIMATE QUESTIONS


SYNOPSIS:

    The philosophies and religions of the planet Earth will come and go,
but the ultimate questions will always be alive and relevant.
And perhaps if we find the answers of traditional religions unsatisfactory,
we can learn to love the questions
and explore how to ask them ever more deeply.

    As you read these first formulations of the questions,
perhaps you will think of additional questions
that could be added to each section.
Or perhaps you will find better ways to ask the same questions.

   Also, the basic five sections into which these questions are divided:
ORIGIN, GUILT, MEANING, ANXIETY, & DEATH
could certainly be expanded
if other ultimate questions do not easily fit any of these categories.


OUTLINE:

A.  ORIGIN

B.  GUILT

C.  MEANING

D.  ANXIETY

E.  DEATH


ASKING ULTIMATE QUESTIONS

by James Leonard Park

    "Ultimate Questions" is the first name given to this list,
but even this title might be improved.
Which of the following possible names would be better?
What other names should we consider?

ULTIMATE QUESTIONS

BASIC RELIGIOUS QUESTIONS

BASIC QUESTIONS OF EXISTENCE

PERENNIAL QUESTIONS OF PHILOSOPHY

ANSWERS TO THE GREAT RELIGIOUS QUESTIONS

THE BASIC QUESTIONS OF RELIGION

AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS

ASKING THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS ABOUT
    ORIGIN, GUILT, MEANING, ANXIETY, & DEATH

QUESTIONS ABOUT HUMAN EXISTENCE


    Have all the religions that developed on the planet Earth
attempted to answer the same basic questions?
Origins, guilt, meaning, anxiety, & death
are profound issues that arise in every human soul.
And there are many ways of attempting to formulate these questions.
Sometimes the form in which a question is asked implies the answer.

    We might explore what each ultimate question wants to know.
And it might be relevant for exploring each question
to see how great religions of the world
have attempted to respond to these basic problems.
We need not accept any of the answers already formulated.
But former attempts at answering the ultimate questions
might help us to understand the questions themselves.


A. ORIGIN

1. Where did we come from?
2. Where are we going?
3. What place do we have in the universe?
4. Does the 'created world' have an underlying purpose?
5. Does the universe have a supernatural origin?
6. If the scientific world-view replaces religious world-views,
    how does this change our lives?
7. When the scientific account of the evolution of all life
    replaces folklore about the origins of species,
    how does this affect our concept of ourselves?
8. When life is created 'in a test tube',
    will this change our answer about origins?


9. If we discovered life elsewhere in the universe,
    what importance would that have for us?
10. If there were intelligent life elsewhere in the universe

    —
even creatures of spirit
    would those forms of life also ask similar ultimate questions?


B. GUILT

1. Why do we feel guilty?
2. Does following certain rules of conduct relieve our guilt?
3. Is there a supernatural basis for moral behavior?
4. Which comes first: guilt or morality?
5. What is the connection between religion and morality?
6. Do religious and moral systems emerge from a basic sense of guilt?
7. What is the basis of the fear of hell?
8. Why do some people fear hell whereas others do not?
9. How important in various religions is the fear of punishment in hell?
10. Are there valid psychological and/or spiritual reasons for fearing hell?
11. Have some religions used primordial guilt to manipulate their followers?
12. Are some religions based on our given sense of guilt and condemnation?
13. Were some religious practices created to cope with primordial guilt?

14. How real is evil?
15. Why do we suffer?

C. MEANING

1. What is the meaning of life?
2. Does human life have a given meaning?
3. Is there ultimate meaning behind the universe?
4. If there is no background meaning, can we create our own meanings?
5. Should we search for meaning or create meaning?
6. What basic meanings for living have been offered by the world's religions?
7. What meanings have other people lived for?
8. What specific meanings do most humans pursue?
9. What shall we do with our lives?
10. Does death cancel meaning?
11. Do we want our meanings-for-living to transcend death?
12. Do we seek meanings in our everyday lives?
13. Is the quest for meaning ultimately meaningless?
14. Is meaninglessness the final truth about human existence?
15. Is human existence ultimately empty and futile?
16. Do we seek individual meaning or collective meaning?
17. If individual lives are meaningless,
    can they contribute to ultimate meaning for some larger group of humans?
18. If there is some given meaning for the human race,
    how can we participate in this meaning?
19. If there is no automatic meaning given with human existence,
    how can we make our own lives meaningful?


D. ANXIETY

1. Is there a basic 'fear' driving human life?
2. What emotional or spiritual problem is religion trying to solve?
3. Do most religions recognize a fundamental problem in human existence?
4. What can we learn from the answers offered by various religions?
5. Inner peace seems to be a religious goal:
    What condition is spiritual peace supposed to resolve?
6. Do some religious answers merely obscure the problem of anxiety?
7. Should religion use psychological techniques to handle anxiety?
8. Should psychological healers use religious techniques to handle anxiety?
9. To what degree does religious practice attempt to cope with anxiety?


E. DEATH

1. What happens after death?
2. Do we live again after death?
3. How shall we cope with death?
4. What does it mean to 'fear death'?
5. Do we wish that we would never die?
6. How does having-to-die affect our living?
7. Do some people live without any awareness of death?
8. Does our talk about death hide or disclose death?
9. Should religion help us to face death? If so, how?
10. What does each religion say about death?
11. How will we face the crisis of no longer being able to be?
12. Do we know anyone who is well prepared to die?           
13. How does the death of a person differ from the death of an animal?
14. After we are dead, what will be the meaning of our lives?

created February 19, 2005; revised 9-14-2007; 3-13-2008; 5-28-2009; 11-25-2009;
10-29-2010; 12-7-2010; 3-17-2011; 4-5-2011;
8-11-2012; 12-7-2012; 3-25-2014; 9-23-2020; 10-7-2020;


 

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