“If I happen to be interested in horses or precious stones, I cannot expect everyone else to share my enthusiasm. If I watch all the sports programmes on TV with great pleasure, I must put up with the fact that other people find sports boring.



Is there nothing that interests us all? Is there nothing that concerns everyone — no matter who they are or where they live in the world? Yes, there are questions that certainly should interest everyone.” – Jostein Gaarder in his bestselling book, Sophie’s World



Sophie’s World is easily one of the best, if not the best, books to open when we want to go back to the realm of the soul. How Gaarder stupefies us at every singular conception, one can only surmise. His pedagogy is astoundingly effective in getting us to endless thinking, sometimes nodding to a particular viewpoint but most of the time annoyed at how all of them — albeit differing — appear to be just as accurate as the other.



It was never my intention to become a philosopher but my own faculty of wonder drives me into the abyss of unanswered questions. Perhaps you have found conclusion to my undying confusion. But as Gaarder said,

“Real understanding comes from within. It can never be imparted by someone else. Only when understanding comes from within will you have true insight.”

Hopefully our little idiosyncrasies converge at some point in questioning. Without further ado, let us begin.



***



What is that common substance we are all (humans, animals, plants) made of?



Why do people die? Why are babies born if they only die minutes after coming out of their mother’s womb?



Why was I born? When is my time to die? What could happen to me in this lifetime?



Is there a part of us that is immortal?



How does our brain work? Why do we forget one thing so urgent then remember when we least need it?



People know right from wrong. But why do we still choose to do wrong?



What is happiness? Can one truly be happy?



Which is most important, yesterday, today or tomorrow?



What (or rather, who) controls the movement of the Earth?



Why is language complicated? Why does a word have many different meanings?



How much land does a man need? How much money does a man need?



If we all want equality, why cannot we achieve it? Why do states still immiserate already poor nations?



Why is there war? Cannot we all just get along?



What is the most difficult job in the world? And what is the easiest? How difficult is ‘difficult’ so as not to be considered ‘easy’?



Why is it painful to forget one’s betrayal? How does one actually forget? Can one really forgive and forget?



***



Those are just fragments of a myriad of questions I have in mind.



Now, if you only have one question in this lifetime, what would you ask?

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