40 questions to think about and face uncertainty

Since we can remember, human beings have always asked ourselves unknowns, some of them of great importance and others much more mundane. The way we deal with uncertainty speaks to who we are. In this article we are going to see different questions to think and reflect on different topics, with which to test both the degree of knowledge and the management of doubts.

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A short selection of questions to think about

Below you will find a series of questions to think about that can help us meditate on different aspects of our day to day, or to develop more transcendental reflections.

1. What is the meaning of life?

A very typical question, but the truth is that It is one of the most intriguing human beings.. The answer is totally subjective.

2. How much do I love myself?

Although it may seem like an exercise in self-centeredness, the truth is that many people do not value themselves positively or know how to give or appreciate themselves as they deserve.

Thinking about this topic will help us Let's see if we are underestimating or overestimating ourselves to some extent.

3. Is it better to be a dissatisfied human or a satisfied pig?

This question, coming from a sentence of Stuart Milldiscusses whether it is preferable to remain unaware but happy and content with what we already have and know or If, on the other hand, it is not better to investigate, reflect and learn about the world, even if it makes us see realities that make us unhappy.

However, it must be borne in mind that one thing does not take away the other: we can feel miserable without knowing what is happening in the world or be immensely happy being wise and knowing how it works.

4. Does destiny exist or do we create it with our actions?

This question is controversial and has led throughout history to multiple philosophical discussions. On the one hand there are those who believe that everything is written and that what has to happen will happen no matter what we do. Others consider that there is nothing pre-established and that everything depends on the acts that we carry out. We can also find intermediate beliefs.

5. What can I know?

We can find out about a large number of topics and aspects in our day to day, as well as master different skills and techniques. But can we know everything? What is it really that I can come to know or know?

• Related article: "What is epistemology and what is it for?"

6. What should I do?

One of the reasons for the greatest anguish of the human being is uncertainty, the fear of what could happen or ignorance of what their role is in the world or in the specific situation in which they are talking. What to do and how to act are questions that it can worry us a lot.

7. What can I expect?

Expectations regarding what we can expect from life, of ourselves or of others are another element on which we can think and reflect. This and the two previous questions have been asked by a large number of people throughout history, such as Kant.

8. What is worse, failing or not having tried?

Sometimes we do not act in search of what we want for fear of failing and the consequences of doing so, among other possible reasons. But even if we can fail, is it not better to at least try and remove the doubt of what could have happened if we had?

9. How have we changed over the years?

With the passage of time, human beings change continuously. Although our personality can remain more or less stable, we live different experiences, we mature, we are happy and we suffer, which in the long run generates changes. Since we were children until now, what changes have we made and why?

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10. How far can we go to achieve our dreams?

It is worth asking what we would be able to do to achieve our deepest desires, the time and effort that we would be able to spend on it and whether or not there are limits to achieving them. One of those questions to think about make us reflect on our potential.

11. To which activities should we dedicate less time than we do and to which more?

It is common that in general we tend to use large amounts of our time on things that are not excessively important and while we neglect others of great value to us. Thinking about it can help to revalue each of the aspects that we carry out.

12. If we could see our future... would we want to meet him?

In a similar way to what happens with the idea of ​​destiny, it is suggested that, on the one hand, knowing our future can be curious and can offer us hope, but on the other we can find something that we would not want to know, in addition to breaking the illusion of achieving things little by little without knowing where we will finish

Not to say that knowing what may happen in the future could alter our behavior so that it never happens.

13. How much of what we have do we really need?

We live in a society in which the constant consumption of goods and services by the population is promoted and required to ensure that it functions correctly. But really we need everything we consume or acquire? do we really want it?

14. What values ​​guide our conduct?

Each of us has our own value and belief system that causes us to act in a certain way, but we are often not fully aware of it. We do something because we feel it is the right thing to do (or not, which would generate cognitive dissonance), without asking exactly why.

For this reason, it is useful to assess what type of elements move us. and although values ​​can be personal, are mostly acquired socially and culturally, so that we can also assess what kind of values ​​prevail in our environment, society and culture.

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15. That I'm passionate?

This question seems simple but for many people it is difficult to answer. We can easily say things that we more or less like or dislike, but… what kind of activities or stimuli really make us vibrate? What makes us feel alive?

16. Why do we seem not to learn from the mistakes of the past?

This question can be asked on a personal level, on a societal level, or even on a humanity level. We continually find ourselves in situations similar to those that have been experienced before, after which we promise to correct our mistakes and finally we fall back into them. Social and partner relationships or employment are typical examples. You can also see how the same patterns are repeated in wars and armed conflicts.

17. Is there a limit to what we can achieve?

In ancient times no one believed that the human being could fly. Nor that we could reach space. Or live to be eighty years old. These are supposed limits that little by little the human being has been able to overcome. Is there really something we can't get to with enough time or patience?

18. Do we live or do we survive?

In today's society, the human being tends to limit himself to doing what he is supposed to do, establishing relatively rigid patterns of behavior and often abandoning their aspirations and dreams in pursuit of stability. Many people actually limit themselves to surviving without looking for what makes them feel alive, or what they really want or would like to achieve. And we? Do we live or do we survive?

19. What do we do to improve the world?

Knowing our role in life can be difficult, but most people seek to be a presence that improves the world in some way. It is not necessary to do great deeds but to make the world a better place for others, even if it is for our immediate environment.

20. What defines us as human beings?

It is easy to say that we are human beings. But what does it mean to be? What is it that makes someone or something human? In this sense, it is worth considering, for example, if an android could become a human and why or not it could be considered as such. Is about one of the questions to think about that touches on the subject of the existential.

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21. Would you change something about your story?

Our life has its lights and its shadows, its moments of happiness and pain. For better or worse, all of this has led us to the point we are at right now, and altering it would put us in a different situation from where we are today. Would we change something that we have experienced?

22. What is missing in today's society?

Our society has its virtues and its defects.. Considering what is missing will make us see what we consider valuable and can make us think of ways to implement it.

23. Is it good that everything changes continuously?

We live in a liquid and fluid society, always changing. This can be positive for many in many ways. But although the change is positive, perhaps it occurs in an excessively accelerated way (although in some aspects there is still great immobility), which can generate the loss of stable referents in which settle down

24. What happens to relationships? Has the romance been lost?

Personal relationships, both social and as a couple, have suffered a certain decline. We live in an increasingly individualistic, cold, superficial society and materialistic, in which it is not uncommon to feel (not to be) alone despite being surrounded by people or used by others for their own benefit.

25. Where are our actions leading us?

The question basically arises to reflect on where our actions lead, both as an individual and as a species.

26. Why do we consider that type of thought that does not coincide with ours to be crazy?

Human beings tend to think that their way of seeing the world is correct. It is something logical and normal, after all it is the explanation that one gives to things and that have been elaborated through experience.

But we must keep in mind that it is the same for the rest of the world. And in fact, my explanation of reality is neither better nor worse than someone else's, it's just different. Other approaches may, in fact, be much more adaptive and positive than ours, and have enough flexibility to recognize it and introduce modifications in our way of seeing the reality.

27. Do we have prejudices?

Most of us will quickly answer this question no. But it is true? There is often more prejudice than meets the eye, and many of it we are not even aware. Thinking about this issue can lead us to identify and combat many of them.

28. Is there something that is eternal?

Throughout our lives we often find that everything has a beginning and an end, including our own existence. Is there something that lasts forever?

29. What makes us happy?

A question that everyone has ever asked is how we can achieve or enhance our own happiness and/or others. However there is no clear answer that is not a generality: everything depends on the person, their conception of happiness, their beliefs and values, among other aspects.

30. How does the world work?

It is one of the questions that has generated the most amount of reflection in the human being, science being born mainly to try to answer it.

31. What is the best possible educational system?

Perhaps you have legitimate doubts about whether the prevailing educational system in the West is really respectful of children and their genuine ways of learning.

32. Am I as many people as human beings have an impression of me?

A relativistic doubt that can make us think about the way in which others value us.

33. Why do humans treat animals badly?

Many will argue that we must feed ourselves and animal protein is irreplaceable. This may sound reasonable, but are we really doing everything possible for animals to live in peace and harmony?

34. Is it better to be left or right?

Progressivism against conservatism, and millions of arguments for and against each political position.

35. Does man have an end?

Are we designed for some kind of transcendental goal? Or are we slaves to a mindless free will?

36. What is religion?

An existential question that we have all asked ourselves at some point. What is the purpose of religion? Should we believe in something? And if we believe in something, the teachings must be mediated by an institution made up of men and women of flesh and blood?

37. Is every human being worth the same?

Are we all worth the same, or are there reasons to think that some people deserve special consideration?

38. Why does sexism exist?

It is possible to ask what are the reasons for discrimination between human beings.

39. What is the most execrable historical character?

Who did the most damage to humanity, and why?

40. Do things make sense by themselves, or are we humans the ones who give meaning to what we perceive?

A philosophical question that can make us think and reflect for hours.