"Yes...!!!...?"
"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm."[1]
There are a lot of questions which have a definitive answer, but this isn't one
of them. If you think you can find it in a book, or from some greater
intelligence, you're sorely mistaken. The fact is that it's subjective, just like
most things of an existential nature. It isn't something you can know or be
taught, you just have to experience it for yourself. But it seems that far too
many people are too lazy for this or just can't be bothered. They want an
easy and simple answer that comforts their conscience. They want their
"forty two." There are over 7 billion people on this planet and the vast
majority seem to prefer 42 as an answer, whether they understand either
the answer or the question at all, than to walk the road and see where it
leads. And if you need proof of this just look at how many people who have
never even questioned their version of 42.
I accepted 42 in the form of the Bible for most of my life. In my mind, I had
the answer. But I came to find later that I never understood the damn
question. The question is not what I need to do to get into heaven in the
next life, but what I need to do to be happy in this life. For many theists I'm
sure this sounds selfish and self-centered, but it really isn't once you
understand the answer. You see, like most of us I've found that my
happiness is intrinsically tied to others and their happiness. I cannot be
happy when I make others suffer or allow them to suffer without trying to
help. I cannot be happy when I have more than I need and others have
nothing. I cannot be happy when I see injustice and do not speak. In the
end, once I understood that answer, I realized that the most selfish thing a
person can do is to put the idea of an afterlife above the reality of this life. It
is self serving and a complete slap in the face to every experience you have
in this life. The goal of a reward or fear of punishment should not be the
meaning your life has. Quite frankly, it says that you simply don't value this
life at all.
"Only when you know the question will you understand the answer." [1]
How Many Roads Must a Man Walk Down
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