I cannot stop questioning...

[Z Buck McFate]

I cannot stop questioning philosophical issues. I have delved deeply into both sides of many of the main debates and of course come out with no new answers. Everything is subject to doubt. Can you ever really know anything? If not...is it possible to give life any meaning? How can you live life to the fullest if you cannot stop questioning? How can you not question things/Does anyone else feel this way?

Your OP reminded me of this very short story by Jorge Luis Borges: The Library of Babel. The ‘Library’ is the universe, and Borges makes fun the way men seek ‘ultimate truth’ as if it’s something that exists outside the human mind. He’s got a sense of humor kind of like George Carlin (presents a ‘big picture’ that exposes how ridiculous some of the parts are), yet his writing is as eloquent as T.S. Eliot.

The bottom drops out of ‘meaning’ for me, too. I love this story because it effectively reminds me how to ‘lighten up’, which is something I think INFJs have a problem with remembering how to do. We can logically realize it’s something we need to do- but we forget how to do it.

Word of caution: while I absolutely love this story and find it endlessly comforting, the ENFP I was dating (when I originally found it) also read it and it threw him into a fiery pit of despair (which, to this day, I still can’t begin to understand unless maybe the 'vastness of possibilities' never overwhelmed him in the first place).

[And here's another link that may or may not be easier to read]

 

[murkrow]

"Oh no, I've started thinking and I can't stop!"
you'll do well if you can organize your values in a way that philosophical developments tend to make you happy instead of sad.

So many people dig themselves deeper into a pit of "existentialism", I doubt the skepticism of the unhappy.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

"Oh no, I've started thinking and I can't stop!"

This totally reminded me of those "Life Alert" ads- where the old lady falls down and yells, "I've fallen, and I can't get up!"

Maybe there should be some similar service for existential emergencies, where people prone to such a thing could press a button (I believe the buttons are now located on a very attractive wristwatch-looking gadget) and yell into the air, "I've started thinking, and I can't stop!".

I, for one, could use a service like this.

 

[sLiPpY]

I guess this is why we need those S types to keep our heads on the ground.

Yes! S's are good at preventing accidents such as this:

uh, dude! The man said ground! :rolli:

 

[Risen]

I cannot stop questioning philosophical issues. I have delved deeply into both sides of many of the main debates and of course come out with no new answers. Everything is subject to doubt. Can you ever really know anything? If not...is it possible to give life any meaning? How can you live life to the fullest if you cannot stop questioning? How can you not question things/Does anyone else feel this way?

When there are no more questions to be answered, I die inside. Having new mysteries in life to be solved is what keeps me going. Most things have a final answer/conclusion, provided you have enough information to get there. Philosophizing without supporting facts is rather meaningless. For those concepts which are inherently subjective and have neither a right/wrong or true/false answer, you must simply accept that nature of it as such, and decide for yourself what judgments you will choose to make. In the end, all that matters is making judgments that carry you to your goals and allow you to live happily. Your judgments may or may not be a reflection of the true nature of reality or based upon such knowledge, but that is nearly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Knowledge of the truth merely serves to offer us more choices, more paths to take. However, the paths opened up by truth wont always be what we may consider to be "better".

 

[Feops]

I cannot stop questioning philosophical issues. I have delved deeply into both sides of many of the main debates and of course come out with no new answers. Everything is subject to doubt. Can you ever really know anything? If not...is it possible to give life any meaning? How can you live life to the fullest if you cannot stop questioning? How can you not question things/Does anyone else feel this way?

This seems backwards to me.

I would ask the reverse, how can you live life to the fullest if you stop questioning? Curiosity drives us to expand our horizons and grow as people.

Doubt is not ignorance, it is humility. Doubt keeps us from accepting things at face value. It allows us to challenge our perceptions and adapt to our findings.

 

[Mole]

Does anyone else feel this way?

When they taught me to read, they didn't warn me I wouldn't be able to stop. And now I even read the cornflakes' packet while I have breakfast.

But it doesn't stop there. The last time I was in Times Square I thought how beautiful it would look if only I couldn't read.

 

[Take Five]

Do we have the perfect answers to every question? No

Do some answers make more sense than others? Yes

I too have questions that never are really answered, but I usually have possible answers. I take the one that makes the most sense to me and I dive into life with it. Alterations to improve the answers usually present themselves whether I am actively looking for them or not. I don't know about all this living fully stuff...you do the best you can with what is available to you at any given moment.

 

[LEGERdeMAIN]

I cannot stop questioning philosophical issues. I have delved deeply into both sides of many of the main debates and of course come out with no new answers. Everything is subject to doubt. Can you ever really know anything? If not...is it possible to give life any meaning? How can you live life to the fullest if you cannot stop questioning? How can you not question things/Does anyone else feel this way?

Philosophy gave birth to all of the sciences, which have actually found facts, patterns, theorems related to such things as: weather, the human mind, medicine, etc, etc.

First there is a question and then a search for the answer and then the answer(s). Questioning established traditions, whether philosophical or otherwise is what leads to new questions, new answers, new traditions.

 

[INTP]

"Truth" is just a claim.

this. you can never know enything for 100% sure

 

[nomadic]

yeah, college is a great time to do that.

"finding yourself" - i think its more of an x generation thing, than a y or z generation. but I remember at Berkeley when I went there in mid to late 90's, the college campus had banners up that said "Question Everything". I can't really see that happening on most college campuses today for some reason.

 

[sLiPpY]

Well, Gen Y or Z didn't have the experience of boomer parents.

Maybe Gen X finally found themselves and transmitted that element to their kids.

 

[Mole]

this. you can never know enything for 100% sure

The sequencing of the genome has made natural selection 100% sure.

The evolution of the species is now 100% sure. Evolution is a fact.

But so many today, particularly in the USA, believe in creationism in the face of the facts.

Just as so many here believe in MBTI.

 

[INTP]

The sequencing of the genome has made natural selection 100% sure.

The evolution of the species is now 100% sure. Evolution is a fact.

But so many today, particularly in the USA, believe in creationism in the face of the facts.

Just as so many here believe in MBTI.

you can never prove enything for 100% sure, not even that you actually exist..

 

[antireconciler]

But so many today, particularly in the USA, believe in creationism in the face of the facts.

Just as so many here believe in MBTI.

Off topic as always Victor.

you can never prove enything for 100% sure, not even that you actually exist..

Please explain yourself, or did you think what you said was persuasive just because you stated it?

 

[Mole]

you can never prove enything for 100% sure, not even that you actually exist..

The reality is that you cannot prove a negative, but you can prove a positive.

For instance, I can't prove there is no teapot orbiting the Sun between Mars and Venus. And I can't prove that Poseidon doesn't exist.

However using the genome, I can prove that natural selection is the origin of the species.

 

[Domino]

What about black holes? Or dark matter? You can only prove what they *aren't*. Is that the same thing?

 

[Mole]

What about black holes? Or dark matter? You can only prove what they *aren't*. Is that the same thing?

No.

 

[LEGERdeMAIN]

black holes have been proven in the same way that anti-matter has been proven.

 

[Risen]

Ya'll should really stop with the science talk. It's rather... embarrassing.