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 the religions unsatisfactory,
we can learn to love the questions
and learn 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 can think of 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 five.

OUTLINE:

1. ORIGIN

2. GUILT

3. MEANING

4. ANXIETY

5. DEATH

ASKING ULTIMATE QUESTIONS

by James Park


    "Ultimate Questions" is the first name given to this list,
but even this title might be improved.
Which of the following possible names seems best?
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.

    Let us attempt to articulate as clearly as possible
just what each of the ultimate questions is asking about.
And it might be relevant for exploring each question
to see what some of the great religions of the world
have said in answer to each basic problem.
We do not need to accept any of the answers already formulated.
But former attempts at answering the ultimate questions
might help us to understand the basic questions of existence.

1. ORIGIN

Where did we come from?
Where are we going?
What place do we have in the universe?
Does the 'created world' have an underlying purpose?
If the scientific world-view replaces religious world-views,
    how does this change our lives?
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?
When life is created 'in a test tube',
    will this change our answer about origins?
If we discovered life elsewhere in the universe,
    what importance would that have for us?
If there were intelligent life elsewhere in the universe,
    would those forms of life also ask the same ultimate questions?


2. GUILT

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


3. MEANING

What is the meaning of life?
Does human life have a given meaning?
Is there ultimate meaning behind the universe?
If there is no background meaning, can we create our own meanings?
Should we search for meaning or create meaning?
What basic meanings for living have been offered by the world's religions?
What meanings have other people lived for?
What specific meanings do most humans pursue?
Does death cancel out meaning?
Do we want our meanings-for-living to transcend death?
Do we seek meanings in our everyday lives?
Is the quest for meaning ultimately meaningless?
Is meaninglessness the final truth about human existence?
Is human existence ultimately empty and futile?
Do we seek individual meaning or collective meaning?
If individual lives are meaningless,
    can they contribute to ultimate meaning for some larger group of humans?
If there is some given meaning for the human race,
    how can we participate in this meaning?
If there is no automatic meaning given with human existence,
    how can we make our own lives meaningful?

4. ANXIETY

Is there a basic 'fear' driving human life?
What emotional or spiritual problem is religion trying to solve?
Do most religions recognize a fundamental problem in human existence?
What can we learn from the answers offered by various religions?
Peace seems to be a religious goal:
    What condition is spiritual peace supposed to resolve?
Do some religious answers merely cover-over the problem of anxiety?
Should religion use psychological techniques to handle anxiety?
Should psychological healers use religious techniques to handle anxiety?
To what degree does religious practice attempt to cope with anxiety?

5. DEATH

What happens after death?
Do we live again after death?
How shall we cope with death?
How does having-to-die affect our living?
Do some people live without any awareness of death?
Do we wish that we would never die?
Does our talk about death hide or disclose death?
How does the fear-of-death change the course of our living?
Should religion help us to face death? If so, how?
What does each religion say about death?
How will we face the crisis of no longer being able to be?
What does it mean to 'fear death'?
How does the death of a person differ from the death of an animal?
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

    Send all responses and suggestions to:
James Park, e-mail:
PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU.


    James Park tries to deal with some of these ultimate questions
in the following cyber-sermons:

Your Unique Contribution to the World . D

No Gods Created the Universe . C

The Disclosure of Existential Anxiety
        and other Manifestations of Our Existential Predicament .
Existential Anxiety:
        Angst .

Existential Guilt:
        Deeper than the Pangs of Conscience . C

Looking for the Meaning of Life . D O

Go to other cyber-sermons by James Park,
organized into 9 subject-areas.
Go to the beginning of this website:
An Existential Philosopher's Museum.



















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The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.