The Age-old Question

Published by Alexia in the blog The Thought Police accidentally put me in the 5th circle of hell. Views: 390

Why?

It’s the age-old question humans still strive to answer due to an insatiable appetite for knowledge. Because we are beyond ensuring the most basic of needs (food, water, shelter), we have channeled our time and energy into taking on larger tasks. The only issue with tackling such a question is that ‘why’ is always one step ahead of us. As we vocalize an answer, a new question arises in our mind before we have the time to finish our previous explanation.

So why continue asking ‘why’ if it is always one step ahead of us? When do we stop asking ‘why’? Do we cease to ask once our appetite for knowledge has been satisfied, or do we cease to ask when the knowledge we discover is beyond our understanding? Alternatively, does our thirst never cease and are we all destined to answer a chain of infinite questions up until our deaths?

I conclude that the question of ‘why’ is infinite, seeing that it is always one step ahead of our thought process. Therefore, I can conclude that I will never finish my research in its entirety. Instead, I will stop when I am either satisfied with the amount of information I have, or I will cease asking ‘why’ entirely when I cannot understand the information I discover.

And such is the human thirst for knowledge. One can ask why we have this thirst and the simple answer is that ‘why’ is the largest question one can ask and answer. Humans are always looking for something more challenging and the infinite qualities of ‘why’ attract our creativity and intellect.
Oct 22, 2012
  • TurkThePony
    TurkThePony Oct 22, 2012
    I get this Feeling all the time. I just want to know everything. I hungry for more Information. The Human Mind never stops thinking. It's a on a constant rate for knowledge. We wish to expand to know more so we can work with that information to use to create something. There is no limit on how we gain for knowledge and information that it's pretty much impossible for anything for the Human mind to know that, This is it...There is not another thing in this world or anywhere world that we already know.
  • Alexia
    Alexia Oct 22, 2012
    As much as I'd love to know anything, I sadly can't know absolutely everything. That fact in itself frustrates me, and I even get frustrated with my own simple thoughts. Like you, I'm just always hungry to know more and I'm always looking for new information. Knowledge is an obsession if I do say so myself.
  • Soraian
    Soraian Oct 22, 2012
    I am obsessed with knowledge, thus why i read so many god damn interesting books! and blogs.. and fourm posts... and poems.. journals.. well i read anything with text really, learning is fun!

    Except at school, then learning can go and F*** itself.
  • B-Dog1996
    B-Dog1996 Oct 22, 2012
    I'm not too curious. While I do find the concept of human life interesting, I tend not to worry to much about it. While others need detailed answers or experiences, I'm fine with the bare minimum.

    tl;dr: I'm lazy and apathetic
  • redmon77
    redmon77 Oct 22, 2012
    i love learning new things. but truth is i would hate to know everything. it would make life not worth living in my opinion
  • Legion
    Legion Oct 22, 2012
    I just learn without really thinking about it. At least, that's the best way I can describe it.

    That's why school is boring. I do badly on homework, because I don't feel like it's worth doing, and then I destroy most tests. :p

    My teachers don't understand why I would rather have quizzes every day than homework.
  • Alexia
    Alexia Oct 22, 2012
    @Sora
    Dittoing everything. I have no time for people who don't appreciate knowledge.

    @b-dog
    I guess you could say I'm mostly the same. I'm not /always/ thinking about human life. As humans, we must live on a human level or we'll go insane. :p

    @redmon
    This. It kinda ties in with my reply to b-dog, I guess. Though having a wealth of knowledge is always good, constantly thinking about it drives the human mind insane. :/ I've always wondered what it'd be like if the human mind could store more knowledge...

    @legion
    YES. Learning is like the mode I constantly live in. I do well at school, but what irritate me is the slow pace it goes at... Seriously. I could just be handed the yearly exams now and do them without study and still pass with flying colours. Dx
  • Legion
    Legion Oct 22, 2012
    @ Alexia: Well how very INTJ of you. xD

    I never "study" because living is studying enough, ya know? I learn enough in-class that I don't usually need to look it over the night before (unless it was especially hard or, more likely, I didn't pay any attention in class whatsoever because I was doing something else, in which case I give it a quick once-over and then do fine on the test the next day.)

    Not many people know that, though. They all think I actually WORK to do well on tests. :p
  • redmon77
    redmon77 Oct 23, 2012
    i guess and i always pass my classes. i never study. truth is i think i fail all my classes but the result is the opposite
  • Alexia
    Alexia Oct 24, 2012
    @legion (and also directed at redmon :p)
    Oh jeez... It IS very INTJ of me. o_O Heh.
    I only study what I don't know, because (as you said) living= study. Like you also said, people think I actually work to get results. I almost never study and achieve As with the knowledge I'm already carrying around in my head.
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