The only philosophical question remaining

"Existentialism" by erix! is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

"Existentialism" by erix! is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide” (MS, 3). 

When I read this, sometimes it seems very dark, like we're supposed to focus on the suicide part of the sentence. However, I know there's more to it than that. There is sometimes a reason for the dramatic and in this case, the dramatic gets my attention every time. It's not because I am thinking about suicide. 

I'm thinking about living. Living in a world that is hard. Living in a world where I am diminished. Living in a world where sometimes what I want and what I believe simply does not matter. 

It does matter, though, and as I think about the question, I know that the answer changes. Every time I ask the question, I get a different answer. It's not because the question is different. It's not even because I am different. It's because the meaning changes. The meaning of what it means to live, what it means to create, what it means to simply BE changes. 

It is with this awareness that I wake up every day. I know that there might be a day that I don't have an answer. That does not mean that I won't continue to ask the question. It means that I have work to do.