We’ve all had the feeling. It is early in the morning, and you lie in bed knowing that you cannot spend another day pretending that everything is okay. Yet you wake up, driven by some ever-present urge to satisfy a system you may not even buy into. Why do we do this? Maybe part of the reason is that we’re all so distanced from our evolutionary purposes that we create new purposes. These purposes, in turn, leave us feeling existentially dissatisfied.
Maybe this has been the case forever. Maybe the entire concept of self-aware existence is cursed and many of us are destined to feel detached for the rest of our lives. Some people believe this and go about their lives doing the best they can to cope. I’m of the belief that there must be more than coping. There must be some method of existence that does not ascribe value based on one’s instrumental worth. I believe that this form of existence exists, not because I have any empirical evidence but because I cannot bear the alternative.
Now, I am not some idealist who believes we can just go back to how things were. No, I think technology has changed human existence permanently. To go back is impossible at this point. All I am asking is that we talk about it. All I ask is that we finally address the elephant in the room. How the hell are we here? After all, here we are, drifting in a void on top of a rock that is orbiting a giant (but really not that big, relatively) ball of hot plasma. If we talk about it, maybe the nights will come a little easier. Maybe if we talk about it, we can prevent the existential dread from setting in.
We sit through countless science classes as children learning about our empirical reality. The answers never seem to fully satisfy. After all, as much as we have learned through science, it is but a speck in the vast expanse that lies before us. Moreover, honestly, science does very little to help explain existential issues. We never discuss the nature of existence until college and even then, all we do is poke at this deep, frightening underlying question in the hopes of finding some partial answer that helps us sleep at night. As the question begins to fester under the surface, one can hardly tolerate it. We are thrust into the constant existential crisis of adulthood with no preparation. No one teaches you how to comfort those drifting thoughts. No one teaches you how to tirelessly put on the mask day in and day out. Even when everything seems like it is falling apart around you, you act as if everything is fine. Even upon expressing distress, there are always crucial details left out. One must never show just how much they are suffering for fear of being a burden.
The truth of the matter is that it is hard, if not impossible, to not feel alone during times of existential distress. But that is the beauty of it. We are not alone. In fact, there are billions of us walking around on this rock. So let’s talk to each other. Let’s abandon societal “norms” of conversation and talk about what scares us. Then, and only then, can we help to address the question. Perhaps there is no answer. In fact, I don’t believe there is one answer. Maybe all that means is that we aren’t asking the right questions.
Daniel Lee Carter, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at DCarter17@wooster.edu.