In Douglas Adam's classic series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a group of hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional philosophers builds a computer that can once and for all deliver to them the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything. After ruminating for seven and a half million years, the computer finally gives them the answer.
It turns out the ultimate answer is 42.
Flabbergasted, the philosophers realized they never had a clear idea of what the actual question was. The computer (named Deep Thought) then helps them design another, more powerful computer to figure out what the question is. They call it Earth.
One of the reasons I find this series of books so laugh-out-loud-funny is that they contain a lot of truth. You can find Answers anywhere really. Preachers, gurus, self-help books, politicians, activists, scientists, scholars, and a million other sources all claim to have the Answer. We seem to be hard-wired to want the Answer. We think it will make life easier if we just knew. It's nice to believe there is a clear, unambiguous source of absolute truth, an external standard that elucidates all of life (as well as the universe and everything). Once we have the Answer, other people's opinions no longer matter; we know! Once we have the Answer, hard problems go away, replaced with blind certainty.
Some of us think we actually do know. There are fundamentalists (both religious and secular) who believe they know the Answer, that everyone could know the answer if everyone would just listen to them. Of course, the question arises, which group of fundamentalists truly has the Answer, since they don't all agree?
Answers are funny things. They have a tendency to depend on the questions we are asking, and there are a lot of different potential questions out there, even within the bounds of religion. For example, if your question is, "Why is life so hard and unfair?" your answer might have to do with being part of a special group or a final reckoning in the afterlife, with intangible rewards, in fact. If your question is, "How do I find meaning in my life?" your answer might have to do with social justice or service. If your question is, "What can I know for sure?" your answer might look a lot like atheism. The point is, I wonder if we don't often wind up arguing about answers when maybe we would be better off discussing questions.
So what question are you asking? How does your question affect the Answer you come up with?
September 21, 2009
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3 Comments:
I thought that The Secret was the Answer.
I guess if I have to give a question, I'd go with, "What am I supposed to be doing with my life?" It affects the way I view what I am doing with it, what would count as a good way of doing something, and what is important to give my kids. I tend to want to give them a lot of answers, often they're not interested. I feel a need to give them lots of material privileges, but I'm pretty certain that that is not an answer to a lot of the problems/questions we have.
My question is: how old am I?
Turns out 42 is exactly right!
But as to my real question...I'll have to figure out how to articulate it...
Questions are the spice of my life. I love knowing about anything because that opens up more questions and more opportunities to learn. Questions drive me, they can keep life interesting. I never want to ARRIVE in this life and one thing I've learned is I never will. Each step has been better than the last so I have no reason to expect otherwise. Now perspective - that is probably what determines if you like questions or not....
Matt - thanks for posting about one of my favorite series of books - there is a lot of truth in them delivered in a very humorous way.
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