Professional Documents
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61 Existential Questions
That Will Spark Thought-
Provoking Conversations
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Reignite the lost art of conversation and ask more existential questions.
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You’ll learn what they are, the best ones to ask, and how to inject more of
them into your conversational arsenal.
DISCOVER →
SKIP AHEAD
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Existential questions are deep, philosophical questions that concern just that—
our very existence.
They’re great conversation starters and can open the door to impassioned
discussion. These questions are a great way to get to know someone but also
learn new things about the people you think you know.
You may have to dig deep in search of answers and challenge your way of
thinking. Who knows what you’ll uncover?
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After all, it’s one of humanity’s biggest and most thought-provoking questions.
It’s a broad question and like all the best existential questions, it has no
definite answer.
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crashinglybeautiful
Crashingly Beautiful
Bill Hicks
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This is an excellent question to ask a girl on a date. You’ll learn her passions
and discover what makes her tick. Assuming you want to date high-value
women, these are good things to know.
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Want more questions to ask on a date to blow her mind? Level up your dating
game with our top questions to ask a girl.
But what about you? Struck with the realization that you’re unsure of your
purpose?
While your purpose is personal, you could read what other people say to
inspire you on your quest.
Some examples include providing for your family, traveling the world, and
spending time with your loved ones.
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A post shared by Merry Christmas (@ikywit88) on Nov 28, 2019 at 2:58am PST
Do you find success in chasing your dreams? Is money your genuine desire? Or
does helping other people give you the biggest reward?
Whatever you find, they should eventually help you reach the ultimate
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Save
According to a 2020 study, only 14% of American adults say they’re very
happy. It’s a startling statistic suggesting that this question is more relevant
than ever.
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So, are you in control of your happiness or is it something that you can’t
influence? Bad things happen in life causing unhappiness, and often they’re
completely out of our control.
Could the way you approach life’s adversities determine your happiness?
Could happiness be a product of a mindset that has developed through hard
work?
If you’re in pursuit of happiness will you ever catch it? Or should you create
your happiness through thinking more positively?
One thing is for sure, no one wants to be miserable. So why not try positivity
and conquer your negative thinking?
Further
Reading
“I’m Not Good at Anything”: Why You’re 100% Wrong
Do you feel like you’re not good at anything? Have you questioned whether you have any
talent at all? It’s time to change your inner belief system. Here’s how.
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A look at the United Nations website yields the definitive International human
rights law. Adopted in 1948, these laws obligate Governments to act in a
certain way and refrain from certain acts.
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What if you’ve spent years of your life chasing happiness when all you need to
do is trigger your body to release more of these hormones? For example,
exercise and listening to music can increase levels of dopamine.
You may have changed drastic aspects of your life because of the ongoing
pursuit of happiness. A new job or a new partner, for example.
Have you been doing it wrong all these years? Is the key to happiness
genuinely that simple? Or is there a more spiritual side to happiness? After all,
there are some things science can’t explain.
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On one side, you have nature, also called nativism. This theory suggests that
our genetic inheritance influences our psychological traits. Our biological
genes determine our physical appearance, so why not our behavior?
Empiricism is the other side of the spectrum siding with the nurture side of the
debate. Empiricists believe the human mind is a blank slate and our
personality results from our environment.
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7 Is there a God?
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This question is dubbed as the ultimate face-off between science and religion.
But science and religion don’t have to be incompatible and are not mutually
exclusive.
Save
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You’ll most likely have already manifested a standpoint on this, but let’s open
your mind to other sides of the debate.
Creationism is a religious belief that God created the universe. On the other
hand, some astronomers point to the big bang theory for the existence of life
as we know it. A divine spark that expanded and grew to as large as it’s now.
So 13.7 billion years ago, tiny particles mixed with energy and light came
together to form atoms. These atoms eventually group to form stars and
galaxies.
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The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe was planted
in that first instant; every star, every planet and every living creature
in the Universe came into being as a result of events that were set in
motion in the moment of the cosmic explosion…The Universe flashed
into being, and we cannot find out what caused that to happen. –
Professor Robert Jastrow
Scientists still have no explanation of why these tiny particles and light were
there in the first place.
Debating religion can be a sensitive subject, so make sure you know your
audience before diving in at the deep end!
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There’s no greater unknown in life than death. What happens when we die? Is
there an afterlife? Is there heaven and hell? Is there reincarnation? Or do we
simply cease to exist?
The unknown causes a barrage of questions, enough to make your head spin.
Ask this question with caution. On a fundamental level, anxiety is the fear of
the unknown and there’s plenty undiscovered about what happens to us when
we die.
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TEMPLATES
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Is a lifetime enough time to fulfill your wishes? Or are there limitations to the
quality of time spent on earth?
For example, you may want to travel and see the world. To do this, you must
earn money to afford the plane ticket.
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Is the time spent earning the money part of the journey, or is this a period of
unfulfillment?
If one lifetime doesn’t fulfill you, why would another life be different?
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Life expectancy has doubled in the last two centuries and largely down to
advances in technology. Many new medical marvels boggle the mind.
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Read 57 replies
Did you know that 99.9% of the species that ever lived are extinct? This stat
suggests that our chances aren’t too good.
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But wait for a second, surely by the time humans are on the brink of
extinction, we’ll have our houses in order. We’ll intercept that asteroid, we’ll
run on solar power, and we’ll keep our finger off that red button!
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This can be a positive and inspirational question that may motivate you to
contribute to making the world a better place.
Why not agree to make a slight change during your conversation? Generosity,
empathy, compassion, and recycling all are ideas to get you started.
So what does the world need now? According to Burt Bacharach, it’s love—I’ll
get my coat.
13 What is love?
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Love can be difficult to describe, and it’s interesting to see how other people
characterize this most beautiful phenomenon.
Is love a force of nature that you cannot control or can it be subdued and
restrained?
Love drives people to the extreme. Look at the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum built
by Shah Jahan for his wife spending $1,062,834,098 in today’s money on this
gesture of love. Way to make us feel guilty about those gas station roses we
bought last Valentine’s Day.
Then there’s Jordan Cardella. The 20-year-old man who believed his suffering
would reignite him with his lost love. Lovestruck, he organized his friends to
shoot him in a cunning plan to win back his girlfriend through pity.
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Psychology suggests an opposing outlook can refresh your mind and challenge
your ideals. If opposites attract, where is the connection?
Humans connect over many things but does this equate to a long-term
connection? For example, you may follow the same sports team and while this
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may ignite an initial connection, it doesn’t mean you’ll have the deepest of
bonds.
This is why you should be looking deeper for the connection. Maybe a shared
moral compass or a mutual respect builds the strongest connection?
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A post shared by Gary Roscoe Johnson (@urania235) on Jul 15, 2019 at 11:23…
Although the phrase was first coined by Lord Acton in 1887 humanity has
suggested the general idea for many years.
Or is there another way of looking at this? Do the people who crave power
have a corrupt heart in the first instance? Maybe power is freeing, allowing a
liberation of the true self.
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Is the theory even true? The global pandemic has hit companies hard, which
has seen CEOs worldwide cut their own salary to protect staff from being laid
off. While some may see this as an obligation it’s far from an act of absolute
corruption.
There are about 6,500 languages spoken in the world today. The most spoken
languages are English, Mandarin, and Hindi, but are any of these the universal
language?.
Not only widely spoken but English-speaking countries are responsible for
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around 40% of the world’s GNP. Is that enough to say English is the universal
language?
Are we looking at this the wrong way? Have you ever sat in a restaurant in a
foreign country trying to bridge the language barrier with the waiter?
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You’ll have most likely mentioned off-hand something that you can’t live
without. Can’t live without your phone? Maybe it’s your laptop or a cold beer
on a Friday night?
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Air, water, food, shelter, and self-defense are all you need to survive.
Does this mean everything else is needless? Or do our needs depend on the
society in which we inhabit?
A year ago I spent months in the Macedonian mountains without a TV, WiFi,
and a telephone. To begin with, this is challenging, but your psyche adjusts
according to your surroundings and it can liberate!
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The answer depends on how you interpret the question. You may seek answers
through self-awareness, for instance, you may feel that you ignore your calorie
intake because it’s too high.
Opting to answer this with self-awareness doesn’t mean that you’re selfish in
any way. Quite the opposite. The ability to be self-aware means you can
objectively evaluate yourself and eventually improve as a person.
It’s human nature to conceal something from public view or knowledge that
we might find embarrassing. It’s an act of self-preservation.
Then there’s death. As the saying goes—the only two certainties in life are
death and taxes. Most of us will go about our day to day life ignoring the fact
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that we’re all destined to die. This is probably the best for our sanity.
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Creations such as paintings, music, literature, and dance are widely considered
as pieces of art.
Everywhere you look there are expressions of human creativity. Look out the
window. What do you see? For example, you may see a car.
The car design is an example of human creativity and it’s features show the
potential of human imagination. A car is not generally considered as art, so
where is the line?
It’s a question that has plagued everyone from the most decorated of scientists
to the most spaced-out stoners. Are we alone in the universe?
Scientists have spent lifetimes searching for civilization out of space but have
yet (not to our knowledge) struck gold. Is this nailed on proof that we’re
alone?
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The latest research suggests that the Universe is at least 91 billion light-years
or 8.6 million billion billion kilometers across. However, this is not a
boundary, this is the furthest we’ve been able to see with the technology
available.
In the grand scheme of things, the earth is a tiny place. With so much of the
universe you can’t help but ponder, are we really alone?
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Everyone has an opinion, but no two people will agree with one another
wholeheartedly on all subjects.
Can you consider even the most outlandish of opinions as wrong? While there
may be reasonable cause to think their standpoint is ill-informed, how sure are
you that they’re wrong?
Further down the rabbit hole, how do you know your information source is
right? You may develop opinions based on the news you watch on TV, but
who’s saying this is truthful.
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We can’t have people thinking you’re the prince of darkness so let’s lighten the
load with some humor.
These funny existential questions aren’t too challenging and will open the door
to lighter discussion.
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lives?
1. Do soulmates exist?
2. Is it easier to love or be loved?
3. What makes someone beautiful?
4. How can you give yourself without losing yourself?
5. Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?
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MARVELADDICTS
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You might feel some existential questions are too deep for your liking, not
everyone is a deep thinker.
First, allow yourself the time to ponder the questions alone. It’s a helpful
process to plan your own ideas and opinions. When considering some of life’s
existential questions you may feel that your mind opens. Not only are you
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Once you’ve absorbed this experience, you may feel more comfortable using
them in a discussion. It’s important to be open-minded and don’t dismiss other
peoples’ opinions.
Further
Reading 20 Topics to Talk About With a Girl That Will Spark Great
Conversations
Do you often run out of things to talk about with girls? You’re not alone. Learn how to start a
conversation with women and the very best topics to talk about.
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You could agree to talk deeper or drop a question over dinner and let the
conversation flow.
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Asking questions will show that you’re eager to learn more about your date.
But don’t ask any old questions. It’s a fine line between interest and
interrogation. For the ones to avoid, check out our list of 20 Questions A Man
Should Never Ask A Woman (And The Reasons Why).
And on the flip side, you’ll learn about how thoughtful and articulate she is,
and whether she has the confidence to express her point of view.
Whether it’s the first date or you’re further along and you think she’s the one,
having thought-provoking questions in your armory will help your cause.
Further
Reading
How to Tell if a Girl Likes You: 13 Surefire Signs
Not sure if she’s into you? Or just generally want to know how to tell if a girl likes you? We’ve
got you covered. Stop your guesswork and learn these 13 signs.
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Adbusters on Twitter
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You’ll face many questions a day, most of which you’ll answer without
thought.
What makes existential questions unique is the need for deep thought and
perspective. They require you to explain and coherently portray your thoughts.
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Topics can cover your feelings on life and death, morality, and why the world
is the way it is. Mathematics this is not, there are no definite answers.
As your thought process spirals out of control, you may end up with more
questions than when you started. Philosophy shows no bounds.
Conclusion
There we have it, a comprehensive list of existential questions. Has your brain
survived the journey?
Why not stay updated and follow The Adult Man on Instagram?
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Neal Sawyer
Passionate about words and a purveyor of beard balms. At peace when traveling and songwriting. At
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Recommended Reading
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Looking to have a fun conversation with that new girl you like? Make her blush and increase
your attractiveness with our best questions to ask girls.
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Poor communication is the most common reason for breakups. Learn the best questions to ask
your girlfriend that will help make your relationship rock solid.
Conversations
Do you often run out of things to talk about with girls? You're not alone. Learn how to start a
conversation with women and the very best topics to talk about.
61 Best Things to Talk About With Your Girlfriend That Will Bring
You Closer
So many guys ask me, "What should I talk about with my girlfriend?". This list will give you the
ammo to bring you two closer via hours of quality conversation.
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