Existential Questions
These are questions that arise in human lives. Some may already be alive in you. Explore any question that resonates with you and follow the chapters in which the book contemplates them.
Questions we often ask
Some questions return again and again. Here we explore them more fully, and point to the chapters that continue the inquiry.
How do I stop overthinking? What happens after death? How do I find my purpose? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is life so hard? How do I forgive myself? How do I let go of the past? How do I stop caring what people think? What makes life worth living? Why do I feel empty inside? How do I know who I really am? Why do I feel lonely even though I have friends?Explore by theme
The questions below are grouped by theme. Open any question to see the chapters in which the book contemplates it.
Life, Meaning & Purpose
↑ Back to categoriesWhy am I here?
What is my purpose?
Why Ask At All? The Consequence of Being The Shapes a Life Takes Returning Here
Why does it sometimes feel as if something is missing from my life?
A Human Experience Manifestation The Weight of Becoming Returning Here
Why am I always looking for something more?
Can I be content without giving up ambition?
Living in Alignment Manifestation The Weight of Becoming Wealth
What if I don’t need to become anything?
What if nothing is missing right now?
Manifestation Awareness of Life The Weight of Becoming Returning Here
Can life be meaningful without being serious all the time?
Why do I feel that everyone else has life figured out except me?
Thought, Awareness & Presence
↑ Back to categoriesWhy does my mind never stop thinking?
Am I my thoughts?
Why do I believe everything I think?
Can I experience life without constantly explaining it?
Words Can Only Point The Nature of Concept Awareness of Life Not Knowing
What is there before thought?
Why is uncertainty so uncomfortable?
Do I really need to know the answer to everything?
What does it mean to surrender?
Trust and Surrender Not Knowing Common Doorways Living in Alignment
Does acceptance mean doing nothing?
Trust and Surrender The Weight of Becoming Hope Living in Alignment
Why do I resist what is already happening?
Trust and Surrender Chopping Wood and Carrying Water Living in Alignment Returning Here
Why does my body react before I understand what is happening?
Can the body know something before the mind does?
What does it mean to be present?
Why is it so difficult to stay present?
Thought Chopping Wood and Carrying Water Returning Here Inner Coherence
Do I need to meditate to become more aware?
Awareness of Life Common Doorways The Paradox of Practice Chopping Wood and Carrying Water
Can ordinary daily life itself be a practice?
Chopping Wood and Carrying Water Common Doorways Living in Alignment The Paradox of Practice
Why can nature make me feel different?
Common Doorways Awareness of Life Heightened Awareness Relativity
Why do music, creativity or complete absorption sometimes make me forget myself?
Why can unusual experiences feel more real than ordinary life?
Mystical Experience Heightened Awareness The Truth of Experience Inner Coherence
Can meditation, breathwork or psychedelics lead to the same place?
Common Doorways Heightened Awareness Mystical Experience The Paradox of Practice
Emotions, Pain & Healing
↑ Back to categoriesWhy do my emotions sometimes overwhelm me?
Should I control my emotions or allow them?
Why does an old hurt still affect me years later?
Do I have to be positive all the time?
Is feeling angry, sad or afraid a sign that I am doing something wrong?
Can accepting my emotions be healthier than trying to get rid of them?
Emotions Trust and Surrender Body Accumulated Emotional Pain
What does forgiveness actually mean?
Do I have to forgive someone who hurt me?
Forgiveness Defence Without Hatred Accumulated Emotional Pain Healing
Can I let go without saying that what happened was acceptable?
Forgiveness Defence Without Hatred Trust and Surrender Healing
What does healing actually mean?
Do I need to become a different person in order to heal?
Healing The Weight of Becoming Inner Coherence Returning Here
Why does trying to fix everything about myself make me feel worse?
The Weight of Becoming Healing The Paradox of Practice Returning Here
Why do old patterns return even after I have understood them?
Accumulated Emotional Pain What We Inherit Chopping Wood and Carrying Water Returning Here
What is the point of insight if I still get angry, afraid or hurt?
Love, Relationships & Belonging
↑ Back to categoriesWhy do I feel lonely even when I am surrounded by people?
Loneliness and Belonging Contact Separation What We Call Love
What does it really mean to belong?
Why is genuine contact with another person so difficult?
What is love?
Is love the same as attachment?
Why do we try to possess the people we love?
Can I love someone without needing them to be different?
Why does intimacy make us vulnerable?
Intimacy Loneliness and Belonging Accumulated Emotional Pain Ego
Why do relationships bring out old wounds?
Accumulated Emotional Pain Intimacy Loneliness and Belonging What We Inherit
Why do I care so much about what other people think of me?
Loneliness and Belonging Ego The Shapes a Life Takes What We Inherit
Why do I compare myself with other people?
Why can loneliness feel worse after being with other people?
Why do I sometimes feel disconnected from everyone around me?
Identity, Ego & Becoming
↑ Back to categoriesWhat is the ego?
Is the ego something we need to get rid of?
Why do I get offended so easily?
Why is being right so important to us?
Why do disagreements become personal?
Why do people see the same situation so differently?
The Nature of Concept The Truth of Experience Relativity What We Inherit
Why do we take life so seriously?
Why do I feel guilty when I am not being productive?
The Weight of Becoming The Shapes a Life Takes What We Inherit Ego
Why am I constantly trying to improve myself?
Why does self-improvement sometimes feel endless?
The Weight of Becoming The Paradox of Practice Manifestation Returning Here
Can trying to become better actually get in the way?
The Weight of Becoming The Paradox of Practice Living in Alignment
How do I know when self-improvement has become another form of dissatisfaction?
The Weight of Becoming The Paradox of Practice Manifestation Living in Alignment
Belief, Spirituality & Not Knowing
↑ Back to categoriesIs there such a thing as objective truth?
Why are words so easily misunderstood?
Can language ever fully describe what we experience?
Words Can Only Point The Nature of Concept Mystical Experience
Why are beliefs so important to us?
Why do people defend their beliefs so fiercely?
Can I live without knowing what to believe?
Can I question my beliefs without losing myself?
Do I need religion to live a meaningful life?
Do I have to believe in God to explore these questions?
What do we actually mean when we say “God”?
The Word God Belief The Nature of Concept Words Can Only Point
Can an atheist and a religious person be pointing toward the same human experience?
The Word God The Truth of Experience Awareness of Life Belief
What is a mystical experience?
Do mystical experiences prove anything?
Mystical Experience The Truth of Experience Not Knowing Belief
Why can a spiritual practice become another identity?
Can spirituality itself become an ego?
Can spirituality become another way of avoiding difficult feelings?
What if spirituality is just another belief system?
How do I know whether a spiritual idea is actually true?
The Truth of Experience Belief Not Knowing The Nature of Concept
Do extraordinary experiences necessarily mean something supernatural happened?
Mystical Experience Heightened Awareness The Truth of Experience Not Knowing
Can something feel completely true and still only be my interpretation?
Why do people turn personal experiences into absolute truths?
Why do spiritual communities sometimes become just as dogmatic as religions?
Can I explore spirituality without believing everything spiritual people say?
Can I be open-minded without becoming gullible?
Why do I need other people to agree with what I believe?
Why is it so difficult to say “I don’t know”?
Where did everything come from?
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Death, Loss & Impermanence
↑ Back to categoriesWhy am I afraid of death?
What actually dies when we die?
Can we know what happens after death?
Why does losing someone change the whole world?
A Human Experience Death What We Call Love Accumulated Emotional Pain
Can thinking about death change how we live?
Money, Success & Wanting More
↑ Back to categoriesDoes money make us happy?
Why is having enough so difficult to recognise?
Is wanting more always a problem?
Wealth Manifestation The Weight of Becoming Living in Alignment
Can we really manifest what we want?
How do I live in the material world without being completely defined by it?
Do I have to give up ordinary life to live more consciously?
Chopping Wood and Carrying Water Living in Alignment Common Doorways
Choice, Habit & What We Inherit
↑ Back to categoriesHow much control do I actually have over my life?
Free Will Manifestation Trust and Surrender The Shapes a Life Takes
Do I really have free will?
How much of who I am did I actually choose?
How much of me comes from my parents and upbringing?
What We Inherit A Human Experience The Shapes a Life Takes Accumulated Emotional Pain
Can I change patterns I inherited?
Why do I keep repeating the same patterns?
What We Inherit Addiction Accumulated Emotional Pain Returning Here
Why do we become addicted to things we know are hurting us?
Addiction Emotions Accumulated Emotional Pain The Weight of Becoming
Is addiction only about drugs and alcohol?
Society, Conflict & the World Around Us
↑ Back to categoriesWhy do human beings create so much conflict?
Why is it so easy to divide people into “us” and “them”?
Why can otherwise decent people support terrible things?
Can I oppose someone without hating them?
Can we defend ourselves without becoming like the people we fight?
Is anger necessary to stand against injustice?
Does inner peace mean withdrawing from the problems of the world?
Can changing ourselves really change society?
Why do societies behave in ways that individuals would call insane?
Can there be order without control?
What happens when I stop seeing another person as my enemy?
How can I find peace when the world around me is not peaceful?
External Order Human Insanity Defence Without Hatred Living in Alignment
How can I stay present when so much in the world worries me?
Can I care deeply about what is wrong in the world without being consumed by it?
External Order Defence Without Hatred Emotions Living in Alignment
Does being present mean ignoring the problems around me?
Living It in Everyday Life
↑ Back to categoriesWhat is gratitude when life is difficult?
Can I be grateful without pretending everything is good?
Is hope always a good thing?
Can hope keep me from accepting the present?
How do I know whether I am really changing?
Living in Alignment Chopping Wood and Carrying Water The Consequence of Being
Why do insights disappear when ordinary life returns?
Inner Coherence Mystical Experience Chopping Wood and Carrying Water Returning Here
What does it mean to live in alignment?
Inner Coherence Living in Alignment The Consequence of Being
How do I know when I am acting against myself?
What changes when I become more aware?
Awareness of Life The Consequence of Being Living in Alignment