The Unanswerable Questions

Do we have free will? Is there a God? Is there an afterlife? Is there a Heaven or Hell in this afterlife? How do I go to Heaven instead of Hell? Do I have to please the God(s)? These are just some of the ultimately unanswerable questions that many religions try to answer.

My answer to all of these questions is a simple one: who cares?

One of my favorite quotes is often attribute to the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, which reads as this:

Life a good life.

If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.

If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them.

If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.

This life is the life you are living right now. Instead of wasting your time and potential life experiences worrying about all these unanswerable questions, you should focus on making the life you have been given right now the best that you can. Buddha taught that a great way to do that is to follow the 4 Noble Truths and the 8-Fold Path.