The Questions

In a study such as this one, it’s necessary to define one’s objectives as clearly as possible. So these are the questions I want answers to. There is an element of incongruity in this, however. One of the premises of this book is that no human is capable of finding definitive answers to these questions or even of fully understanding them if he or she did.

But I have to ask anyway:

1. What is the reality in which humans find themselves, and what are its essential features? How does our perception of reality restrict our understanding of it?

2. How did consciousness come to be, what seem to be its main characteristics, and what have been the consequences of its emergence?

3. What is a human? How have humans interacted with each other? Why have humans interacted with each other in the ways that they have?

4.  How have humans attempted to understand the reality in which they find themselves, and how have they acted on what they believed to be their understanding?

5. What are the variables that have affected or are affecting human history, and in what ways do they seem to interact with each other?

6. Why has human history taken so many unexpected turns? Why have human affairs generally been in disarray? Why has it been impossible to predict the direction of human affairs? Why do humans so often find themselves overwhelmed by the world?

7.  What might the human prospect be, and what, ultimately, is our place in the Universe?