Why knot

Perhaps the essential question of the philosophers is, "Why am I here?" Or, writ large, "Why are we here?"

This question has many permutations, for example, What is reality? Or, What is life? What is death? And so forth, in ever more specific or esoteric forms.

But for the past few years, my response to the question, "Why am I here?," has been, Why do you ask?

It is an insidious conceit of human beings that we, either individually or as a species, are somehow important. That our self-awareness is ultimately significant. That human life, in and of itself, is paramount. That we are the preeminent whosis in all of the whatsis. Well, other than our own opinion, who says?

Who says? We have gone so far—in our delusion—as to declare that an all-powerful and perfect Divinity, the existence of which we have absolutely no incontrovertible evidence, has created us in its own likeness.
We have declared that God has declared that we are like God.
Ego much?

Let me propose some alternate questions for the philosophers among us: What works? How can we all get along together? How can we improve the quality of life for all of us? But perhaps the ultimate question is, When?

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