The moment a man begins to question the meaning and value of life, he is sick, since objectively, neither exist. Questions imply the presence of an underlying problem. However, the act of questioning in itself is merely symptomatic, not problematic. The questioning of nonexistent things points to an even more troubling condition: life is inherently valueless and meaningless. To question the empiricism of these nonexistent aspects of one’s life is a symptom of a deeper underlying disease.
Questioning is not a sickness in itself. It is a symptom of the sickness, and somewhat paradoxically, part of the cure. When someone develops a common illness such as the flu, it is common to have a fever. The fever itself is not the illness. Rather it indicates that the body is malfunctioning, and tries to combat the sickness by raising the temperature. To question what one has never before questioned, is to become aware of a flaw. Questioning reveals the flaw in its entirety and allows for a proper solution to be administered. During Kierkegaard’s transitions, the aesthetic begins to question his lifestyle because he no longer derives any pleasure from it. Through the process of systematic questioning, the aesthetic reasons that his lack of pleasure stems from his lack of ethics, and so becomes an ethical person. Symptoms do not arise without an underlying cause, similarly, healthy men do not question what does not exist.
'Value,' defined by the North American Encarta Dictionary, is “the worth, importance, or usefulness of something to somebody.” This cannot be ascribed to life since it is exhaustible and non-transferable. Value exists only in things that are permanent, and if temporary, can be exchanged for something of equal or greater value. Diamonds are forever; their permanence renders them their value since they can be transported through time and space without diminishing. Individual lives are born, grow, shrink, and then die. It cannot sustain itself without damage as it moves through space and time. Oil renders its value from the energy released when it is consumed. When life is consumed, it ceases to exist. All value exists because of a valuer who attributes value to an object. Value does not exist independently of those who value it. Although the consumption of life can be of value to one man, the consumption of his own life is without value to him. The living person assigns value to many objects, actions, and situations. These things are only valuable within the lifespan of a valuer. A life in its entirety has no objective value (assuming that the valuer and the possessor of the life in question are one and the same). It is neither everlasting, nor can it be exchanged for something else, since it would rob the valuer of his life. If the valuer has no life, there is no one to assign the object in question value. Therefore life is lacking in value. Consequently questioning the value of life is like questioning a ghost: insane.
Life is also devoid of meaning. “The meaning of life” is a mere nonsensical string of words. Meaning exists in those things that have a message to convey. Since life is a result of natural processes, there is no one trying to communicate, depriving life of meaning. Even if life is indeed a result of a god(s): life could have any one of an infinite number of meanings. Trying to decipher that meaning would be like a pixel trying to imagine the image to which it belongs. Furthermore, by nature, every message is bound to be interpreted differently by every observer and every perspective. Living is a passive act where a person performs actions in reaction to his environment, never unstimulated. Actions have no objective meaning, only transient idiosyncratic "purposes," given by individual interpretation. The meaning of an action, even an active purposeful action, is completely relative. By nature, every message is bound to be interpreted differently by every observer and every perspective. As a result, the meaning of life, or anything for that matter, is entirely subjective. For these reasons, questioning the meaning of life is questioning something which either does not exist or is relative, which in each case, is clearly irrational.
Notwithstanding the non-existence of meaning and the relativity of the value of life, questioning it is still cause for concern. When an object is working properly, that is, fulfilling its purpose without flaw, it is not self aware. Consciousness becomes aware of itself by questioning the ideas it operates on. According to Alan Watts, “when the eye is fulfilling its purpose, it is not aware of itself, it does not see itself. When the eye sees itself, it is faulty; it has developed cataracts or glaucoma. When the ear hears itself, [the] ringing, it is defective.” Similarly, the mind becomes aware of its operations when they are not being carried out properly. “When someone thinks, the stream of thought flows”, but “when you begin to think about thinking, it gets in the way [of thinking]”. One only begins to think about thinking if the stream of thought is not fulfilling its purpose. Watts calls this a “blocking mechanism”. When a man is healthy, he lives without noticing. When he begins to question, “[he] gets in the way of living” since the questions block the normal 'flow' of life. When a lifestyle works, its possessor has no reason to question. Most people’s lifestyles and worldviews are based on a philosophy which incorporates some implicit unobjective meaning and value to life. These theories of life, however intangible, allow people to exist without difficulty. One only begins to question life if it ceases to work. One will only begin to question the value and meaning of life if his implicit existing notions of value and meaning no longer fit his desires. When one is no longer fulfilling his desires, he is no longer being reinforced, and in turn, becomes depressed. This depression is the real sickness.
A sickness is the abnormal operation of a normal function. Normally, humans do not question the basic ideals on which they operate. Questioning, although not a sickness, is a symptom of one, especially when nonexistent things are being questioned. Through the process of thought, the thinker becomes aware of all that has been said above and stops questioning.
