Lately I have been thinking about this question. Why does one do something rather than nothing? Because technically every person on earth could just stop doing anything and they would all die in a short amount of time. You do not drink water and you die after a few days or maybe you die sooner for some other reason. Then why are people not doing that?
Why question might seem like an irrelevant question, the argument defending that would be "Why questions are really how questions and there is no why. There either is something or there is not something and no inbetween or outside. There are events and these events are causally linked, as far as we know, and they can be explained by their relation to each other and there is nothing else to it.". I generally agree with that kind of argumentation but there are some caveats I would add. All that might be true but we still have the why question in our minds. Maybe not exactly the term "Why?" but we have something along those lines. We still look for something it seems like, because sometimes merely doing something for the sake of doing it does not feel enough. We look for reasons why we should do it. One might go through series of questions in their head, about school for example: "Why do I go to school? To get a job. Why do I need a job? To make money. Why do I need money? To survive. Why do I need to survive? Ehm...". Lines of questioning might be different but the end result will likely be same for everybody. A big Ehmm.
That ehm can be countered by enjoyment. For example, you might say "I am going to school because I enjoy it and I don't need any other reason than that." That would be my reasoning for activities as well. I find it works well, but still there are some counter arguments. First of all, what are you gonna do if you don't enjoy the thing anymore. Are you gonna abandon doing it or are you going to keep going? If you are gonna keep going, why? You end with the same ehm. In that case some arguments like "Well, it will be beneficial for me in future" or "I am going to enjoy the result" or "I am not enjoying it now, but I set myself up so that I will enjoy the same activity in future since I get better at it" would be somewhat of reliefs. However they are still not going to answer the ultimate why, whatever that might mean.
In the end, in my opinion, If you are looking for the ultimate why, I don't think you will find it. Because everything will end, universe will stop existing and whatever you are doing now might not be all that relevant in far enough future.I don't know that for sure, there might be some reason why It matters, I don't know, maybe god will reward you or new universe will begin that is better thanks to all the useful deeds you have done in the old one. You can add more, these are the two I could think of now. However even with all that, You will still not be there to experience it personally. I guess then you could say I don't need to experience it, I will be one with the universe and its betterment is good for me. Still there will be no you and it will be like before you were born. Did you feel the universe before you were born? No, you were not there. Potential of you might be there but you don't know if you would become reality or not.
I don't mean to induce existential anxiety in anyone, but I feel like this why question is so important even when it is so irrelevant.Therefore I wanted to write about it. It might not be going anywhere but hey, who is?
