the philosophical methodology

if there is a phrase that i hate the most in the english language, it would undoubtedly be "problem solver".

look closer, and you'll realize the most important step to solving a problem is not "how do i solve this problem?" but "what is the problem?" we don't teach our kids to have the gut to question the question and to point out the flaws that's intrinsically bound to the question itself.

in philosophy, you don't try to find the ultimate answer, you learn to ask better questions.

and when you've asked enough questions and tried to answer them long enough, you'll realize this case that you've led yourself into, where you never feel at peace with yourself, where everything around you is a question.

and hopefully, one day, you'll realize that there was never a need to find an answer, because there was no question at all.

I think the real meaning of life doesn't come from asking questions and then finding them, but realizing that wow this whole thing is a mess, a pitfall, an illusion that the to-do and self-help cultures have hardwired us into thinking. freedom comes from realizing that there was never a question.

why bother finding the solution.

when there was never a problem?

another analogy and allusion that i like to use towards this is "the tap".

in a world flooded with water,

smart men searched for the bucket,

but wise men looked for the tap.

it's easy to praise the wise men and frown upon the smart men. however, without the smart men, the wise men cannot exist. the thing about the primary problem is you never solve them by themselves, but through solving secondary problems. if we focus on looking for the tap, the whole human race would die drowned . however, there is no one tap, but the tap exist within all of us and we are the only people who can turn them off by learning about ourselves.

in this analysis, if you live a meaningful life, it's when you larn how to control your tap and handle your problems, and also helping fetching out the water so that we don't die drowining.

truth is, you cannot help other people turn off their taps, since wisdom cannot be imparted. they'll have to learn by themselves, this is also the reason why self-help books don't work. you don't write out life secrets and expects people to have that. wisdom is different from knowledge.