100+ Questions That Will Make You Think Deeper
Published October 25, 2022
Most of us would rather electrocute ourselves than spend time in our own thoughts. And no, that’s not a wild claim. A study in 2014 really did find that up to 67% of their participants opt to give themselves electric shocks rather than spend several minutes in peaceful contemplation.
Though unfortunate, it’s not exactly surprising. As humans, most of us are hardwired to avoid confrontations, especially if it’s against ourselves. Mostly because spending time in our own thoughts can be scary. There’s no telling what we’ll discover about ourselves and our reality.
But if we just give ourselves a chance to really connect with our innermost thoughts, you’ll be surprised instead of scared. Sometimes, the only way to truly know ourselves is to confront our thoughts and ask ourselves questions that will make us question everything we’ve ever known. It not only improves our self-awareness but also builds mindfulness.
To help you start your journey of self-discovery, here are some questions that will make you think deeper about life, yourself, and the world we live in.
Thought Provoking Questions About Life
- What is the meaning of life?
- Why do we exist?
- What differentiates living from existing?
- Why do we need to know the meaning of life?
- What is worse, failing or never trying?
- If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
- Why do we dream?
- What is the difference between innocence and ignorance?
- Can there be happiness without sadness? Pleasure without pain? Peace without war?
- Where do thoughts come from?
- Are humans inherently good or evil?
- Why is life so strange and mysterious?
- How does karma play a role in life?
- What’s more essential to humanity: emotion or reason?
- Is it wrong if your only goal in life is to live simply?
- If everyone has to die, why do most people fear death?
- How should we measure our lives? In years? In moments? In accomplishments? Something else?
- Is it easier to hate or to love? Why?
- What’s more important: doing the right thing or doing things right?
- Is suffering necessary to existence?
- What is freedom? Is it doing what you want or having the option to?
Questions That Will Make You Think About Yourself
- Would you break the law to save a loved one?
- When you are in your twilight years, what will matter most to you?
- What’s holding you back from achieving your dream?
- Have you done anything that will leave a mark on other people?
- What do you have that you’re thankful for?
- When was the last time you tried something new?
- If you can have one superpower, what would it be and why?
- Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
- What’s the one thing you regret the most?
- What childhood memory do you cherish the most?
- If you have the chance to go back in time and change something, what would it be?
- What do you love most about yourself?
- What do you imagine yourself doing 10 or 20 years from now?
- What’s the one thing that you cannot live without?
- If you didn’t know your age, how old would you think you’d be?
- If you restart your life from scratch, would you end up in the same place where you are today?
- If you could have coffee with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
- If you found out the world was ending in a year, how would you spend your time?
- If you could choose to be any animal, what animal would you choose to be?
- What is the most life-changing decision you’ve ever made on a whim?
- How do other people see you?
- Do you judge yourself by the same standards that you judge others? If not, are you harsher or more lenient?
- Are you settling or just accepting things as they are?
- Have you helped someone else recently?
- What’s the most valuable lesson you learned out of life?
Questions That May Never Have an Answer
- Is there anything that’s perfect?
- Who decides what the “right” thing is?
- What shape is the sky?
- Who knew what time it was when the first clock was made?
- Did we create math or did we discover it?
- Do you think you’d like living underwater if you suddenly became a mermaid, or would it be too scary?
- Is there really life after death?
- Where do we go after we die?
- Where do our thoughts go after we’re done thinking of them?
- Does knowing the future change its outcome?
- Why do we find beautiful things beautiful?
- Do animals have souls?
- If you never learned to speak a language, how would your thoughts appear in your mind?
- Are soulmates real?
- Are heaven and hell real?
Funny Questions That Will Provoke Your Thoughts
- What came first, the chicken or the egg?
- If two mind readers read each other’s minds at the same time, whose mind are they reading?
- What if aliens invade our planet and they’re really hot?
- If you were a ghost, what location do you think you would haunt?
- What do animals dream about?
- Why do your lips don’t touch when you say “touch” and do touch when you say “separate”?
- Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?
- What was the first person to milk a cow trying to do? Why was their next step to drink it?
- If something is both new and improved, what was it improving on?
- If a zombie is bitten by a vampire, does the vampire become a zombie or vice versa?
- Does a cyclops blink or wink?
Questions That Will Make You Question Reality
- Why does the line you’re in always move the slowest?
- Do you own your things or do your things own you?
- Do you “work to live” or “live to work”?
- How do you know your memories are true? Does it matter either way?
- Do people possess souls and if so, where are they in the body?
- What if there’s a parallel universe and there’s another you in it?
- Is there such a thing as knowledge if everything we know is subject to debate?
- Given that a person does not choose to be born, is free will simply an illusion?
- Is there any greater and higher intelligence than humans?
- What does each person in the world think of at this very moment?
- When you die, how will you know that you are dead?
- A day can seem to drag or a day can go by quickly. So is time real?
- Why do we remember things as happier than they were?
- If anything is possible, then how do you determine what’s worth trying?
Questions That Would Stop You In Your Tracks
- If you were deaf, what language would you think in?
- If the moon has earthquakes, are they called moonquakes?
- If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?
- Can you cry underwater?
- What if sleep is just a free trial of death?
- Is money really the root of all evil or is it the desire for more money?
- Is a person ever truly evil? If so, are they born that way?
- Is it right to sacrifice the lives of a few to save the lives of a thousand others?
- If past lives are real, why is the human population increasing?
- Are we the source of our own problems?
- Is there a ‘before’ the universe? If so, what did it look like?
- If you met God, would you believe it was him/her?
- If you knew your destiny, would you try and change it?
- If everything is possible, could it be possible for something to be impossible?
- What did the first person to discover fire thought about?
- Do good and evil exist outside of the human construction of them?
- Does your pet think about you when you aren’t around?
They say that there are questions better left unanswered. That might be true in certain circumstances. But sometimes, asking ourselves difficult and thought-provoking questions is so much better than going through life in blissful ignorance.
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About The Author
Judy Ponio is a professional writer and devoted Christian. She has a passion for writing about topics related to morality and helping the poor and homeless. She is the lead author for the Our Father’s House Soup Kitchen blog.
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