Hypothetical questions give you an opportunity to explore choices that you’d never get the chance to make in reality. “If you only had one day…” “If you could choose one person…” “If you went back in time…”
Today, I’d like to add another hypothetical question to the library. It contains a binary choice that I guarantee you’ll never have to actually make. It’s concerned with two attributes of life that humanity, as a whole, cannot stop thinking about; happiness and meaning. And keep in mind that there’s no middle ground here. You can’t hedge and opt for some invisible third option, or find a loophole that allows you to dance around the choice you have to make. Here’s the question:
Consider the following options:
1) A life with no meaning, but great happiness.
2) A life with no happiness, but great meaning.
Which would you choose, and why?
Swell & Cut 