January 1
THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION
Theme: Lucidity
"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy." — Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
What a way to begin a new year: with the most uncomfortable question imaginable. But Camus isn’t being morbid. He’s being radically honest. Before we ask what career to pursue, what to believe in, or how to spend our time, we must first answer this: Is any of it worth doing at all?
Most of us sleepwalk past this question. We fill our days with distractions, with endless tasks, entertainment, and obligations, never stopping to confront what lies beneath. Camus refuses to let us off that easy. He demands we face the void directly, honestly, without the comforting illusions of ready-made answers.
Here’s the liberation in this stark beginning: once you have genuinely confronted life’s apparent meaninglessness and still chosen to live, everything changes. Your yes to life becomes authentic rather than automatic. Your actions gain weight. You’re no longer merely existing out of habit or fear, but actively choosing existence despite knowing its absurdity.
Today, on the first day of a new year, don’t rush to resolutions and goals. Sit with the deeper question first. Decide, consciously and fully, that life is worth living. Then let that decision inform everything that follows. The most meaningful journeys begin not with enthusiasm, but with honest confrontation.