99

I have a bunch of questions about a lot of things. I also have a few answers to some of these questions. The only problem is some of the answers don’t exactly make sense. In that case, are these answers therefore really answers?

It brings to mind the Sherlock Holmes/Sir Arthur Conan Doyle quote:

When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

Well there we go.

It is possible I am therefore wasting too much time on a self imposed quest for my holy grail. The big answers to the big questions. Maybe it is high time to simply chill out and go with the flow.

Could it be I would be better off taking a leaf (are you enjoying this metaphor overload?) from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie? Those who think answers to the big questions could not possibly be found in the pages of a science fiction novel ought to think again.

One of the underlying themes of Hitchhikers was in fact a quest, started millions of years earlier, to find the answer to the ultimate question. The answer to everything. The key to Life, the Universe, and Everything. A purpose built computer, named Deep Thought, was given the task of calculating this… ultimate answer.

Which was computed to be 42. And when you think about it, it is as good as answer as any really.

But when the computer realised that people were not happy with the ultimate answer it had calculated, it asked them if they knew what the ultimate question actually was.

That could well explain why none of my answers seem to make sense. That’s because the questions probably don’t either. In fact they could, in reality, be inconsequential. Posed as a way of evading their own answers. Am I making sense?

As the charecters of Hitchhiker’s philosophized over the big questions of life, they realised that trying to find answers to certain (big) questions was pointless. They came to the conclusion that it was just better to live and enjoy, rather than worry about mysteries they may never solve.

Ah, life’s unanswered questions. Better to drink to them, than try and nut them out.

By the way 99 is not the ultimate answer I’ve devised for my ultimate questions. It is in fact the title of a song written by a band called Toto years ago. Some of their stuff wasn’t too bad for a bunch of non-philosophizing session musicians.

So, answers that don’t make sense, or questions that don’t?