I believe one of the greatest limitations of human beings is their inability to step back from the reality they inhabit and question its foundations. From the moment we are born, we learn to interpret the world through structures that existed long before us. Family, education, work, money, success and obligations are presented as natural elements of existence, rather than human constructs that could have been organised differently. Our brains learn to adapt, seek acceptance, satisfy needs and meet expectations. We become so focused on solving everyday problems that we barely have any mental space left to ask whether the way of life we have devoted ourselves to actually makes sense. We do not need anyone to force us to participate. We internalise the rules until they become our own beliefs.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing is that many people only begin to question all of this when time is running out. When illness, old age or the proximity of death make it clear that our years were never unlimited, priorities change and many things that once seemed important lose their meaning. Then a question emerges that should have accompanied us from the beginning: Have I lived the way I truly wanted, or have I simply done what was expected of me? I do not think this is a matter of intelligence, but of conditioning, adaptation and a lack of perspective. We have learned how to prepare ourselves for life, but not necessarily how to question what it means to live. And perhaps that is one of the deepest contradictions of our civilisation.