In the movie Silence of the Lambs (1991), Dr. Hannibal Lecter points out to Clarice that you need to ask yourself questions at every step you take to read and analyze each case, in order to clarify the state of your mind.
Therefore, I have made a list of questions that you need to ask yourself in order to illuminate your existential status. This list is based on the works of various writers, including Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Kierkegaard, Camus, Frankl, and Yalom.
To start:
1- Am I living my life, or someone else’s version of it?
2- If I had to live this day over and over forever (Nietzsche’s “eternal recurrence”), would I be content with it?
3- What deep potential or passion in me remains unmet or suppressed?
4- What masks am I wearing to fit in or be accepted?
5- What personal values would I die for — and therefore, should live for?
1: Meaning & Purpose
- What gives my life meaning — even on difficult days?
- What am I living for right now?
- What is life asking of me at this moment?
- If I lost everything I rely on for identity, what would be left?
- Is the way I’m living aligned with what I truly care about?
- What moments have felt most real or significant to me?
- What do I want my life to stand for?
- Where am I investing energy without feeling connected?
2: Freedom & Responsibility
- Where am I blaming others instead of choosing differently?
- What choices am I avoiding right now?
- In what areas of life do I feel stuck — and why might I be keeping myself there?
- Am I free, or am I simply reacting to others’ expectations?
- How do I use distraction to escape my own freedom?
- What would I do if I stopped fearing failure?
- If no one was watching, what would I choose?
3: Isolation & Connection
- Who truly sees me?
- Where in my life do I feel most alone?
- Do I fear being alone — or being with others in a real way?
- What part of me do I hide from people I care about?
- What kind of connection am I yearning for?
- When was the last time I felt truly understood?
- What am I asking others to give me that I won’t give myself?
4: Time, Death & Mortality
- If I only had one year to live, how would I spend it?
- What am I postponing for a future that may never come?
- What would it mean to live as if life were urgent and precious?
- What unfinished business would I want to resolve before I die?
- Do I fear death — or not having lived fully?
- Am I dying a little each day through inauthentic choices?
- How do I cope with the knowledge that everything I love will one day be gone?
5: Authenticity & Selfhood
- Where in my life am I not being honest with myself?
- What do I pretend to care about — but don’t?
- What version of myself am I performing for others?
- Who would I be if I weren’t trying to prove anything?
- What inner voice have I silenced in order to fit in?
- What am I afraid people would see if I stopped pretending?
- When do I feel most like me?
6: Will, Passion, and Possibility
- What is trying to come alive in me right now?
- What dream have I buried because it seemed impractical?
- What part of me is starving to be expressed?
- Where am I choosing safety over vitality?
- How much of my potential am I actually using?
- What would I risk for something I deeply believe in?
- If I stopped shrinking, what might I become?
7: Paradox & Ambivalence
- What do I love and fear at the same time?
- What do I avoid because it reveals a contradiction in me?
- Can I allow myself to not know — to live in uncertainty?
- Where in my life am I most divided — and what lives in that tension?
- What does it mean to have both freedom and limits?
You can use these questions as a self-reflection tool.
