The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said that those who don't question the contingency of their existence and the world's existence are "mentally deficient."

While I don't totally agree with this, I do think that those who ponder their own existence often tend to be more intellectually inclined.

But philosophizing about "why we exist" doesn't imbue anything inherently. That question coupled with curiosity is a recipe for a fun intellectual journey.

In the trenches of this journey, one inevitably confronts their own mortality. Those who ponder mortality aren't just intellectual in nature but often ambitious.

The awareness of life's finite nature can serve as a powerful catalyst for action. This finitude is even more pressing when your expiration date is known to you.

Take Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS in 1963 -- he was 21. On average, people diagnosed with ALS died within ~14 months, few survived more than a handful of years.

Yet, his "impending mortality sharpened his ambition." (The Impossible Man | Hawking and Penrose).

Hawking went on to revolutionize our understanding of black holes through his discovery of Hawking radiation and the Hawking area theorem, while also contributing to quantum cosmology, time travel and writing a bestseller "A Brief History of Time."

However, Hawking defied both odds; he died in 2018 at the age of 76 -- a mere 55 years after his diagnosis.

Questioning our existence is a purely intellectual exercise -- we can't prove any of it empirically (yet) and it doesn't have any practical use.

On the other hand, recognizing our mortality is powerful and pragmatic. It can inspire us to raise our ambition and urgency to get more done in our finite lifetimes.