"At the side of the everlasting why, is a yes, and a yes, and a yes"

E. M. Forster’s words evoke the perpetual struggle of human beings with the mysteries and uncertainties of existence. The phrase “the everlasting why” signifies the unending questions that shape human consciousness, why we are here, what our lives mean, why suffering exists, and the countless other enigmas that have troubled philosophers, poets, and everyday people alike. These questions may never have satisfactory or final answers, remaining eternal companions to the curious mind.

Yet, beside this ceaseless inquiry stands something else, affirmation. The repeated yeses are acts of acceptance, of engagement, of saying “yes” to life in the face of uncertainty. They suggest a response to the world that does not dissolve into despair or skepticism but instead turns bravely and lovingly toward experience. Where rational inquiry alone may yield ambiguity or even anxiety, affirmation provides consolation and resolve. The yeses represent the moments where, despite not having answers, a person accepts life’s invitation to participate, to love, to create, and to hope. They embody a kind of faith, not religious faith, necessarily, but a faith in life’s value and possibilities despite its inscrutability.

There is profound wisdom in the acknowledgment that alongside doubt and puzzlement, alongside the human yearning for ultimate explanations, there coexists a simple power in the act of affirmation. To love without full understanding, to persevere despite confusion, to act ethically without certainty, all these are rendered possible by the yes beside the why. Forster’s insight lies in recognizing that questioning is intrinsic to being fully alive, but so too is the capacity to embrace, to commit, and to assent to the adventure of living, again and again. In a world of perpetual mystery, it is in the repeated yeses that one finds joy, meaning, and courage.