There is only one real problem in life, although it shows up in many forms.

The "core problem of life" is a single, fundamental aspect of life that all humans face. It has been described in many different ways over the centuries by many different individuals.

To give a very brief description of the problem, we will use the words of Pulitzer-Prize-winner Ernest Becker:

"Man is literally split in two:
he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness
in that he sticks out of nature with a toweing majesty,
and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet
in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever."

Or Zen teacher Albert Low describes it using different words:

"Inherent in ego
is a contradiction,
and it is from this contradiction that our suffering comes,
and also the suffering we inflict on others.
Because of this contradiction
we are forever restless,
forever on the way
to some resolution
that in its turn
is forever eluding us."

Again, this same underlying message - that man has a kind of "dual nature" - has been described in many different ways by many different thinkers. Such thinkers as . . .