Stanley Kubrick, film director: “The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile, but that it is indifferent”

Stanley Kubrick was not only one of the most influential filmmakers of the twentieth century, but also someone who thought deeply about the human condition. In 1968, shortly after the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey, he gave an extensive interview to Playboy in which he surprised readers with a striking reflection: “The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile, but that it is indifferent.”

This statement arose from a question about his fear of flying, which gradually turned into a broader discussion about mortality. Addressing the topic, Kubrick acknowledged that, in his view, the human ability to imagine one’s own death creates a psychological tension that no other animal experiences.

In that same interview, he explained that if human beings were to fully and clearly confront their “terrifying insignificance and aloneness in the cosmos,” they might fall into madness or into a deep sense of futility. “Why, he might ask himself, should he bother to write a great symphony, or strive to make a living, or even to love another, when he is no more than a momentary microbe on a dust mote whirling through the unimaginable immensity of space?” he asked.

Each of us must create our own light

Kubrick noted that for centuries religions offered comfort in the face of this existential anxiety. However, he warned that in a society where faith was steadily losing ground, people were being left without that symbolic support. “This shattering recognition of our mortality is at the root of far more mental illness than I suspect even psychiatrists are aware,” he argued in the interview.

Yet rather than settling into a nihilistic perspective, his reflection went further. When asked whether a life that appears to lack purpose is worth living, he answered that this very absence of meaning is what compels human beings to create it. The loss of childhood innocence, marked by the discovery of death and suffering, can lead, if overcome, to a more mature and resilient sense of purpose.

Kubrick concluded the discussion with another reflection that left the reporter speechless: “If we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”

At a time when science continues to expand our understanding of space and confirms our smallness within it, Kubrick’s idea feels clearer than ever. The universe may be immense and silent, but that does not prevent each person from generating their own light within that vast darkness.

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