All human beings, at one time or another in their lives have asked themselves these fundamental questions. This failure can be traced directly to their inability to provide a validating mechanism for people to independently corroborate these authorities' respective answers to such essential questions. Now, at least, you will have a choice.
Human beings are easily influenced by the aura of authority, be it spiritual or secular.
Their mistake has been to believe that these authorities, through either sacred texts or scientific discoveries, would hand them down the answers easily, without effort on their part, on a silver platter. In spite of what they have been taught, or what they expect, people must understand that such answers cannot be obtained in the physical world. The answers can be found only in another dimension of existence, one that is not physical. Human beings are the ones, by themselves, who will have to make the effort and learn how to access that environment. They have been unable to do so and, as a result, the questions have remained unanswered.