I mean, there is no meaning in nature, it was man who invented it, and often it appeared because of a scarcity, for example, the point is in a beautiful woman, because you are unlikely to find another one as beautiful, right?, or can you find a person who will support you and accept you as you are, like your loved ones? The examples are not the best, but I hope you get the idea.
In addition, I will say that about a year ago I watched the film “The Seventh Seal”, and now sometimes I feel in the place of a character named Antonius Block. I dismissed the inevitable by refraining from suicide as a teenager, thinking I could find the meaning of life, but what was to be expected, nothing worked out. But especially now, how shall I put it… in the age of AI, it is impossible to escape the truth, self-deception no longer works, at least for me personally.
Chess Game with Death:
There is meaning in life. It’s what you make it. The meaning of life is to give life meaning.
I would like to reply with a meme, but I can’t find a suitable one. Although…
Bear VS Man
The new Tekken looks good.
Optimistic nihilism is the way to go. We make our own meaning.
My life has meaning. It has meaning for no other reason than I say it does, and no one gets to decide that for me. I do not purport to speak for your life, or the lives of those I care about, or my cat’s life, or my neighbors, the birds, trees, grass, germs, or any other living thing. I do not assign meaning to society, civilizations large or small, or things that have been built to benefit me. I can only speak for my life. And I say that my life has meaning. Nothing that has happened to me, nothing that has been said, done, built or destroyed, can take that meaning away from my life without my permission.
A life has no meaning in the same way that a blank piece of paper has no meaning. I give that piece of paper meaning by writing, sketching, coloring, folding, tearing…and perhaps ultimately destroying. Now that piece of paper has a unique history imprinted on it. It can be shared, displayed, hidden, or thrown away. But the whole reason I did anything to the paper at all was because it was meaningful in the moment for me to do so.
Sounds like you’re in the Pessimistic Nihilist stage, you just need to process things and then progress yourself to either Absurdist Nihilist or Optimistic Nihilist
Myth of Sisyphus is a great book if you want to lean into the absurdism
I’m glad there isn’t a meaning to life. If there was a meaning, then I’d have to be doing that thing or be failing at existence. If no act matters, then I’m equally valid for doing my goofy nonsense as I am working hard or whatever.
It is a blessing that life has no meaning. You can give it any meaning you want without having to delude yourself from the “right” meaning.
Your life meaning could be charity, attempting to reach the pinnacle of your hobby, teaching and empowering others, success, dismantling tyrrany, competition (like that in sports and other hobbies), creation and building, etc. Find one that you believe in, and help others to find theirs
You can choose multiple, but many is too great of a burden to carry.
I’m an absurdist so I just hope the punchline is good
I’m an absurdist laughing at the fact that there’s probably no punchline coming.
Honestly that would be pretty funny
Just because there is no pre-planned, external meaning doesn’t mean your life has no meaning.
Many people find meaning in family, friends, careers, projects, experiences, or just general enjoyment of life.
The thing that shook me out of the existential crisis of understanding nihilism is that life had as much meaning before I was born as it will after my death.
Or in other words: we are the universe exploring itself - in playful exploration and/or aesthetic creation.
To me that gives license to do something interesting with the short time, resources and attention that I have available. I find experiencing new things or in new combinations fulfilling, as do I to help others make a positive contribution to the human experience (be it through positive societal change or practicing kindness).
Step 1: find your gifts
Step 2: share them with the world
Might I also suggest DMT
Meaning is whatever you want it to be. You have the free will to create your own meaning in your life.
That being said, reading your post, I mean no disrespect, but please seek professional help. This goes beyond “finding your own meaning” and dives into “something is wrong”.
I agree with this.
The general surface level answer to your question is, we have the opportunity to invent our own meaning and purpose in life, and fulfill it the way we wish.
But the real response to your question is, please talk to a professional about this, you need help.
I’ve never even quite understood what it is that people are thinking about when they refer to “the meaning of life.” I mean - I know the definition - I know what the phrase is intended to communicate. I just don’t get what it is that people actually expect.
I don’t think I ever even considered the idea of life having some sort of intrinsic meaning until I was old enough to start getting into philosophy and discovered that not only do people believe that life has some intrinsic meaning, but that it’s such a common belief that there’s a sort of reflexive negative view of anyone who doesn’t share that belief.
In spite of that, I saw and still see no reason to believe that life has intrinsic meaning (either empirically, logically or even psychologically) and more than enough reason to believe that it does not.
Now none of that’s to say that my life is meaningless. It’s stuffed full of meaning. It’s just that all of that meaning is things I’ve found and adopted - none of it’s intrinsic, nor does it need to be.
And I still don’t really understand why anyone believes that it does need to be intrinsic. How is all of the meaning they’re free to find and adopt not enough?
For whatever any of that’s worth…
There’s a song about this, at the end of Life of Brian.
You come from nothing, you’re going back to nothing. What have you lost?
Nothing!
I think everyone goes through this… well, most people, anyway. Such is the burden of intelligent awareness--you know other animals don’t worry about this shit. And, therein lies a clue.
Such is the burden of intelligent awareness–you know other animals don’t worry about this shit. And, therein lies a clue.
I’m not completely sure about this.
The lack of meaning isn’t really a problem unless you make it one
And what if this problem, as a living being, comes to you against your will?
As in you’re bothered by the lack of meaning? Figure out why it’s so important to you to have a purpose, and then choose a purpose for yourself. It’s quite freeing in my opinion, you can’t really mess up your life in a wider philosophical sense. You succeed just by doing things that make you happy (and depending on your morals, don’t make anyone else’s life worse).
The real meaning of life is to reproduce. We are here because some funny molecules have a tendency to replicate themselves, that’s really all there is to it.
You have the choice. Do you be sad and mope about it? Or find something positive to do and have fun?
The choice is relative.
