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:
I really like that poem “Ozymandias”, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The point of it is: no matter what kind of outsized impact you have on the world when you’re alive, eventually no trace of you will remain, and everything you ever were and everything you’ve ever done will be forgotten.
It’s a heavy, depressing message, but I find it to be oddly freeing. If nothing you do will matter in the very long run, then you’re free to do whatever you want. Maybe you decide that you don’t care about the people 25,000 years from now and focus instead on the people in your life right now. Maybe you make it your goal to make their lives better.
You could succumb to depression and fall into a pit of despair and heavy drug use… but if nothing matters, why not spend your time making other people’s lives better instead? It feels good to make other people feel good.
I stopped asking myself what the meaning of life is, and started asking what I want my impact on this earth to be.
I keep coming to the same answer. I want to live a quiet comfortable life with the people I love, and when I die, I want my only legacy on this earth to be memories.
Currently falling way short of that last goal. I make a lot of trash, currently have a conventional house with a lawn, which takes ridiculous resources to maintain. Ultimately, I’d like to build an earthship that can provide food, water, and comfort for me and my wife for the rest of our lives. I want to own things that care for me, instead of being owned by things I need to care for.
i decided to live vicariously through trump and act like i’m winning all the time regardless of reality, like my white trash brethren
life is fun
Instead of making a post about it. I suggest you seek professional help.
Is that chess scene from The Seventh Seal? Always enjoyed seeing that clip pop up.
In terms of finding meaning; try out as many hobbies and practical skills as you can. When you find one that makes you lose track of time, run with it.
Make it your goal to improve that skill as far as you can, and allow that to provide you a meaning to the regular day to day life.
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 try to reason my way into uncertainty that we dont know if a meaning exists, maybe it does, we dont know for sure anything, no evidence either way, if u have to believe something, believe something that makes u happy.
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
there is no meaning to life without context. Trying to find “meaning” is like walking through the forest blind. you give meaning to your life.
when I say, “the roses are beautiful,” every person provides their own meaning to what that entails. some think of red roses some yellow, others white. then the beauty is only provided by the context of the audience based entirely on their subjective associations of beauty.
the meaning of life is what you make of it, since you are your own audience.
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.
Optimistic nihilism is the way to go. We make our own meaning.
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).
