Is Life really Meaningless?
Is human existence really meaningless and pointless?
This is one of those questions that you can make as complicated as possible or answer in a very simple way.
I’ve spent years thinking about the answer to this particular question, but I feel like I’ve always known the answer.
At least, in my version. It’s really not complicated at all, although many people may find it sad.
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Okay, in my opinion, life is truly what you make it.
It’s true that we have rules and restrictions that can potentially limit what we can do in life, depending on what we really want to do, but in general, many people don’t really struggle what about achieving their dreams if they do so. Be willing to work a little hard and compromise from time to time.
In other words, if you have dreams and ambitions and work hard to achieve your goals, you will have purpose and you will be less likely to feel like your life is meaningless.
But what if your dreams aren’t enough to satisfy you?
What if you had more dreams?
Or maybe you don’t have a dream?
Now what?
This is where we enter the nothingness.
This is where I often go.
If you don’t have dreams or ambitions or you don’t think dreams or ambitions are enough to satisfy your need for meaning and purpose, the next step is to look at life more philosophically than before.
while some people choose to look for answers in religion.
I choose to face the harsh truth.
If life is what we make it, what if we don’t make it?
Is life only meaningful if we work hard every day until we die?
I guess workaholics like to be busy, but what about the rest of us?
What about those of us who live for the next paycheck and exist just to survive?
Or what about those who work, work every chance they get, just to fill their lives with material possessions/useless things?
Does life lose its meaning when they have bought all the things they want or will life only have meaning when they have to save a lot of things to buy?
For me, work is always meaningful if you feel you are making a valuable contribution to society. And to do that, you have to be genuinely interested in making a valuable contribution to society. Otherwise, you will feel like a slave.
That said, it only makes me feel meaningful in the eyes of others.
What about my own meaningfulness? What is the point of contributing to society if I don’t get personal pleasure from it?
I suppose we’ve heard something about solidarity and it is easier to appreciate the fruits of our common labor when we stop to think that life would be infinitely worse if there is no shops or hospitals, etc.
But for me, work must also be fun for me to feel it has meaning in my life. And as most of us probably know, very few people have a job they truly love. Those are the people who start their own business or become starving artists or something.
Both options carry huge risks and often have little chance of success due to fierce competition in the job market. So, if you’re someone with no dreams or ambitions and you spend every day working a job you don’t enjoy to pay the bills and rent and basically just exist to survive.
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Where do you find your meaning?
Are you in a relationship and have children? Of course, lots of people do that, it’s definitely something that will keep you busy!
But what if you don’t care? Or maybe you can’t find someone who wants to spend their life with you? What then?
What I’m trying to do here is eliminate ALL the things that people typically want and strive for. If we eliminate all our dreams, ambitions, material possessions, career goals, homes, children and pets… what is left?
Is there really any objective meaning to anything once we strip away all superficial and biological goals?
Aren’t we all just a busy little hamsters constantly running around the wheel to distract ourselves from the meaninglessness of life?
If there is an objective reason why we are here; It seems that there is something that unites us all and that we all have in common the desire to pass on our genes and ensure, to the best of our ability, that life continues to exist.
Nonstop.
But why do we do this?
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I never understood it.
Watch all the nature documentaries you can find. What do you see?
Billions of animals make love, fight, feed and fart. That’s it.
That’s all they do.
And that’s all we do, too, if we remove all the surface elements.
So obviously that’s why we’re here, right?
Everything else we do is just a byproduct of our intelligence.
We are constantly creating, innovating, developing and improving things, because otherwise the perception of the boredom of life would drive us all crazy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some people really have no interest in participating in the rat race, but they do it anyway, just to overwhelm their brains with the boredom of life to the point where they have no energy left or will to participate. Understand how boring their life is!
Anyway, let’s strip away all the everyday trappings of life and what are we left with?
God? No, we don’t. Or, if we do, we have no way of proving that God exists, so we cannot claim to know what God might want us to do.
Are tiny green space aliens controlling every living cell on Earth from a control center several light years away? Did they create life on Earth? Are they people who want life to exist for the sole purpose of survival? Or maybe the answer will be given by the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE?
No, not God.
I mean the being came first and created God.
Maybe we all live in black holes? Maybe black holes are God’s asshole? Or even the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE bastard?
I always wanted to be a divine cancer.
Why?
Well, it may not be a very glamorous job, but at least it has a purpose.
I’m being a hater to the idiot who created the universe and thought it was a good idea to do so.
But no. I really don’t believe I’m a divine cancer.
I don’t think I’m anything, in fact.
I think the only way I’m going to find a reason to live is to fool myself into thinking I’m some sexy bastard who deserves more than I do.
Otherwise, I will always struggle to find the motivation to want things.
Unfortunately, I have no illusions so I am forced to sit here and wait for life points to magically appear before my eyes.
And if that’s the case, I’ll be the first person in history to have the privilege of knowing why they screwed up something that existed.
And if that happens I’ll probably get so fat that I’ll become a bastard who deserves more than I do. And then, perhaps, I can finally join the rat race and stop worrying about life’s purpose.
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The short answer to your question: No one knows shit.
If you feel life has meaning then good for you.
If not, join the club.