We spend our days bound by endless obligations. Yet, even with loneliness, failed relationships, and soul-draining work, people still manage to catch a glimpse of happiness. Why?
Why does there need to be a point?
IIRC, the nihilist position is that there is no point, and the way I’ve chosen to interpret that is that it means we are free to personally define the point at any time, and for any length of time, as we please. The pointlessness lets us custom design life to fit our needs and desires, if we can minimize getting caught up in “you should do this and be that” external mentalities that may be incompatible with our natures. This seems like one of many correct paths to life satisfaction.
Of course, part of the battle is discovering what’s in your(you in general not you specifically) nature to do and be, and then having the courage to see it through no matter what influences around you are saying or doing that may contradict it. The other part being unlearning incompatible mindsets that may have been fed into your mind when you were younger; authority figures anywhere in, and in any stage of, life are in dangerous positions to cause long term harm to impressionable, trusting minds, which is why I personally focus more on the “figure” and less on the “authority” part of “authority figure” when I’m dealing with people in those positions.
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it” - Aristotle or whoever actually said it.
Absurdism > Nihilism
You can either let the fact that nothing matters trap you, or you can allow it to free you.
From what i’ve observed, people deal with “there’s no higher power” differently.
For some people, that i call right-wing, or authoritarian, having some higher power that tells them what to do, is the meaning of life. If they lose that something, then they become depressed and stop living, in any sense, a joyful life.
On the other hand, there are people, which i am comfortable to call left-wing, or hippies, or communitarian, who don’t need that higher power to tell them what to do, in fact, it rather obstructs them. They are joyful even in the absence of a higher, guiding power, because they can find their own meaning in life.
IMO the need for a higher authority is both because of fear of death, and to be lazy and not think about what is right and wrong. So either excuse yourself (ex. catolicism, ask oardon from god not the victim) or just believe “your” religion gives you the right to do as you please.
So stop living in fear and embrace the absurd that we, simple 100 years tops organic blobs live in a billion years universe.
There is no point, we don’t exist for a reason, we’re just a thing that happened in the universe by random chance.
That’s not an inherently bad thing though, heck, the concept of “bad” isn’t even “real”, it’s just an invention we came up with.
But I digress. We must find out own purpose and meaning in life, it won’t be handed to us. Think of the journey as a fun ride with no rules, there are no gods, the universe doesn’t judge you, you are unique and weird and amazing and can interact with the universe in ways no gigantic star or powerful black hole ever could.
The journey wasn’t taken from you just because there is no destination
Literally a theme in the video game Journey.
There’s nothing after this, so make the most of what you get. Try leave your corner of the world a slightly better place then when you were born.
Ngl this type of post on reddit used to make me depresssed as a kid and id make them too, dont want to see them, theres no point in thinking about this thats why ppl either dont or spend all their time religious
Because you dont know jack shit no one does, might as well wait til the longest possible length to figure out the unknown
The meaning of life is to search for the meaning of life.
It’s the everyday drudgery, miseries and annoyances that make the good times worthwhile. Just like you never appreciate the sun more than in a place that gets very little of it.
I currently live in a country that enjoys a very high standard of living and where people really do enjoy the good life. Yet weirdly enough, a lot of the locals are depressed and keep complaining. Why? Because they don’t realize what they have, because it’s their everyday normal.
As for what’s the point of living, if you don’t want to fall into the easy fallacies of religion, I suggest you simply enjoy your life while you can. You were born with a finite number of hours on this dirtball and they’re ticking away, so make sure you spend as many as you can with your loved ones having a good time. Because when the clock stops ticking, it’s over.
If there’s no point, why not have fun?
If nothing we do matters, the only thing that matters is what we do.
Life sucks, the world is a bad place. Leave it just a little bit better than you found it and you’ve lived life’s purpose in my book. We are generational garbage collectors, picking up the pieces of societal trash our forebearers left behind. So do your part. Pick up the trash. Leave the world just a little bit better than you found it.
Genuinely thanks for that first line. I’ve held that idea for a long time without the correct words for it to explain how I feel to other people.
I feel like it also compliments the philosophy of “why not?” As in, “if nothing we do matters, why not be kind? Why not love people? Why not help people present and future?” If good and evil are equal utility, why not be a good person?
Its like running a marathon: you do it for the journey, not for the medal at the end.
(Disclaimer: you do it for the medal. But you would do it anyway, even if there is no medal, because its the journey that makes it worthwhile)
There is no inherent goal or point in life. You get to decide. You get to give your life meaning.
It can be hard. Sometimes, material conditions like poverty, working conditions or social pressure make it hard to find meaning. Sometimes, you can loose the meaning, like when you loose a loved one. A good society should help empower all people to give themselves meaning. Sadly this is not the direction many countries are taking nowadays.
But despite everything: You are ultimately empowered to create meaning for yourself. Nobody can truly take that away from you.
The point is whatever we choose for ourselves. Just because we eventually die doesn’t mean living isn’t worth it. I don’t care that one day I’ll eventually die, I enjoy living now.
Thinking there’s something after death seems to make people lose sight of this world and fail to see the beauty in it, IMO. When I hear religious people ask this question I think their god(s) must feel insulted. Doesn’t really answer your full question but that’s my thoughts.
