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?

  • stopforgettingit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 days ago

    Why does there have to be a point? I have no legacy, I’ll never pass anything to the next generation, I have and will not ever make anything that changes the course of humankind, the world will probably not be a better place after I am gone. But I still feel happiness when I see a beautiful sunset, I laugh when my dog does something goofy and I smile when I see others expressing real joy. I don’t have to have a direction to still enjoy life while I am here to enjoy it.

  • Magnus@lemmy.ml
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    5 days ago

    I like laughing and having sex (which I definitely have a lot of all the time I swear)

  • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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    6 days ago

    I guess everybody will come up with different answers to that.

    To me, saying “there is nothing after death” is a simplified model. It asks you to live in the here-and-now, to live in the moment, because that makes you productive today.

    Of course, the world won’t end when you die. You will leave an impact on the world, kind of a track. Like, when water flows over a landscape long enough, it leaves a river bed. That will stay, even after the water subsides.

    So in some sense, death might be your end, but it’s not the end. I don’t know whether that helped you.

  • dicksteele@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    Existentialism is the branch of philosophy that deals with these problems, I think you would have an interest in it. I struggled with these kind of questions a lot when I was in my 20s (what is the point? Does anything even matter?). I read a lot and hitchhikers guide to the galaxy was the first book that really eased this anxiety for me. There probably is no point in living, it’s fine. Everyone decides on what they are going to do based on their circumstances in life. In the end the universe may not exist again, so what, we were all perfectly fine before it existed and who knows, maybe everything that made your conscious possible will be able to exist again in another universe, you won’t have memories of your past life, at least you shouldn’t have anyway.

    I write a little and one of the first stories I wrote was about a being that created the universe from nothing because it was bored, I made a character narrate later on and his thought process was along the lines of “if you existed in this universe, who’s to say you won’t again in another? Whatever random events lead to life being self aware could happen again. The universe could expand until there is no energy left and then retract until the next big bang does it all again. It may not happen for the next trillion cycles but eventually something could happen again like it is now. Maybe it’s all happened before and we just don’t remember it.”

    So, even if you don’t find a purpose. You are not alone in your journey. It’s part of being human, to have awareness of your own existence but powerless to know as to why you exist. Some people just can’t handle those kind of truths, it scares them stupid and that’s why you get things like hedonism, flip it the other way and you get nihilism. Despair can come from both.

    My own personal thoughts on it are:

    You are alive and you are able to do as you please. You always have a choice. If you make your life a journey of accumulating a larger number than others then so be it, I am happier without playing any number games. I want to see things and meet people and interact with them. I love petting cats and dogs, I love ducks. I enjoy the fact that my tongue evolved enough so that I can enjoy the taste of good food and tasty bourbon. I like to know that I am helping someone or something else not be scared of existing, like if my cat is worried because of a noise, I can soothe her nerves and she doesn’t have to feel fear anymore. I am still able to see the good in humanity even if I don’t have much faith in the world currently. There are problems with society as it currently stands in the west but if everyone can find it in themselves to be honest with each other and help one another out then the world will be somewhere worth living in, no matter how short that time is in the grand scheme of things. One day the sun will explode, will the universe care about some billionaire’s wealth? No. Nor should anyone now, if that’s what they choose then so be it. What really matters is not what you do for yourself but what you do for everything else.

    /schizo rant

  • LordKekz@discuss.tchncs.de
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    5 days ago

    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.

    • coaxil@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      That absolutely is not the point I have made and determined for my run at existence lol

      • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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        6 days ago

        Hell yeah!

        I have procreated and passed off my genes, but it’s bullshit to tell other people that’s the point of being alive.

        You gotta do what you feel is right. If nothing feels worthwhile, make the best of the ride!

  • RecipeForHate1@lemmy.ml
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    5 days ago

    There’s no point, and that’s beautiful. Go live your life the way you want to — nothing will happen after you die

  • tazzy@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    Enjoy the ride.

    There is no point. The point is that you experienced life at all, the most rarest thing in this universe perhaps. Most people don’t even stop to think how amazing that is. Going outside and smelling fresh air, drinking water, laughing, crying.

  • Powerbomb@lemmy.ml
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    6 days ago

    Nothing happens to you after you die. The pieces to pick up and carry on is on those we leave behind, if we are remembered well. If not, the pieces to pick up and throw out is on them too, anyway.

    If nothing happens after we die, it’s the same thing as that nothing happens in a movie after it’s ended. I hope that the character I was will still exist in peoples’ mind even after I go. I’ve recently started to embrace that “All the world’s a stage” thing a lot and lot more, recently.

    “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts,”

  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    But you are here now, so live a good life and enjoy it while you can. Maybe try to help others do the same. This is all we get, so use it to the fullest.

    • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      This. “It is a cheap generosity that promises the future as compensation for the present.”