Indeed. On Mar 31, 11:28 pm, Drafterman <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mar 18, 11:11 am, "pol.science kid" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Greetings.. fellow eyers.. now.. i dont have much to offer rite now.. > > but only require some help.. haunted by this strange emptiness..and a > > feeling of void.. without any reason.. it brings me again and again to > > the initial post i posted at mind's...the pointlessness of > > everything.. and the absurdity behind every action.. when the view is > > from a different level..the endless justifications.. a never ending > > chain..where justification for something is found in something outside > > the thing...and justification for that outside it.. it never ends... > > though it is not very articulately put...i hope i make my point > > clear....it somehow makes one think of suicide... (no i am not > > contemplating it)..;-) > > On an emotional level, I can understand how confronting the inherently > pointless and meaningless nature of existence can be frightening, but > it boggles my mind on an intellectual level. > > I will start by providing my short response - though I expect it will > be less than satisfying: if you desire meaning and purpose, then > create it yourself. > > The long response: > > I provided my short answer first, so I cannot later be accused of > holding anyone hostage to what may be a lengthy post just to convey > something that can be summed up in a sentence. So you have my > sentence. The problem is that such summation does not include its > foundation and consequently may be of little help. Generally speaking, > people are adverse to creating meaning. The knowledge that it was > created will give the impression that it is "false" when "true" > meaning is desired. So long as the knowledge that it was created is > there, so is the lingering knowledge that everything is ultimately > without inherent meaning. This can, however, be overcome through self- > delusion. Many people have, under various circumstances, convinced > themselves of an untruth. Patience and simple repetition can do it for > just about anything, though traumatic experiences can often be a > catalyst. > > I do not feel that self-delusion through self-hypnosis is necessary > because I think the aversion against manufactured meaning is > irrational. We create meaning all the time. In fact, I think it is our > propensity toward creating meaning that results in the very anxiety > toward a meaningless universe in the first place! We are so used to > things having an assigned value that we forget that those values are, > infact, assigned rather than inherent. The value of things is taken > for granted and so we are often left stunned when confronted with the > idea that something (let alone everything) has no intrinsic value. > > Take, for example, money. Fiat money, specifically. It has no inherent > meaning. It does, however, have extrinsic meaning. We assign meaning > to it. Do you really consider the inherent value of a $5 bill to be > five times the inherent value of a $1 bill? It's value is that which > we have assigned to it. Yet the knowledge of this manufactured meaning > does not give us pause (consider the satirical article > here:http://www.theonion.com/articles/us-economy-grinds-to-halt-as-nation-...). > > If you stopped to think about it, I believe you sould see that most > everything has a value that is assigned by us in a manner that is > conducive to our desires and needs. So why should our lives, and the > universe, be any different? Why should the knowledge that the universe > has no inherent meaning "haunt" you but the knowledge that a dollar > bill has no inherent meaning not cause you any concern what-so-ever? > > The second manner in which I feel that this anxiety is irrational is > the fact that it goes against how we commonly treat the value of > things. In this example, we will use precious metals and gems. Why is > a diamond considered worth more than quartz? In this case, value is > assigned by rarity. (Perhaps a diamond is a bad example since their > "rarity" is controlled, at least in part, by diamond companies, but > the point stands). The more rare something is, the higher value it is > assigned. From our perspective, there is nothing more unique - and > hence rarer - than our own lives. We get one life. A finite duration > and a finite space we have to perceive our existence. Some people > react with fear at this knowledge respond by referencing (and > committing) suicide. I find this to be absurd. The knowledge that I > have this single life drives me to make the most out of it. I treat my > life as though it were a video game and my mother has told me I have > to get off once I lose this man. In such a situation I try and prolong > it in as much as I can! But what is the point of maximuming the > quantity of one's life if one does not also maximize its quality? > > Now, I don't expect my long answer to be much more help. Emotional > responses are rarely assuaged by rational considerations. At least not > at first. Simply consider that your life is whatever you want to make > of it. Even those that believe some higher entity, force, or presence > has done the work of assigning meaning to their lives end up defining, > for themselves, their purpose (whether they realize/acknowledge it or > not).
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