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How do you find meaning in life? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 7 months ago by possiblyaperson@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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What do you keep living for? Is there a specific person, goal, or idea that you work for? Is there no meaning to life in your opinion?

Context: I've been reading Camus and Sartre, and thinking about how their ideas interact with hard determinism.

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[–] elbucho@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm going to throw a trigger warning on this next part just in case:

suicide ideation

I have been living with major depression for decades. I am taking medication for it, but that just makes it more manageable; it doesn't go away.

I am alive today because killing myself would hurt the people I love. Also, because I have a cat that I love very much, and I don't want him to have to miss me. Also, this is a much more minor driver, but I am excited for new seasons of my favorite shows and for movies I haven't seen and books I haven't read.

I find living to be a burden, but I feel obligated to do it because of my relationships. At the very least, though, I can find entertainment while doing it.

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[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

You're in luck, there's a whole movie devoted to this very topic.

Although, basically, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

By multiplying 21 by 2

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[–] MicrondeMMMMMMM@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 months ago

I am not sure to be fair, right now I already have two goals, I want to finish my transition and I want to love and be loved for who I am. Once that is done I suppose I will feel fulfilled for a while, I might make art afterwards or something, I like making games and stuff so I'd likely try to do that I think !

My goal is to be happy and better the lives of as many people as I can!

[–] missandry351@lemmings.world 1 points 7 months ago

Pets, always work

[–] auginator@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

I live to be in peace, hang out with my cat and have fun. That’s pretty much it. Right now having fun is trying to fix an old radio.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 1 points 7 months ago

Isn't the idea of a meaning of life irrelevant if you believe that the universe is deterministic?

[–] 0x01@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago

When I was young, raised religious, there was an intense focus on finding purpose in life, almost as if there is no value to life itself without some end goal.

After leaving religion and superstition behind everything that is left is remarkable, fascinating, and beautiful. There's no need for life to have a purpose, a sunset doesn't need to clock in to work, a rock doesn't have an active role to perform but it's still fine for it to exist, us too.

I used to wish there was done grander purpose, but have you ever considered where that ends? Say you do have an ultimate purpose on earth, to collect all the smeeshmups, you do it and then what? Say your purpose is to be a good little Christian person and go to heaven, then what? Glorify some monkey with an anus for eternity because he agreed you did a good job? Yikes

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I stopped looking for external meaning in life a long time ago.

Look into nihilism (like actualy nihilism, not like "hurr durr I hate everything so I'm going to make the world suck" people who label themselves "nihilist"). It's actually very freeing.

Edit: Just saw your "Context," so it appears you're on that track already. I guess I lean more toward the, "there is no meaning, so stop wasting time and effort trying to find or invent it" side than the "create your own meaning" side.

[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is it. You die and you are gone, gone, gone. Make every day count and don’t waste time bargaining with an imaginary god for a preferred place in her cinematic universe.

It’s not grim. It’s extremely freeing. ‘Now’ is all there is.

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 1 points 7 months ago

Make every day count

But that's such horrible pressure.

[–] Bahnd@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

First, great choice in reading (Im a fan of Camus as well).

As for the meaning of life thing...

Thats the neat part. You don't.

Thats why in absurdist fiction like Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42. Its not supposed to make sense and the universe is under no obligation to do so for you (the books even postulate that the universe does not want anyone to know so if someone figures it out it winks out of existance and replaced itself with something weirder, some scientists think this has happened before).

That goes back to Camus point about the remedies for the bleakness of early-mid 20th century philosophy. He proposed three options, Nhilism, a leap of faith (looking at you Kierkegaard), or absurdism, the last being what the doctor perscribes, but also requires the most effort because you have to find your question to the ultimate answer your self... Or not, who cares. Lets go spend some time by a lake that thinks its a gin & tonic.

[–] possiblyaperson@sh.itjust.works 0 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I hope that I can come around to the absurdist perspective sooner or later, it does seem quite appealing to me, but I'm still yet to be convinced by Camus' argument that the rebellion against the absurd has any more value than your other options. How would you say you find that sort of value?

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[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's shits and giggles all the way down, my friend!

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[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I keep living at this point simply because God wants me alive. If He didn't, He would have killed me by now. When I was in a really dark place (I'm doing better now), I realised that killing myself was pointless, because if it was my time to die, God would take me from this life regardless. So God must still have a plan and uses for me and thus, I should still be alive, and that's meaning enough for the fact that my body continues to operate.

[–] possiblyaperson@sh.itjust.works 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I've got a lot of respect for theists, and would truly love to be convinced of this sort of perspective. Thanks for bringing it to the table!

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thank you! I don't want to seem pushy or pressuring, but what eventually convinced me was the historicity of Jesus Christ (as opposed to scientific arguments, etc) and it kind of hinged off of that.

This is what I watched.

[–] possiblyaperson@sh.itjust.works 0 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Okay, I've watched the videos, but unfortunately they don't fix my main issue with the bible, that being there are no contemporary (as in written within the subsequent decades), non-Christian sources for any miracle alleged in the bible. In particular, the dead rising and walking around the towns on Good Friday as talked of in the Gospels isn't recorded in any Roman source we have from the time, and I think that such an act would have been recorded. It seems to me that it is more likely that these stories of miracles survived with Christians for a few hundred years, before being disseminated into the popular account of Jesus' life as Christianity grew in popularity.

They also don't fix any of my other problems with Christianity, such as the problem of evil, principally relating to animal suffering, or divine hiddenness. Still, I feel more informed than before, so thank you!

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[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not to bully your belief here but how would you justify this with the fact that God allows many really bad people to live? Just curious of understanding this mindset and I hope this doesn't offend you.

[–] Twanquility@feddit.dk 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I tried to justify this (if one insists on the existence of a god), through the argument that dangerous and bad things exist in nature as well, such as storms, lightning, floodings, earthquakes, and chimps that go to war with each other etc. and likewise, violent and bad things exist among humans.

However, I cant really convince myself that it's comparable. Actual evil did not really exist before be came along and started torturing each other. (The church and christians have been through many iterations of hard questions and tough answers to their own riddles, and overall, I think it has been a sum positive for humanity, in trying to explain, and to figure out the question of evil in general.)

So no, I don't have a, from the hip, justification from god, why evil people would still exist. Perhaps the world just is a better place, with snakes in it, than without. It gives us something good to do?

I can however confidently state that really bad people have been here among humanity many times before, and they have all, in one way or another, left again, and somehow we manage to sustain a world, that is continuously improving and trying to become a better and better place. Getting rid of bad people, snakes, and natural dangers.

I know that there are serious crises and problems we still have to solve, but we tend to forget all the past evils that we have defeated. We are not being actively overrun by mongols from the east, and not every family loses several small children before they reach the age of 5. Most people have enough, and we still keep working to make sure that fewer and fewer people will suffer in the future.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Ngl that's a really unsatisfying position imo. There are and have been people who had nothing but suffered in their entire existence with zero meaning like slave babies born with extreme deformities. This thought exercise completely dispels any idea of a present god in my point of view.

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[–] braxy29@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago

there is no inherent meaning to life.

i choose to continue living each day because a) i am still enjoying myself enough to stick around, b) i'm a chicken and nothing has motivated me to voluntarily face quicker death just yet, c) i am committed to not fucking up my kids in that particular way if i can continue to avoid it, and d) i do work that matters and eases the suffering of others to create meaning for myself.

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world -1 points 7 months ago

I'm not religious or spiritual so I'm a pure hedonist. I work so that I can maintain a comfortable life for my wife and I with vacations and other treats. In my 30s but not very interested in having children; might be tempted to adopt in my 40s but will need to see where I am at that point in my life.

Essentially the goal is to be happy as a clam (that is a strange phrase now I consider it). It would be nice to author something to leave my name for future generations but I kind of get that from contributing to open source projects when I get the chance.

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