/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.805223]

accidentally posted this in another thread instead of making my own....anyway

I'm feeling a lot of existential dread right now /lit/. I decided to would bring this here since a lot of you are pretty well versed in philosophy...Maybe you can help me. I've lost the ability to care about things because everything seems pointless.

We're all going to die and be forgotten. Even the universe is going to perish once enough time passes. So why care? What's the point of going to work and saving money just to die and leave it all behind ? What's the point of having children and raising a family if they're just going to die? What's the point of painting or writing when everyone in the world is going to forget you? I used to be happy when I had faith, but everything seems empty to me now. Most of the time I sit around and watch tv without reacting to it. I've thought about suicide, but I can't bring myself to do it because of my family. My husband is a devout Catholic (he thinks I am too), and if I were to kill myself it would destroy him. For those of you who don't know, Catholics believe suicides go to hell. I'm pregnant too, which complicates things since it feels like I would be murdering the kid.


tl;dr i can't take the abyss staring back at me

[Anonymous No.805227]

This thread happens everyday. Lurk more before you post your "oh no! I'll be an adult soon!" crisis bullshit. Grow the fuck up and act like you have balls.

[Anonymous No.805230]

>>805227
go fuck yourself

[Anonymous No.805237]

>>805227
This isn't bullshit. The OP has hit on the truth of the matter; nothing in the world matters once you realize we're all going to cease to exist. I realized this a long time ago, and I learned to cope with it by using psychedelic drugs.

[Anonymous No.805238]

Welcome to being a fucking adult.

Have fun.

[Anonymous No.805239]

Personal happiness, and creating happiness in the lives of others.

Pic related. It makes me happy.

[Anonymous No.805247]

simple answer, if nothing matters in the big picture, all we have is the little picture, all we have is the choices we make, the people we speak to, the lives we lead. who we meet and what we do. If life is absurd, then everything we do matters utterly and completely to ourselves and everyone we touch, for those seeds of consciousness are all we ever know. helpful?

[Anonymous No.805256]

>>805247
not really, no. the fact that the big picture is meaningless saps all of the meaning from the little picture. i've tried to do the existentialist thing but ended up more depressed than before. still, i DO care about how other people feel. it's the one thing that still has meaning for me.

[Anonymous No.805259]

See a psychiatrist or a psychologist, don't go to /lit/. Your current funk is likely to morph into post-partum depression once your child is born. Deal with it now before you have a child to care for.

[Anonymous No.805261]

OP, the reality you're looking at is an intensely dizzying and ultimately incomprehensible for the human mind. That's even what Nietzsche meant by calling it the abyss - it's a big gigantic dark chasm underneath us all that we will never, ever penetrate with any sufficient understanding.
All you can do is keep moving. Sartre even went so far as to criticize people who found this concept a daunting thing. All we can do as humans, being in time, being in nothingness as well, is accept and move on, and create works of our own to solidify our personal sense of being. Your life is your best reason to live. If this reason is not sufficient, your best reason to live is a paltry and frail thing. Consider strengthening it, consider expanding it, but most of all, do something which makes it both a collection of random events with no meaning or significance within an ultimate reality and also a deeply meaningful and significant collection of memories and works within your own mind, and the minds of others who you share your life with.

[OP !2qYdimqiHs No.805266]

>>805237
psychedelic drugs and literature is how i handle this.

[Anonymous No.805270]

Zapffe's theory is that humans are born with an overdeveloped skill (understanding, self-knowledge) which does not fit into nature's design. The human craving for justification on matters such as life and death cannot be satisfied, hence humanity has a need that nature cannot satisfy. The tragedy, following this theory, is that humans spend all their time trying not to be human. The human being, therefore, is a paradox.

In The Last Messiah Zapffe described four principal defense mechanisms that humankind uses to avoid facing this paradox:

* Isolation is "a fully arbitrary dismissal from consciousness of all disturbing and destructive thought and feeling".[1]
* Anchoring is the "fixation of points within, or construction of walls around, the liquid fray of consciousness".[1] The anchoring mechanism provides individuals a value or an ideal that allows them to focus their attentions in a consistent manner. Zapffe also applied the anchoring principle to society, and stated "God, the Church, the State, morality, fate, the laws of life, the people, the future"[1] are all examples of collective primary anchoring firmaments.
* Distraction is when "one limits attention to the critical bounds by constantly enthralling it with impressions".[1] Distraction focuses all of one's energy on a task or idea to prevent the mind from turning in on itself.
* Sublimation is the refocusing of energy away from negative outlets, toward positive ones. The individual distances him / herself and looks at their existence from an aesthetic point of view (e.g., writers, poets, painters.) Zapffe himself pointed out that his produced works were the product of sublimation.

[Anonymous No.805279]

>>805256
yeah. you aren't getting it. must be young. i had and am still having that existential crisis shit for years and what i said, really and truly applies. and you actually justify my answer in your response, so you really meant "yes really, yes"... goddamn... you AGREED and you don't even KNOW you did. FUCK.

[Anonymous No.805289]

>>805259
i don't want to admit this to anyone. if my husband finds out i'm not true believer he'll probably become even more depressed than me. i know shrinks are supposed to be confidential but it still seems like a bad idea.

[Anonymous No.805292]

"Love life more than the meaning of it". That sentence helped me alot. You've got to stop being wrapped up in the purpose and implications of existence and just be happy with the fact that you do exist and make the most of it by doing whatever makes you "happy"

[Anonymous No.805294]

I feel bad for the husband marrying such a dumb cunt.

[Anonymous No.805296]

>>805270
This sounds interesting (not OP). I am going to read this shit. Got a link to his book?

[Anonymous No.805305]

>>805279
I thought you were implying that stuff could make existence worthwhile. I don't think it can, even though I do have feelings for others.

[Anonymous No.805312]

>>805289
OP, seeing a psychologist is never a bad idea. I've been stupid enough to put it off for years; going to plan to see one within the next few weeks to deal with my DEEP problems.

Also, check out Camus, especially The Myth of Sisyphus. Read it a few weeks ago, it's all about "If we realise the world is pointless, should we turn to suicide?" and all that. I found it life changing.

[Anonymous No.805316]

>>805289
If your only other option is killing yourself and your baby, you should see someone. It's very normal for a pregnant woman to see all sorts of doctors. Ask your gynecologist for a recommendation. It will all be confidential.

[Anonymous No.805330]

>>805305
YOU make existence worthwhile, or YOU don't. I don't give a damn what philosophy, religion, psychological concepts, or WHATEVER you want to apply to it, that's the bottom line of any of these things. If you can't understand that, then yeah, just go kill yourself, or continue plodding through life without expectation of hope or joy, which is your fault, not the nature of existence. The world is full of pleasures, cerebral, sensual, spiritual, or otherwise. That you can't enjoy them is either A) mental illness B) your own nagging timidity or C) the results of a life wasted, possibly D) your life actually is terrible to live. Any of these problems can be approached directly, and solved, in a vast number of ways.

[Anonymous No.805331]

Now do you understand where your evangelical atheism leads /lit/? This dumb bitch would have lived a happy life if people like you hadn't tried to destroy her faith. I only pray that she doesn't cause her little one to become an atheist too.

[Anonymous No.805341]

>>805305
jesus (spoken like the spanish name), of course existence can never be worth while. its the feelings and relationship with people that is worthwhile, not the existence, existence is like a dream, a moment, a piece of sand in your hand only to be drifting away in the wind in the next breeze. but when it is IN your hand, THAT is the moment. the moment.

yeh. i make myself feel better trying to make you understand. so if you don't, at least i do.

[Anonymous No.805342]

>>805331
This is all a troll and this post confirms it.

[Anonymous No.805344]

>>805312
Yeah, I've heard of it before. I'll read it when I get the time.

>>805316
I guess I should, especially since I considered suicide. I just have a strong aversion to shrinks because my father taught me they were for crazy people.

[Anonymous No.805345]

>>805331

0/10

[Anonymous No.805347]

>>805344
There's a doctor for every part of your body. Your brain is a very important part of your body and needs regular checkups, just like the rest of you.

[Anonymous No.805349]

>>805342
I'm not a troll, little atheist. I'm just disgusted with the way that modern atheists go after the faith of others. Can't you just let them be happy? Don't understand that their faith gives them hope and joy? I may be a bit biased, but even an atheist should be able to understand that.

[Anonymous No.805352]

>>805296
what this guy said


I've been looking for this thread my whole life I guess. I have memories as far back as when I was 6 of extreme fear of death, existence. Happened whenever I was alone, trying to sleep, using the bathroom. A fear that once I washed my hands and opened the door, there would be nothing on the other side but a starry expanse of death.

If you haven't felt this terror before, you'll experience it if you're ever about to die and it full impacts you. It was fairly traumatizing as I would get these flashes nearly daily. Where I would leap up, determined to live, escape my death. And only 6 or 7. They've receded in recent years, I guess living living has acclimated me to the idea.

That and my dreams of being hunted and not only running but turning and killing my pursuers. Extremely graphic and entirely sentient dreams of killing and killing. That's what my dream used to consist of. Now I no longer dream.

That's why I don't go to a psychiatrist, there's no cure. Only some feel good medication, and if the terror is what I have to suffer to live, I think it might be worth it.

[Anonymous No.805362]

>>805331
This may be a troll, but I agree that atheists should leave the faithful alone if they don't try to fuck with them. let them have their happiness

[Anonymous No.805368]

>>805330
How can I make my existence worthwhile? I want to find out. That's why I made this thread dude.

[Anonymous No.805371]

>>805349
>>805362

I grew up in a Catholic family and went to a Catholic school where it was drilled into me from birth the existance of God. It took me years to even get my head around the fact that God may not even exist. I'm very thankful that people did question my blind faith in religion, and I feel like I'm a better person for it.

I feel like I'm happier without faith and acceptance of the way life is rather than just blindly believing some hand me down story, even if it does mean I live with less hope.

[Anonymous No.805374]

>>805362
i am atheist... well, absurdist honestly but close enough. i leave the faithful alone. and i know its not ignorance. just different people dealing with things in their own way. even atheism is a response to an absurd world. just as much a religion.

[tweenwolf No.805378]

[Anonymous No.805380]

I haven no real advice except "see a doctor, stop going on 4chan." So I'll just post dogs in people clothes for a while.

[Anonymous No.805381]

>>805371
I'm not the poster(s) you're responding to, but I'd like to give my 2 cents. You probably found something else to make you happy. The trouble is that most people aren't going to find that special something, and they need to believe in religion to save themselves from despair. I don't think very many people are capable of handing the dark truths of the universe, anymore than I think most children can really deal with the concept of death,

[Anonymous No.805382]

>>805380

[Anonymous No.805385]

>>805382

[Anonymous No.805387]

>>805368
This sort of thing happened to me in my early twenties. I figured I was going to die some time and I should live for each day. So I walked across Europe and the Orient for 5 years in an attempt to see as much of the world as possible. I read and ate whatever I could find and wrote as much as possible. Fun times except when you can't speak any Eastern language, get sick or mugged.

[Anonymous No.805389]

>>805385

[Anonymous No.805391]

I'm an agnostic atheist but I feel as it isn't as simple as materialist outlooks or theological ones make it out to be.
In short, I feel as this world isn't the only thing existence has to offer, hence I don't take my life to seriously. But I don't belief in gods or the easy kind of afterlife. And I have many theories in my head, none of them concrete enough for me to uphold it and I'd never be arrogant enough to argue any of it.

[Anonymous No.805392]

>>805223
>since a lot of you are pretty well versed in philosophy
>you are pretty well versed in philosophy
>well versed in philosophy

lol

[Anonymous No.805394]

>>805389

[Anonymous No.805395]

>>805368
First of all, see a psychiatrist and explore the possibility of mental illness. Second, communicate something of what you're feeling to your husband. Third, talk to a priest frankly and honestly about your doubts. I may be an atheist, but to say that I have a better grasp of faith or the nature of losing faith than a man who has devoted his life to it, would be quite simply arrogant. Talk to your priest also about how, when, or why to broach the subject with your husband, if he is devout.
Then, consider your options. Consider divorce, consider staying with him and trying to work things out, talk with him, and ask yourself some pretty deep questions about what it is you're currently doing that does not contribute to your ideas of happiness. Ask yourself, in a serious and reasoned manner, about what does contribute to your ideas of happiness. Hell, try and even define what happiness is for you, most people have no fucking clue whatsoever, and never bother to investigate the notion. They cynically dismiss it.

[Anonymous No.805401]

>>805394

[Anonymous No.805405]

>>805401

[Anonymous No.805408]

I wouldn't want my wife to hide this from me. If he really loves you then he might be the only one int he world who can help you- I wouldn't ever abandon my lady when she needed me.

[praetorum No.805409]

[Anonymous No.805410]

>>805391

>agnostic atheism
can't really be both at same time... not trying to insult.. perhaps you mean existential agnostic? based on this guy who i will not go look up bcs it ain't that important but who basically said "yah, i am an atheist but i can't disprove the greek gods existence just as much as i can't disprove the christian god's existence, so i am agnostic" that is paraphrase of course. its not called existential agnosticism but something like that i forget. meh, too lazy tonight. my response is LAME

[Anonymous No.805411]

>>805405

[Anonymous No.805415]

Life is meaningless. You have to create your own meaning.

[Anonymous No.805417]

>>805395
thanks for the advice. i like the idea of talking to a priest about how to approach my husband a lot. my hubby already knows something is up, though he doesn't know what is bothering me. i'm a housewife but i used to be really involved with the neighborhood and like going out. i've stopped being involved with shit, and it bothers him.

[Anonymous No.805419]

>>805411

[Anonymous No.805424]

>>805410
agnostic atheism = There could be a god, however we have no concrete evidence for him/it so I assume he/it doesn't exist. Hell, a proper description of a god is lacking. Most religious language is useless if you try to apply it to the coherent world.... However I'm not arrogant enough to suggest there couldn't be a god, but the burden of proof lies with the theists.

[Anonymous No.805432]

>>805424
I come here for the pointless semantic debates

[Anonymous No.805434]

>>805424
that is agnosticism yo. at least as i have always understood it. i have never heard of this agnostic atheism, that just agnosticism.

[Anonymous No.805436]

>>805395
Samefag.
Your experience isn't really an existential crisis, it sounds more to me like a long rut in the grips of depression, but that's only coming from my own personal experiences with it.
You're also pregnant and this makes hormones go crazy, but you sound like this is pretty pervasive and not something that just came up.
Many people go through these crises, however, and what they end up doing is either thinking and analyzing the problem to death, but taking slow steps towards changing the current state of things, including exercise, eating better, quitting certain drugs, taking other drugs, reading more books, going to a therapist, etc and others make a huge and gigantic decision that completely changes everything around them so that the conditions that created their former sense of unhappiness are no longer present.
And still others just accept it, and keep moving, and don't really stop and think that there's much at all living for anyways, they just keep moving, too timid to really live, too frightened to kill themselves.
I'm not some self-help guru here, I'm just a guy on the internet who's read your comments and sees something in it similar to what he struggled with for close to 15 years. I can't say I just snapped out of it, or anything like that. I eventually, through many years of trying different things, discovered certain values and concepts that to me spell out happiness. And instead of just thinking of them, wishing for them, I actually do them. And that makes the difference. How I behave, who I surround myself with, how I think and feel, all of these things, for me personally, are dependent upon what I do with myself. I have no simple advice for you.

[Anonymous No.805438]

Cheer up OP! You've got everything you could want. You have a husband who loves you, a baby on the way, and you live in a first world country. Stop being such a whiny cunt and enjoy it all!

[Anonymous No.805440]

>>805419

[Anonymous No.805446]

>>805434
Agnostic atheism = I don't believe in god since there's no concrete evidence to suggest there is one but I don't discount the possibility.
Agnosticism = I dunno lol. Could be either way. We might never know.
Agnostic theism = I believe in god but I have no way of proving there is one. We might find out one day or never but I choose to belief in one anyway.

[Anonymous No.805447]

>>805440

[Anonymous No.805450]

just get your husband to fuck you more. that's how i cheer my bitch up when she's feeling down.

[Anonymous No.805452]

>>805450
Your dog hates it when you touch her.

[Anonymous No.805456]

This thread is relevent to my interests as well. You see, a few months back, I went through an existential crisis very similiar to what the OP is describing, though I was still able to feel amusement at certain times. A big downer for me is that I ended up taking a Plato-esque stance on art by finding all fiction to be completly worthless. On top of this, it felt like everything seemed to me to be a transclucent goo. All I wanted to do was sleep; I had fantasies of being put into stasis frequently.

In response to this, I took up reading about philosophy. The things I read managed to quell the existential crisis, but it spawned a debatably worse one: A subjective crisis.

Over the course of this subjective crisis, I regained my belief that fiction held value, and that life had meaning and purpose, BUT, I was unable to access it. I was perpetually terrified of my surroundings, questioning the reality of every minor detail, breaking down my every previously held beliefs and morals, trying desperatly to embrace stoicism and scepticism to no avail, and starting to forget and deny blatent facts.

After this, I went through(and am still getting over) another phase, which I can't settle on a name for, but am the most worried about. During this time, my grasp on language dwindled, and I started to forget basic words which implied negatives(such as 'no', 'not', 'never', 'nothing'), my ability to concentrate was thrown out the window, my memory was abysmal, my ability to read and follow a narrative(including film) nearly disappeared, and worst of all, it literally felt like something was squeezing my temples 24/7. During this period, I was incredibly irritable, and felt a great anger towards those around me; I was irritated, uncomfortable, and doubting my self-worth, and they DARE have the AUDACITY to project their happiness and content onto me? I started to consider suicide at this point.

Continued in the next post.

[Anonymous No.805458]

>>805446
yah semantics right.. but ... real agnosticism ... speaking as someone who has studied and read philosophy is NOT "i dunno LOL"

its what you call agnostic atheism. don't listen to pop culture like Donnie Darko for definitions of theological and philosophical concepts

[Anonymous No.805467]

>>805450
he fucks me at least once every day. i enjoy it but there's nothing deep or special about it. people romanticize sex too much in my experience; for me it's like eating. i have 3 meals a day and i get fucked when i go to bed.

[Anonymous No.805469]

>>805458
>speaking as someone who has studied and read philosophy is NOT "i dunno LOL"

I know and I apologize. It isn't that simple I know. Sometimes it is the idiea that god is unknowable or the existence of him or of other deities is. It can also be a statement of unbelief but of one that matters to the believer anyway. In short it is the complex state between theism and atheism which most (not all) eventually abandon in favor of either one.

[Anonymous No.805470]

>>805456

Now, I still have some of the aforementioned ailments(pressure on my head, though it nearly disappears at night, problems with my grasp on English and my ability to follow a narrative, and a few others, though they have gotten quite a bit better).

Anyway, those aside, there are two things which have been worrying the hell out of me lately:

1. It seems I'm only able to feel these emotions and urges: Irritation, sentimental depression, sexual arousal, and the urge to consume, sometimes faster than I can finish use of previous objects.
2. I have a general apathy about morality outside of rape, murder, and theft; in fact, just four hours ago, I vigorously masturbated to incest porn, and while in the past I'd feel absolutly repulsed by such a thing, I find myself...not caring even a little. This is a concern.

I've never had these problems before, has anyone else? Is it a temporary thing?

[Anonymous No.805477]

>>805469
at this point, i say we are on similar if not the same page and can agree.

see, 4chan CAN be civilized. good for us kind anon

[Anonymous No.805481]

women are so stupid. this is just the female preggo hormones making you crazy.

[Anonymous No.805484]

>>805470

is this /b/ talking?
They're running an interesting project of depriving the mind of all moral guidance, you would seem to fit along except I'm sure if you're well read you'd find the rabble beneath you.

[Anonymous No.805493]

>>805484
>is this /b/ talking?

That's another thing that disturbs me: No, this is completly arbitrary.

[Anonymous No.805521]

Have you tried being a racist?

I was nihilistic and depressed as fuck, then I decided to pick an ideology and run with it. Trust me OP, life is much more bearable when you're living to spite some enemy, real or imagined.

I don't think there's any going back when you realize that life is all for nothing, so just treat it as a game, pick a team or play solo -just have fun.

[Anonymous No.805525]

>>805521
racism works best if directed at your own race

[Anonymous No.805526]

>>805521
8/10
but true about not going back once you realize... sad but true.

[Arcueid Brunestud !ARCIkc4cG6 No.805527]

>>805521

Racism, while fun and easy to get into, is for troglodytes and chumps.

If you're looking for a challenge, try championing a religion, or a foreign cause.

[Anonymous No.805537]

Every time I post in one of these threads I know it isn't going to change anyone mind, but I'd be going against my own advice if I didn't try. It doesn't matter anyway.

You're right, nothing matters. Nothing you can do will ever matter. That is the answer. The only thing that can change is the question: Stop asking "why" and ask "why not?".

You're an animal. You have primitive urges. Eating, sex, violence. Give into them. There's no point in NOT giving in. There's no point in NOT pushing forward. There's no reason to NOT keep living. Keep going, enjoy yourself. No reason not too.

[Anonymous No.805553]

>>805527
Does it really matter if we're chumps or not? It's a means to an end. So who cares?

[Arcueid Brunestud !ARCIkc4cG6 No.805556]

>>805553

>Does it really matter if we're chumps or not

In the long run, yes. Very few people suffer chumps gladly.

[Anonymous No.805558]

You were dead once before, you know, before you were born ? Was it horrible ? No. Fuck of pussy and live your life.

[Anonymous No.805566]

>>805556
>long run
Seriously? The LONG RUN? You know, the one where humanity ceases to exist and anything that happened is forgotten by anyone?

[Arcueid Brunestud !ARCIkc4cG6 No.805572]

>>805566

You're awfully excited about being exploited by your elders and betters. Fine, be a chump, enjoy having other people pull your strings, because apparently it isn't important since everything will be destroyed, blah blah etc.

[Anonymous No.805574]

>>805527

I've found Nazism is nice because it's a worldwide cause and religion all rolled into one.

Admittedly, I'm also a little short in the empathy department so flashy black uniforms do more for me than feeding the world or whatever it is people who aren't assholes feel good about.

To each his own though and I wish the OP best of luck in not offing herself. The world is really too lovely a place for that sort of thing.

[Anonymous No.805577]

>>805572
>implying I have elders

[Anonymous No.805583]

>>805238

Telling this to someone who has presumably settled down into marriage. Fuck you, /lit/.

[Anonymous No.805591]

>>805574

Nazism/fascism is about caring about the most misguided bullshit. Enjoy your bullshit.

[Anonymous No.805597]

>>805591

Haven't you been paying attention? Everything is bullshit.

Pick the turd you find prettiest and hold on tight.

[Anonymous No.805621]

>>805597
perfectly right and well put.

[Anonymous No.805650]

>>805597

Some things are actually meaningful, in social and personal ways. Making people happy and being useful. OP is by definition wrong with this statement: "What's the point of painting or writing when everyone in the world is going to forget you?"

Nazism is hardly one of them. In fact it has no relevance or function whatsoever anymore except a senile kind of delusion.

[Anonymous No.805675]

Why do we value longevity so much? Why is something pointless just because it has an end? That always seemed like a stupid distinction to me.

[Anonymous No.805678]

>>805219
ＷＷＷ._ａNOＮ_+_M_-_M_+_ｔＡlK_.ＳE fvhauim fuwqjfafs fjjj qapfz ykkhdmyj u

[Anonymous No.805684]

>>805227

You are a fucking idiot.

[Anonymous No.805687]

>>805650

To each his own, as I've said.

I consider myself something of an advocate for the preservation of human phenotypes and cultural distinctions.

Other people see things differently and want other things and that's what makes it fun. Anti-fascists would be very bored if one day they woke up and there were no fascists around.

[Anonymous No.805697]

>>805687

So you're a multiculturalist, congratulations. Welcome to the latter half of the 20th century.

[Anonymous No.805701]

>>805697

In a global sense yes. But I don't see how genetic or cultural diversity can survive more than a few generations in what is considered a multicultural nation now.

[Anonymous No.805703]

Other posters have sympathy for you OP (copypasta, whatever), so listen to them if you want. I for one am tired of this juvenile existentialist angst bullshit. It's completely worthless and tantamount to deciding that you WANT to be unhappy, and boohoo to the silly plebes who aren't depressed.

Know why so many haikus were written about the sakura blossom? Because their transient fucking beauty is a metaphor for life; its fleeting existence is what gives it value. Instead of asking what the point is of things that die, ask what the point is of existing forever, and whether either of these is worth getting depressed about.

[Anonymous No.805711]

>>805701
The only way you can stamp out genetics is through failure to reproduce them. Interbreeding does not in any way reduce genetic diversity, which is why the "blonds are a dying breed" argument is false. Recessive traits may be expressed less frequency, but the genes for them (and their ability to show up later) will always be there. lrn 2 biology

[Anonymous No.805722]

>>805701

Culture-wise, that's up to individuals within a community deciding what they feel most attached to, isn't it? Cultural preservation starts there. I'm fond of enlightenment and Marxism but I won't tell someone who feels that Islam has a great intellectual and cultural heritage that they are wrong. They are in fact right, whatever else Islam also stands for.

[Anonymous No.805724]

>>805711

I mean I like the idea of a world where you go to Ireland and see Irish people, go to Kenya and see Maasai.

You may not like that or it may not be important to you. I'm not going to say I don't care, because I'm entirely human and I do get a jolly from people agreeing with me, but the whether you value it or not does little to change my mind.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever pursuits you deem worthy.

[Anonymous No.805731]

>>805722

When people of different cultures are put together, the lowest common denominator always wins in the end. That's why there are so many niggers, wiggers, chiggers, etc.

Most people are idiots and i don't lose too much sleep over the idea of forcing them to do something they don't want to for what I consider to be the greater good.

But It's 5:50 AM and I'm not an early riser. The fact that I'm sitting here naked arguing on the internet is a pretty good indication i won't be in a position of power any time soon.

[Anonymous No.805744]

>>805221
wWＷ._ＡNoＮ_+_m_-_Ｍ_+_ＴａLｋ_.sｅ cokjos kqtvtn c bb wmizqxjxdyym q szz waqq hn

[Anonymous No.806006]

Do, or do not. There is no why.

[Anonymous No.806007]

>>806006
That was one of the best episodes ever.

[Anonymous No.806011]

>>805223
Sounds like cliched bullshit to me. Fuck your religeon and get some good sex in before you go.

[Anonymous No.806018]

>>805312

The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

[Anonymous No.806017]

ｗwW._ａＮoN_+_Ｍ_-_m_+_ｔａｌK_.ｓe hsedr nro mu zt zffdjql olb iyyynmpiav d

[Anonymous No.806026]

I'll second seeing a psychiatrist, especially if you can get it subsidised (be it government or insurance company). It feels good to be able to talk about shit with someone, though it might take a few visits to get going.

[Anonymous No.806029]

>>805223

OP, you can focus on the negative aspects of an existentialist "crisis" and draw poor conclusions. Since reading a lot existential and stoic writers, I've never felt more liberated from the tedious boredom of life. You need to avoid worrying about the external aspects of life beyond your control and just live. If necessary, have your child. I'm sure you'll discover some purpose based on that.

/our great war is a spiritual war

[Anonymous No.806071]

>>805521

This is something that doesn't seem true when you first think of it, but it's essentially right. People feel better when they have something to get behind; be it an ideology, a faith, or something very, very important that they devote a lot of their time to (this has been confirmed through psychological research too). However, this brings up another question: 'What makes living so much better though? What makes living with purpose better than not living at all? Is it just a trick?'

OP, while I'm not necessarily encouraging that you embrace Catholicism, I do think you should, so to speak, 'keep in touch' with something beyond yourself; maybe that involves devoting a lot of your time to an intellectual subject, or maybe it involves helping other people, and yet again maybe it involves keeping your vows to your husband and living the best life you can with him. After you have your child, you could think 'how could I have considered not being there for this child?' I think motherhood would give your life a lot more purpose (and it happens all the time).

Whatever it is, you should strongly consider embracing something. I went through an odd stage like this a little over a year ago, when I lost my faith in Christianity (and speaking of existentialism and Christianity, if you haven't read Dostoevsky, this is the best time you could possibly read him, especially Crime and Punishment), and while I didn't think that my life was meaningless, I certainly did notice that I had lost something that was--even if it was ultimately bad for me--helpful to me getting through the day.

[Anonymous No.806075]

>>806071

I don't think I made it entirely clear: I completely lost my faith in Christianity, and am now a happy, 'fulfilled' atheist.

[Anonymous No.806091]

>>805261

This is all you need to read. An incredibly inspiring and wonderful notion, even if you do not believe in a here-after.

Well written anon, you just made my day brighter.

[Anonymous No.806092]

>>806075

The main thing about existential dread is to realise and accept that existence is meaningless, and then to do something about it. Find something socially useful to do or learn about, which in itself has meaning. The world is there to be projected into.

[Anonymous No.806102]

>>806092

Thought I was responding to OP. Anyway.

[Anonymous No.806103]

ITT: PEOPLE DECIDE THAT IF I DON'T MATTER TO SOME DIVINE BEING, I DON'T MATTER AT ALL

Fuck that. Live for the life you have.

"For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war.
We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
-Charles Bukowski

[Anonymous No.806126]

>>806103

Go do your homework, child.

[Anonymous No.806151]

Read The Bell Jar - just take it as a positive though. and don't do a sylvia plath

[Anonymous No.806155]

The answer is hedonism. Have fun.

[Anonymous No.806165]

>>806151

I have this in the mail. /lit/ talks about it enough I thought I should get around to it.

[Anonymous No.806197]

Why do we try to figure out a meaning for human life? Meaning, in essence, is a use for some purpose. The meaning of a hammer's existance, its purpose, is to hit nails. A fork's meaning, is to be used for eating. Everything around us has a use and a purpose. Except life. Existance. Why do we try to apply purpose for ourselves? We are not tools to be used. We are the users of the tools. We have the curse of awareness, and thus we observe and experience. We apply meaning on the world, but we do not need meaning, purpose.

Life is useless, meaningless, but so is death. Death is simply an end of the being that you perceive as yourself. If life has no purpose, neither does death. While there is no reason to live, neither is there reason to die.

I continue to live for the very simple reason that I do not wish for my awareness to end yet. There are books that I am waiting to be published. Games I wish to play, movies I wish to see. And even these things do not matter to me. I skip pages, I fastforward, I cheat. I look for the little moments that invoke some emotion in me. This is a petty thing to spend one's life on. But as nothing matters, even the concept of meaning does not truly matter, and purpose and meaning are absurd and paradoxical. My little flashes of emotion, as empty as they are, mean more than anything. And yet they are utterly worthless

Continued.

[Anonymous No.806199]

>>806197
Continuation.
.
Death would simply be an end to my little addictions and enjoyments, and while it would not be no great loss, there is no reason to die. And thus I live on. And in a way, I have a reason and a purpose. Regardless of how meaningless they are.

To sidetrack a bit, I'd also like to point out, that while nothing lasts forever in a way that would be satisfying to the way humans think, everything leaves a permanent mark upon the world. Unless zero can be one, and the string of cause and effect is but an illusion, we are eternal. We will die, and be forgotten, but by the very act of being born, we have affected something. And that has affected something else, and that has affected something, and so on. The string of causality, is endless, and eternal. And everything you do and you are, is a part of it. It gives life no meaning, and it is no god or afterlife, but in a way, the influence of one human being never dies or vanishes. It is a mere flicker, overshadowed by most natural effects, and forgotten and unseen by all, but nevertheless, unremovable.

[Anonymous No.806266]

>>805223

Existentialism is a trap. Why is necessary to have a meaning?

I suspect that you've recently graduated college (or are changing careers) and you're actually grappling with entitlement issues.

Every single moment in life doesn't have to drip with meaning. How about just living once in a while?

[Anonymous No.806272]

i felt the same way when i was in late high school and college, op.

best advice:
don't panic

truth:
you'll get over it.

[Anonymous No.806286]

>>806272

>best advice: don't panic

always, always this.

the fact that everything is bullshit, that nothing matters, that in the long run everything is nothing at all...means that you really shouldn't worry too much about it.

[Anonymous No.806297]

Holy crap look at all the Id in this thread.

[I am gay No.806302]

>>806286
Yep OP it it happens to everyone. There will be moments when you just want to stop existing and there will be moments when you want to live forever. No one functions as perfectly stable and we tend to oscillate between two extremes.

[Anonymous No.806318]

had one of those crises a long time ago

won't kill myself because my brother needs me

so i basically just make myself feel good in the now and don't think about consequences

eat whatever, drink whatever. who gives a shit?

just avoid all immediate pain and you'll have a good time

and as far as raising a family, if that would give you happiness, do it

[Anonymous No.806323]

its just as plausible to say that everything matters as it is to say that nothing matters. it really is up to you. to say that nothing matters then twist it into something dark is bullshit. the potential for it's opposite is just as equal but we're prone to dark thoughts on this subject matter. and that is because this subject matter tends to be important when we're dealing with a crisis. school, love lost, work, etc. also i think we're more prone to this thinking when we're younger because we have a taste for the dark when we're in that stage of disenchantment with youth when we're growing into adulthood.

[Anonymous No.806735]

i was really depressed for a while,
i think i found my solace in art, poetry mainly....
in all honesty sublimation is that way that i stay pretty happy
one quote is bitchin, and the truth
"life isn't about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself." -George Bernard Shaw

and seriously, fuck what other people do, say and think.... especially the negative stuff. you just gotta find what you love, and go for it.

but talk therapy helps sort things out, and even impatient therapy if you need intensive help... which isn't so bad i've been there before. talking and just seeing everything in your life from another perspective really is good for you sometimes. try not to let yourself cross the abyss' event horizon, it'll happen every here and there eventually but there is more to life than everything there is to life, if that makes any sense.

and finally, some things will just make you depressed...
i.e. Nietzsche

every time i read nietzsche i get really depressed like that, but what he said, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," is true... you just gotta get away from the unclean spirit and make yourself... it is also true how he said that, "it is hard to be modest as a giver." he wanted you to feel pain, because when you realize that you're in a valley you can begin to love life as it truly is after you've escaped, instead of just taking it for granted...

i hope i helped :)
may life find favor with you, my fair traveler.

[Anonymous No.806750]

>>805223
>For those of you who don't know, Catholics believe suicides go to hell.

ya'll niggers be postin' in a troll thread

[Anonymous No.806817]

>>806735
sorry, is the* way

[Anonymous No.808740]

OP here

thanks for all the responses. i am going to see a therapist on monday and talk to him about how i feel.