Are we all living meaningless lives within humanities artificial constructs?
Why do we need to live our lives to the fullest potential? I have done many things and achieved no real sense of satisfaction from them. I've become bored with pleasure and with pain. What does it really matter if you can achieve anything, help somebody else or believe in yourself? Recently I have been trying many new things in the hope of discovering a new desire or something novel that I will find something worth pursuing and ultimately fulfilling. I have worked for many charities as a volunteer; I have studied and practiced religions, finance and the sciences. I have utilized many of these tools and I've also developed good social skills that have helped me get better and better jobs right up to becoming a wealthy director of my own companies. To add to the conditioned social framework I have also engaged in creative pursuits like drawing, music, drama, authoring and sculpture. Now I am not claiming to be the best in any of these pursuits. It's important to me that I've tried them and experienced them for myself in my quest to discover something I'm actually interested in. Something with enough gravity to convince me life has any real meaning. I am 40 now and I've had plenty of stimulation in my life. Everything from sex to drugs to rock and roll. I've engaged in public speaking and also in meditation and yogic breathing. I don't want to do these things any more because they become totally boring in their addictiveness. I've experimented with sex and social relationships extensively and it all leads to boredom in the end. Especially when you're making someone else happy. The outcome of all these experiences I conclude to be pointless, apart from proving I am addicted to selfishness. I still draw a giant blank when I think about my life and everybody else’s. I think other people must be in denial if they think playing a violin, being a celebrity, preaching like a pope or running a country actually has a point in this vast universe. They're all artificial and abstract. The only mean anything to the artificial fabric of humanity. I mean we all engage ourselves in what are essentially meaningless activities for what reason? It only means something to us because we pretend it has. The universe doesn't care about humanity or idea about meaning. Great stars devour and destroy each other all over the universe. If nature wants to eradicate us with something like a huge volcanic eruption or if we do it to ourselves with global warming or GM foods it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter if you are Mother Teresa, John Travolta, Tiger Woods, Mozart, Einstein or the nobody next door. Legacy ultimately stands for nothing apart from in the artificial minds of human collective memory. Ultimately nothing is fulfilling to anybody because whatever you and your society create will be loved and hated at the same time. Think of everything; population explosion, war, religion, politics, capitalism, consumerism, GM foods, drugs, antibiotics, pesticides, consumerism. It would take 8 planet earths to give everybody the same lifestyle that we have in the developed world and I'm nowhere near happy. The fact that so many people are starving in Africa, India and Indonesia is because they're growing food for us (those with money and power). Also because we're turning their worlds into desert through deforestation and water shortages so they can grow crops to support our artificial way of life; for us to have furniture and fuel for our cars. What a pointless world? Even if everybody had equal access to resources the point of living in the grand universe is still pointless. We are all in this rat run working jobs most of us hate to buy things most of us don't need. It's a living nightmare. So we may amuse ourselves with gadgets and technology other human life gets ignored. So what's the point? Collectively we are doing a pretty good job of destroying the only known environment for our future generations so there's no real purpose to our lives. Even if we did clean up our act for future generations, unimaginable events in the future are bound to wipe us out like the 99.9% of all previous life that existed on Earth that's now extinct. The Sun stops shining one day and we'll all cease to exist. If it's all hopeless then our existence is futile so what's the point. Any advice out there for somebody like me or am I just mad?
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered - 6 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
In the end, we are all nothing but dust. So, since I am constructed to act in ways that I find personally fulfilling and pleasurable, I will do so. It is clear (to me) that neither I nor anyone else has ever been given the meaning of life, so until that happens, I'm just going to wing it.
2 :
I have days like that and even whole years when I have felt that way. But the Tibetans have a proverb that says (loosely translated) "the more I try to make myself happy, the unhappier I become, The more I try to make others happy, the happier I become." The key is to stop being self-absorbed. Forget about yourself or what makes you happy. Instead make the focus on making someone else happy. It may be little things like smiling at someone, letting an elderly person go before you in a store line, etc. Or you can choose some causes that you are passionate about. It took me a while but I found two I really like. Teresa Charity (non-denominational) that provides bags of rice to the elderly and sick in Vietnam and Cambodia. For $21 a month, you can feed 7 people. The overhead is almost nothing. I enjoy thinking of how many people are eating today because I wanted to help. I remind myself every day that some people don't have enough to eat. But that is only sending money and I wanted to do more. So I found Thistle Farms. It's a working lavendar farm where products are made from the harvests. The women are former prostitutes, drug addicts, abused, etc. It's a live-in recovery program that teaches them behavior modification, life skills, coping methods but also teaches them how to run a business, write a resume, get jobs, dress for success, etc. Upon graduation, they are assisted with jobs and a place to live and on-going support. They have a very high success rate because of the multiple programs involved. I can help with other things besides money. I can teach a business class, help with selecting clothes, find donors for the various needs; it's one where I can get really get involved and make a difference in someone's life. Plus I can use my imagination. Like putting together Easter baskets for the women. Most have never had one. I'm not pushing my charities but just telling you what worked for me. Every day I think of other people, not just myself. I'm set. I've done just about everything I've wanted to. So what else is there? I can share what I have or what I have learned as well. You have to really think about what makes you passionate. What would make you love to get up in the morning and get going? Then do that thing.
3 :
indeed, there is no point in life, once we're dead, everything will not matter anymore. but what can we do? it's either live or die. but all our actions are determined by what we are made up of chemically, not our free will (as our free will is not in our control) that's why most of us choose life. no you're not mad... nor are you wrong. the only way the believe your life has meaning, is with hope or belief in the afterlife.
4 :
yes yes yes. *nods head* wanna cookie??*gives you cookie*
5 :
I think about this stuff too. Sometimes it makes me feel like I'm leading a purposeful life by helping others. Then I realize how self-centered even that is. We help others to feel better about our lives, to get a sense of pride in what good people we are. lol This is all true. There is no point to any of it. It's mind-boggling really. ☼
6 :
We all may be living within the artificial constructs of human society, but that does not mean that the life being lived is meaningless.
