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What to do when life is known to be pointless

Kiddo

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It's hard to imagine a pointless existence when I can always find or make purpose in my life. Reality is what you make of it, after all.
 

Eileen

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Life is only pointless if you decide that it is. And at that point, I'm not sure what you do. Make one up, maybe? I suspect that our brains are wired to look for meaning, so perhaps the search could be the purpose (though that might get old).

Life isn't pointless because, even if nothing matters ultimately, lots of things matter right now, in this moment. I know we're not debating that point... but that's the conclusion that I've come to regarding how to react to sneaking pointlessness.
 

Mole

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Arrested Psycho-Social Development and Depression

Depression is one of the leading causes of illness in the Western world.

And when one is depressed life seems pointless.

And when we are depressed our life seems empty of meaning.

In part this is because we are locked inside of our ego.

Of course it is necessary to develop our ego and it takes about 22 years of struggle to fully develop our ego - and you could say, it is our most valuable possession.

However after it is fully developed, it can become a trap because it has been a life goal for 22 years and once we have reached the goal, it is pointless to continue to attend to our ego - by this stage we should be able to take it for granted.

And now taking our ego for granted, we can move on to other things rich in meaning.

But we remain impoverished and trapped - attending to our ego - a part of us that no longer needs attention.

No wonder life seems pointless.

Victor.
 

Nadir

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Well, if you feel life is pointless, you may consider ending it. Easier said than done, but I have a feeling that death might just make for a good change...

I think the real problem is that we humans are organisms with certain physical and psychological needs (like food, sleep, different kinds of feedback from stimuli etc.), and to live for, say, "the sake of living" would require the sustainment of these needs, at least. And nowadays no one can do that without engaging the outside world (which the person may or may not be interested in) in some fashion. Sure you can feed yourself every day, sleep, and if you want do drugs, be a video game addict, whatever -- but if you're not swimming in money, you'll eventually run out of it. At that point you'll be required to get a job and make more money so that you're able to continue your individual lifestyle. And that's where the pointlessness stems from -- you have to forcefully invest yourself in an external order just to continue exercising your right (and retaining your capabilities) to live as you want. Wonders of modern civilization, but what's one to do? So in our spare time and when we feel our backs are finally to the wall we pretty much gather all our thoughts together and try to reframe them in some sort of composition that makes sense to us and engages our personal world view, whatever it might be. In other words, we try to live with a purpose, a higher belief, and most importantly, we convince ourselves of it so that it doesn't crumble to dust all around us. It's hardly an ideal way of living, but we get by. Mostly.
 

Journey

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What do you mean it isn't meant for everyone? As a human being, is it possible to find satisfaction apart from the glory of God?

What I mean by not everyone can have as the point of their life "To Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever," is that God didn't choose everyone/everyone doesn't choose to have Him as the point of their life.

If you define satisfaction as the dictionary does, as "a state of having put away doubt and uncertainty" then no, I think those living with a Postmodern worldview will find it is not possible to find satisfaction, period. Postmodernism boiled down to its essence is a lack of certainty about everything. It's the tendency to dismiss the possibiity of any sure and settled knowledge of the truth. Strong convictions about any point of truth are judged supremely arrogant and hopelessly naive. Certainty is regarded as inherently eletist, intolerant, oppressive and therefore, wrong. Any degree of certainty has begun to sound offensive to people's postmodern ears. Everyone has his own distinct truth. That's one of the reasons Christians are judged so harshly. (some taken from R.C. Sproul, Lifeviews, Revell, 1986.)

What is truth? God and truth are inseparable. Every thought about the essence of truth--what it is, what makes it "true," and how we can possibly know anything for sure, quickly moves us back to God. That is why God incarnate--Jesus Christ--is called the truth (John 14:6). That is also why it is not particularly surprising when someone who repudiates God (the consistent agnostic, the atheist, the humanist) they reject the truth as well. If a person can't tolerate the thought of God, there is simply no comfortable place for the concept of truth in that person's worldview either. Without truth, life becomes meaningless. "Ecclesiastes 12:8-12 says, If what I have written, serve not to convince thee of the vanity of the world, and the necessity of being religious, neither wouldst thou be convinced if I should write ever so much." If the end be not attained in the use of those books of scripture which God has Blessed us with, neither should we obtain the end, if we had twice as many more; nay, if we had so many that the whole world could not contain them (John 21:25), and much study of them would but confound us, and would rather be a weariness to the flesh than any advantage to the soul. We have as much as God saw fit to give us, saw fit for us, and saw us fit for. (from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc.)

The point to life is God. He is the meaning giver. He is the source of truth and reality.

When I first came on this forum I filled out the questionnaire biography you are asked to do when you introduce yourself. I immediately went through all those biographies and looked at "religion" vs "point of life." I would say 95% or more were Godless and 75% or more though there was no point to life. I cried for a long time. Thinking that there was no point to life led me to the point of Major Depression, Severe with Suicidal Ideation, no hope, no reason to go on, for years, years ago. I've been there. Thinking people take the equation of life trapped on this side of the "wall" without God to it's ultimate conclusion that life is meaningless and suicide is the ultimate answer. With God the answer is unity with our diversity. Universals with our particulars. Absolutes and not just relativity. Standards, morals, values, reality, truth, things that really are, logic, rationality. E. pluribus unum instead of E. pluribus pluribus, one nation under God, out of the many, one, not out of the many, many.

God has stepped through the "wall" between the absolute, the universal, the unseen through divine revelation. Revelation through nature about Himself, through our consciences about His truth (and moral code), through His Word, and most especially by His Son. He has taken the initiative to break into the world on this side of the "wall" and reveal absolute truth to us.

Two thousand years of accumulated Christian scholarship has been basically consistent on all the major issues: The Bible is the authoritative Word of God, containing every spiritual truth essential to God's glory, our salvation, faith, and eternal life. Scripture tells us that all humanity fell in Adam, and our sin is a perfect bondage from which we cannot extricate ourselves. Jesus is God incarnate, having taken on human flesh to pay the price of sin and redeem believing men and women from sin's bondage. Salvation is by grace through faith, and not a result of any works we do. Christ is the only Savior for the whole world and apart from faith in Him there is no hope of redemption for any sinner. (from John MacArthur, The Truth War, Nelson, 2007.)

Some Christians would tell you that God has a wonderful plan for your life (and He does if you decide to accept His Son as your Lord and Savior), but "wonderful" is misleading. It also costs to be His disciple. But it is worth it. There is abundant hope in this life and especially because of the next. I didn't say the point of life was "To Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever" for no reason. The retirement plan for a Christian is out of this world!
 
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suzyk

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I sometimes see life as pointless, but I know that even if you die without doing anything, you did serve some sort of purpose in the world. I agree with the first few posts that you build your own reality, you create your own point and meaning. So live life however you want to, you're a human, and on the top of the food chain. If you just sit around all the time contemplating about how pointless life is, you're just making it more pointless by yourself. I agree that it's pretty hard to do something worthy in your life. But at least continue on, don't let a little thought disrupt your life.
 

sriv

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Nihilism is the ultimate truth because God is a delusion.

Humans are carriers of genetic information. It is our duty to pass on this genetic information to our posterity and improve it. This is the meaning of human life. We might as well enjoy ourselves in our life so we attempt to put other meaning in it that makes us feel better. We also attempt to obtain superficial things such as power, love, and understanding. What is the point? When you are dead, it will not matter. It is meaningful to obtain knowledge so you can test the quality of your genes and make sure that the government is supervising this improvement. The person can try to theorize why this is our destiny, by suggesting an alien race created us and is monitoring us like we monitor ant farms. It will not make any difference. IMO the first living thing was a coincidence and it has gradual improved to make the human race. Our duty is to become greater, that has always been the goal, and it still is.
 

Mole

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The Massage is the Message

The meaning of a civilization is its mythos.

So the individual does not confer meaning on a civilization, rather the mythos of a civilization confers meaning on the individual.

So to look at meaning from the individual point of view shows only meaninglessness.

For a people without a mythos, life is meaningless.
For a people ignorant of history, life is meaningless.

Wherever they look, they can see life is not only pointless, but known to be pointless.

This is the high point of individualism.

Fortunately our civilization is moving from the literate individual to the electronic group.

For instance, we are an electronic group - we are in touch with one another electronically.

Rather than being isolated readers of books, we are in touch with one another - we are touching one another electronically.

I hear your feeling and emotions in real time and you hear mine.

This is why flaming is forbidden here - because we now wear our electronic nervous system on the outside - we register the slightest touch.

Only a short time ago it took three months for a letter to reach me, now you can reach me instantaneously.

So in a way, you are massaging me with each message.

And the massage is the message.

Victor.
 

Eileen

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When life is known to be pointless, make it beautiful. (This fulfills Eileen's pithiness quota for the day.)
 

Noel

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Nihilism is the ultimate truth because God is a delusion.

Humans are carriers of genetic information. It is our duty to pass on this genetic information to our posterity and improve it. This is the meaning of human life. We might as well enjoy ourselves in our life so we attempt to put other meaning in it that makes us feel better. We also attempt to obtain superficial things such as power, love, and understanding. What is the point? When you are dead, it will not matter. It is meaningful to obtain knowledge so you can test the quality of your genes and make sure that the government is supervising this improvement. The person can try to theorize why this is our destiny, by suggesting an alien race created us and is monitoring us like we monitor ant farms. It will not make any difference. IMO the first living thing was a coincidence and it has gradual improved to make the human race. Our duty is to become greater, that has always been the goal, and it still is.

In other words, Active Nihilism.

The active nihilist sees freedom whereas the passive nihilist sees absurdity or meaninglessness.
 

Councilor

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When I realize that life is meaningless, there is a high chance my energy reserves are low and my body requires sleep.
 

Mole

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The Meaning of Meaning.

Nihilism is the ultimate truth because God is a delusion.

If we perceive by making distinctions, we are a meaning creating animal.

If in the very act of seeing the world, we make distinctions, we by necessity create meaning.

In other words, we see the world through meaning.

So as long as we are alive, the world is mediated to us through meaning.

And ironically, we can't even perceive a meaningless world except through meaning.

This opens up some very interesting questions such as can we ever see the world directly? Or are we condemned for ever to live in meaning? Is there any escape from meaning?

Is meaning simply a mediation between us and the world?

Is this the meaning of meaning?

V.
 

cheap

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Great post, Victor! :)

Meaning itself, conceiving meaning of everything, no matter how arbitrary or seemingly meaningless, is the driving purpose in my life.
 

Nocapszy

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Seriously I don't get it.

Why does there have to be a point to life?
 

sriv

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If we perceive by making distinctions, we are a meaning creating animal.

If in the very act of seeing the world, we make distinctions, we by necessity create meaning.

In other words, we see the world through meaning.

So as long as we are alive, the world is mediated to us through meaning.

And ironically, we can't even perceive a meaningless world except through meaning.

This opens up some very interesting questions such as can we ever see the world directly? Or are we condemned for ever to live in meaning? Is there any escape from meaning?

Is meaning simply a mediation between us and the world?

Is this the meaning of meaning?

V.

:shock: The meaning of meaning. LOL I like it. Let's all take the average of the averages :).

But I do agree that individuals put their own meaning in their lives because meaning is subjective. People can CHOOSE to be delusional. That is alright (it doesn't really matter anyway).
 

Synapse

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When everything seems pointless I start drifting and become even more spaced out than normal.
 
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