Discussion Do you ever feel like our lives mean nothing

[GodisanAtheist]

And we;'re all working to oblivion?

DISCUSS

 

[BoomerD]

Your life means nothing to me…my life only matters to me and my wife…and there’s been times in our 50 years together when I wasn’t too sure about her.

In the end…none of us get out of life alive…and in 100 years, no one will remember us. (Most of us anyway…some of us will live in infamy forever)

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Y'all are living furniture. My wife and kids (and my sister if I'm gettin soft) are what matters. In. The. End.

 

[nOOky]

If by that you mean we're all just barely existing and struggling until we die, you're correct. Every single human will die and will never be remembered given enough time. It seems most of humanity on Earth fights merely to survive, and some have it rather good, but don't realize that and just waste their lives until the end. On a grander scale countries merely fight to exist also, some providing opportunity for its citizens to succeed, some depressing its citizenry because of control.

It's really depressing that the bulk of humanity cares nothing for preserving the human race or seeking out better living conditions, but in holding power or money. I guess that's why it's so true that the universe doesn't give two shits about you, so you may as well live it up while you are here. People that live a good life and take care of others meet the same end anyway.

 

[lxskllr]

Yea, it's pretty much all pointless. You do it just to do it.

 

[pete6032]

Working toward oblivion yes. Not to oblivion. Nearly all of humanity and the sum of our individual choices are slowly pushing the world climate to disaster and our own potential extinction. Yet nobody will do anything about it. Tragedy of the commons.

 

[Chaotic42]

Wait, you guys actually think you're real? Man, this simulation is better than the sales guy said.

 

[brianmanahan]

how can mirrors be real if our eyes aren't real

 

[biostud]

In the greater context sure, but when I'm with my family everything is fin at it's all that matters anyways for as long as this life/simulation runs.

 

[sandorski]

Ever look at a Historical event, person, or peoples and go, "That's interesting?". That's what your Life is for.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

"Haven't we done enough. We're so self-important. So self-important. Everybody's gonna save something now. Save the trees. Save the bees. Save the whales. Save those snails. And the greatest arrogance of all, save the planet. What? Are these fucking people kidding me? Save the planet? We don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven't learned how to care for one another and we're gonna save the fucking planet? I'm getting tired of that shit, tired of that shit, tired. I'm tired of fucking Earth Day. I'm tired of these self-righteous environmentalists. These white, bourgeois, liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren't enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don't give a shit about the planet, they don't care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don't. You know what they're interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They're worried some day in the future they might be personally inconvenienced.

Narrow, unenlightened self interest doesn't impress me. Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The people are fucked. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. You ever think about the arithmetic? Planet has been here four and a half billion years and we've been here what, a hundred thousand, maybe two hundred thousand. And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion, and we have the conceit to think that somehow we're a threat. That somehow we're gonna put into jeopardy this beautiful little blue green ball that's just a floating around the sun. The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, world wide floods, tidal waves, world wide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages, and we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference. The planet isn't going anywhere. We are! We're going away. Pack your shit folks. We're going away and we won't leave much of a trace either. Thank god for that. Maybe a little Styrofoam. Maybe. The planet will be here and we'll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance. You want to know how the planet's doing? Ask those people in Pompeii who are frozen into position, from volcanic ash, how the planet's doing. Want to know if the planet's alright just ask those people in Mexico City, or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble if they feel like a threat to a planet this week.

The planet will be here for a long, long, long time after we're gone. And it will heal itself. It will cleanse itself, because that's what it does. It's a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover. The earth will be renewed. And if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm, the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place - it wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it, needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old philosophical question, why are we here? Plastic, assholes."

— George Carlin, 197Something

 

[BurnItDwn]

Y'all are living furniture.

So say the cats.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I think a measure of how meaningful your life was is how many folks show up to your funeral. Now, I suspect a number of you will reply 'hurr durr no one will be at mine, hurr hurr just throw me into a ditch', and that's fine. But from my own personal experience, it's hard for me to see 300+ people show up to my parents' funerals and think that their lives weren't impactful/very meaningful.

But yeah, if you're a prick your life is pretty meaningless and you've likely negatively impacted those around you.

 

[repoman0]

I think it’s how many trees you’ve planted. They could be around for a thousand years solidifying carbon, improving ecosystems, providing habitats and enjoyed by generations of people. Everybody at our funerals will be forgotten a hundred years later.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I think a measure of how meaningful your life was is how many folks show up to your funeral. Now, I suspect a number of you will reply 'hurr durr no one will be at mine, hurr hurr just throw me into a ditch', and that's fine. But from my own personal experience, it's hard for me to see 300+ people show up to my parents' funerals and think that their lives weren't impactful/very meaningful.

But yeah, if you're a prick your life is pretty meaningless and you've likely negatively impacted those around you.

Doesn't matter if 10,000 people show up and you get a dozen statues and buildings named after you.

In the grand scheme of nature, no humans matter. We are bacteria, parasites, dust.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sometimes it feels this way, especially with the current system and if you just remain a cog in it.

Go to school for a big chunk of your life, so you can prepare to go to work for an even bigger chunk of your life, so you can have just enough money to survive, while the rest goes to a mafia that spends it on what they want while they tell you how to live. Then throw inflation into the mix to squeeze you even further every year so what little extra money you have is less and less. Eventually you're too old to work so you have to sell everything you have and downsize. Then you die. The system is designed to ensure you never really have any extra money or free time until you're too old to enjoy it.

The trick to make life more meaningful is to break out of that system, but it's not easy and does require more upfront work, but it can be rewarding in the end and make life more meaningful if you succeed.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

There are no cogs in the great machine of nature. Cogs are an invention of we, the parasitic annoyance known to ourselves as humans.

 

[nakedfrog]

What is "meaning" in the context of life? Why is impacting people after you've perished more "meaningful" than impacting people when you're still alive? Is it just the notion that in some way you'll persist after you're gone? That's the same kind of ruse they use to sucker people into organized religion.
No, I do think our lives mean something, if we want them to. If you live as if they don't, don't be surprised if it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Life is for the living, touch others while you still can, because it won't be long before you can't.

Now g'wan kid, ya bother me!

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

A human and a blade of grass.

Both 'life'.

Neither more important than the other.



Blades of grass far outnumber humans though.

 

[nakedfrog]

A human and a blade of grass.

Both 'life'.

Neither more important than the other.



Blades of grass far outnumber humans though.

Forget grass, look at ants. They outnumber us 2.5 million to 1.

 

[WelshBloke]

Sometimes it feels this way, especially with the current system and if you just remain a cog in it.

Go to school for a big chunk of your life, so you can prepare to go to work for an even bigger chunk of your life, so you can have just enough money to survive, while the rest goes to a mafia that spends it on what they want while they tell you how to live. Then throw inflation into the mix to squeeze you even further every year so what little extra money you have is less and less. Eventually you're too old to work so you have to sell everything you have and downsize. Then you die. The system is designed to ensure you never really have any extra money or free time until you're too old to enjoy it.

The trick to make life more meaningful is to break out of that system, but it's not easy and does require more upfront work, but it can be rewarding in the end and make life more meaningful if you succeed.

You're young with no dependents. You should go travelling for a year or so. You're too young to sound that jaded!

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Forget grass, look at ants. They outnumber us 2.5 million to 1.

And they're more intelligent than we realize.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You're young with no dependents. You should go travelling for a year or so. You're too young to sound that jaded!

With what time and money? Bills have to be paid and need a job for that. My goal is to continue working on my off grid land and once it's in a state where I can move there then I can sell the house and move there, and my costs of living will be super low, then I won't need a full time job anymore, and can actually live life. That's how I plan to break out of the system. Takes lot of initial work though and it's tough with limited time, but will be worth it.

 

[Muse]

Whatever you think it's more than that, more than that.

 

[Greenman]

This is all far to existential for me.
Life is getting your hair cut every two weeks and watching your neighbor fall off his roof.