Darkover
Archangel
- Jul 29, 2021
- 5,649
Everyone is aware of their own mortality and the fact that not long from now, no one will know you existed. But I'd like to hear what other people think about the subject.
I have been giving more thought to the futility of life recently. No matter what we do, all will be lost at the moment of death. All the knowledge, skills, and lessons learned throughout life are all wasted upon death.
You may be a person who makes a considerable difference to later generations (for better or worse) and you may be remembered for these things by the following generations. But given a long enough timeline, all your actions and those who remember them will be forgotten (taken to the extreme - when the earth is incinerated by the sun once it has used all of its fuel). Even if the effects of your actions in life are still felt by those that have no idea who you were, or what you did, does that really matter? As far as I can see it doesn't.
Some aspects of their lives may have been influenced by you, but what sort of achievement is that? not much of one in the face of all that was lost when you died and the fact that the people you have influenced are just existing themselves without any real ultimate direction or goal. Is the goal here to somehow have a tangible effect on the following generations? it seems quite a hollow and pointless aim.
There will be no record of most of us in a short amount of time, no one will ever know we existed or what we did. Does it not follow then that life is quite futile? no matter what you do, even if it is relatively significant, it will still not really matter.
It would appear we exist merely to continue to exist. There is no goal or purpose, we just continue living for the sake of living.
Some will undoubtedly reply to this with "The purpose should be to improve the quality of others' lives" or something to that effect. But this rings hollow in light of the above. It is just life perpetuating life for the sake of it. No truly worthy reason or goal.
I have been giving more thought to the futility of life recently. No matter what we do, all will be lost at the moment of death. All the knowledge, skills, and lessons learned throughout life are all wasted upon death.
You may be a person who makes a considerable difference to later generations (for better or worse) and you may be remembered for these things by the following generations. But given a long enough timeline, all your actions and those who remember them will be forgotten (taken to the extreme - when the earth is incinerated by the sun once it has used all of its fuel). Even if the effects of your actions in life are still felt by those that have no idea who you were, or what you did, does that really matter? As far as I can see it doesn't.
Some aspects of their lives may have been influenced by you, but what sort of achievement is that? not much of one in the face of all that was lost when you died and the fact that the people you have influenced are just existing themselves without any real ultimate direction or goal. Is the goal here to somehow have a tangible effect on the following generations? it seems quite a hollow and pointless aim.
There will be no record of most of us in a short amount of time, no one will ever know we existed or what we did. Does it not follow then that life is quite futile? no matter what you do, even if it is relatively significant, it will still not really matter.
It would appear we exist merely to continue to exist. There is no goal or purpose, we just continue living for the sake of living.
Some will undoubtedly reply to this with "The purpose should be to improve the quality of others' lives" or something to that effect. But this rings hollow in light of the above. It is just life perpetuating life for the sake of it. No truly worthy reason or goal.
