How do you live life without seeking for meaning?

[BrokenByTheSystem]

I'm posting it here but I admit it has some tone of "recovery", I'm just afraid of getting blind generic optimistic answers in the other sub-forum.

I think I'm slowly accepting life has no meaning, my whole life I was thirsty for meaning, I couldn't stand the ideia that everything is pointless, there's no real objective and the only possible objectives in life are made up by ourselves.

I just watched a very good pessimistic philosophy video and it's beyond my comprehension how old philosophers like Schopenhauer could live and find the energy to write so many books while being plenty aware of the lack of meaning on life. I'd really like to understand what kind of strength drove them to do what they did.

I'd like to live a life like that, but it feels like my programming doesn't allow it, I need meaning, I'm thirsty for meaning, I don't want to live if meaning doesn't exist, that's basically what's slowly driving me to suicide.

There's no point on making up a meaning, why would I just build my own illusion just for the sake of keeping myself on this tortured existence? No I can't, I always stood for the truth, I won't make part of this madness.

 

[somethingisntreal]

I just try to drown out my thoughts by consuming a hundred different forms of media at the same time. Something like a hedonistic treadmill. Being able to think feels like a curse sometimes. I wouldn't call it recovery but this is how I've managed to keep myself alive since last year when I had planned to ctb in November. I just try not to think about anything.

 

[Hollowman]

I do it by being dissociated constantly. I used to be obsessed with finding meaning and my mind broke. Can't care about it al all anymore.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Life still revolves around cause and effect though. We know that for a fact. If we don't do certain things to maintain our health- we suffer. That can also include making sure that our brains are occupied. Pursuing a talent or honing a skill can be one way to do that. In the grand scheme of things- it probably doesn't matter that much but for us- it may mean that our brain was occupied the past few hours. So- had less chance to dwell on ideation.

I also struggle with the idea of nihilism really. Do nihilists really not care if they are starving or comfortably full? Freezing cold or at a comfortable temperature? Covered in sores or clean and healthy? Surely how they feel affects them? Which would indicate that certain things do in fact matter. Surely- their emotional state matters to them to some extent? In which case- the things required to maintain a bearable emotional state matter too.

Presumably- writers write in order to earn money as well as to express themselves. In order to buy food, afford to wash and afford shelter.

I tend to wonder if the majority of nihilists here have their basic needs taken care of by someone else. In which case, they aren't quite so affected by cause and effect.

 

[pika401]

might be a silly answer but the Netflix series Alice in Borderland gave me a good explanation of why people would want to live without a reason

 

[eggsausagerice]

the Netflix series Alice in Borderland

i have too many shows i'll never have the opportunity to finish because i'm ctbing. i've wanted to watch alice in borderland for years now but i seem to be so lazy. i really loved the concept when i watched the first season in high school.

response to op: i used to look for meaning in high school through philosophy and novels, then in college i tried to find meaning through people, but i realized that i'll never truly find meaning in anything because i see everything as inherently pointless. but i do things like talk to my friends or continue to do my hobbies because they give me pleasure in a meaningless world.

since i was young i've though that my baseline self offers nothing to the world and the only way i can benefit it is by being useful to other people. that kind of thinking is what lead to me being manipulated very often. i think the most freeing thing a person can do is stop trying to find meaning in the first place, because if you're analyzing the meaning of everything in your life it'll always be intellectualized and compared to something else instead of appreciated in it's pure form.

Do nihilists really not care if they are starving or comfortably full? Freezing cold or at a comfortable temperature? Covered in sores or clean and healthy? Surely how they feel affects them? Which would indicate that certain things do in fact matter.

i figure that every nihilist will stop being nihilistic when something inconveniences them. bedrotting has become a global phenomenon because of the nihilism having everything you could ever want to watch, read, or brows, be right on your fingertips instills in you. i've always wondered if i would actually care if i lost my vision or jumped into traffic and became paralyzed completely. would it matter to me at all or would i just see it as another reason to commit suicide rather than something that actually impacts my life, because everything seems inherently pointless to me? i figure that nihilists will always prefer personal comfort because there isn't any reason to make yourself suffer by staying out in the cold or deliberately starving yourself. i undereat often out of apathy, but dizziness and headaches are the main thing to motivate me rather than the pleasure of eating.