Discussion If you got to choose to start your life from the beginning or to stop completely existing, what would you choose?

[Nymph]

Stop existing unless I can start life all over and be some kind of different species

 

[Dookieshoes]

Starting at level 1 would kind of suck though.... Can I get a cheat code to skip to level 20ish?

 

[Starseedchip]

Starting over. I would love to have all the knowledge I have now. Obviously it's only in hindsight that I know what choices I should have made. Even though I've been sad majority of my life I still had fun in child/young adulthood. I would give anything to be a relatively carefree 14 year old again.

 

[builtwrong]

Absolutely I would choose not to exist. I'm going to die whether I live a happy life or not, and to me happiness that needs not have existed cannot make up for suffering that needs not have existed as well. No matter the ratio, I just can't find living to be worth it in any case

 

[zeroshark]

if i was guaranteed different circumstances for my restart? absolutely id take it. i could always still CTB if it didnt work out. otherwise? stop existing, no question about it.

 

[Sweet Release]

I would love to be able to live my life all over again BUT knowing what I know now.
That way all the pain, defeat and regret which is my life now could have been avoided and things could have worked out better.

However, if its just starting over with no insight then I would rather just not exist.
The pain just isn't worth it.

 

[Ghost2211]

For sure stop existing. I wouldn't want to go through the childhood hell again.

 

[Checkmate3]

For some crazy reason, my life is ruled by some terrible circumstances I have absolutely no control over, so stop existing one.

 

[ERASED]

Never existed hate life.

 

[sadworld]

i would chose to not exist because i dont know what i would do differently and i dont want everything to happen again.

 

[montana007]

Interesting question this and something I've pondered for a good while now.

I'd have to say yes I'd do it all over again subject to the provisos that I retained everything I've learnt over the years and had the free will to make different choices in certain instances.

The conundrum: if this was possible would you end up being the same person? In my case I have come to accept the mistakes I've made (and it's taken a while for me to understand and accept that such mistakes made were actually justified in some instances and in other instances even fun). And I have actually come to like who I am (although I know quite a few people who would disagree with my notion but I've also finally come to the realization that those people can go and get fucked). I just don't like where I've ended up in life (and this mainly due to certain circumstances or events within the last two or so years that really were beyond my control nor was I the cause of such).

If you're talking about a TOTAL reset i.e. start from the beginning, knowing nothing, and taking a gamble on how your life MAY turn out: well then I'd have to say no thanks.

Of course and if you're that way inclined and bring theism into this: well then that changes the picture somewhat. Many believe that all of this is just a "test" and that we "chose" our path before we even arrived here. I've spent the better part of a year trying to make some sense of the theist vs. atheist points of view on this (where we come from, why we're here, and where we're going after death). Sadly: the atheist points of view are winning the battle at the moment. With all the stories and posts I've read of people who have had the most horrendous of childhoods and torrid lives: if it were true that this was all a "test" and that we "chose" our path well then those people are either far braver that I, more stupid and illogical than I'll ever be, or masochists (or, at the very outset, their "reward" at the end will be greater than mine).

There's also the reincarnation argument though which I find interesting (although my personal "jury" is still in deliberations on this issue so I cannot contribute much more on this).

Anyway. If anything I've posted above resonates with you or you could be bothered to be looking for possible answers (but with the warning that it may confuse matters even more and detract from the topic at hand) then take a look, on YouTube, at some of the lectures and presentations by Christopher Hitchens or debates between Christopher Hitchens and [insert name of theist here]. Richard Dawkins being notable as well.

 

[airboy_a380]

Would chose never to be even born.

 

[Emily123]

i would started it from beginning

 

[cantbe]

It was only a really short while ago that my life changed for the worse. I'd give anything to change time just before that happened to me a few months ago. Because otherwise I'd be happy to relive my life :(

 

[woxihuanni]

I'd be tempted to start over purely for revenge, but it's not worth the trouble

 

[Wisdom3_1-9]

Definitely in the minority here, but I'd like to start over, assuming I had knowledge of my past life. Another factor is whether I start over in 1982 or in 2020. My life growing up would be very different if I was a teenager in the 2030s as opposed to the 1990s. There are pros and cons to both. But, honestly, I wish I could have another go, if for no other reason than to see if things could've worked out differently or if I was always destined to fail.

 

[InevitablePattern91]

I would choose to start my life again but being aware of the mistakes I did in this life to avoid repeating them.

 

[Toptock]

Stop existing. There's nothing in human history worth justifying my existence here, and there's nothing in my future capable of providing the kind of ripple that would validate my life.

 

[greekyfish10]

i would choose stop existing because i fucked up my life from the beginning i've done a million horrible things and the chances of things just being worse if i started over are very high.

 

[thethatsitboy]

I would choose to start it again.
Not to change things (a little bit, yeah), but to live it again. Those glorious days

 

[efilist]

Being 43 and having an opinion:
It's an interesting thought experiment....
One of the problems as I see it, going back wouldn't undo the slavery of childhood. And If you had the knowledge you have now and went back, you would be aware of how little patience you have for faulty parenting. If you could pick your parents it might be interesting, but then you wouldn't be YOU, and as another poster pointed out you'd just be trading one set of problems for another. Even if you could see the blind spots in the mistakes you made, you couldn't see other mistakes waiting to happen. So many variables you can't control by going back, like the environment you grew up in. You could re-pick your friends but not your family. I don't see the value in living the same life over again, although if I could erase a few key terrible experiences and choices, and still be in the present I might. I suspect I would still have found myself on this forum however. All in all, I would pick never having existed over living my life over, if only given those two choices.

 

[samsrt96]

Stop existing. I have such a privileged life in terms of education, finances, materialism etc. It doesn't make a difference. If I start again there's always a risk I end up feeling this way. And I wouldn't even take that risk at 1%

 

[TimeToBiteTheDust]

It depends if I knew the mistakes I'd made previously and I knew what to expect and what to not do wrong. Otherwise I wouldn't wanna go through this and make the same mistakes again.

Same

 

[AfraidofEverything]

I used to think about what I'd do if I got a second chance. I'd still be me with all my issues and the grind would be the same.

I'd rather not exist, I liked not existing because I didn't exist to like or not like it. It sucka I have to be conscious every day.

 

[Lupgevif]

To stop. Because this species has no future in this planet.

 

[timeisnigh]

The benefits of a happy life don't outweigh the risks of a sad one.

Truth

 

[Rn110bg101]

I'd rather never have existed, if I restarted I'd just end up doing the same things again—and even if I remember and am able to avoid redoing it, either I will unwillingly or my memories will just corrupt me right back.

Now, if I could restart and be someone entirely new—in another country, born a guy in a good family without all my mental problems—I would. Maybe I'd enjoy this planet then.

 

[dec132013]

If I could be 4 and under on a loop sure, but after that everything would just go down hill again lmaoo. I was completely fine for billions of years when I wasn't here

 

[Blackpoolbootz]

Live my life again made different decistions. If it still was a screw up I could face oblivion knowing nothing I could have done differently to make things better. When the road to the left and right leads to the same destination your can't blame yourself for going the wrong way.

 

[Drrmun]

I would stop existing for sure, not much I can change