Is the idea of creating your own meaning in life unsatisfactory to anyone else?

[Close_to_freedom]

I struggled with the meaning of life for years. I eventually discovered that life has no meaning and you have to make your own. My goals and hobbies aren't good enough. They're just something to pass the time. A life with inherent meaning is the only life worth living, I think.

 

[warinmymind]

I feel the same, life is mundane and painful with tiny, small and fleeting moments of happiness- and only if you're lucky at that. It's a struggle to find a reason to go on and fight tooth and nail for that tiny amount of happiness amongst all the boredom and misery.

 

[Epsilon0]

I wouls gladly revert to a state of "uncritical" thinking if it meant regaining my blind faith in god and a preordained meaning of my life.

Unfortunately, nothing short of serious damage to my brain would be enough to make me believe again.

 

[Close_to_freedom]

I wouls gladly revert to a state of "uncritical" thinking if it meant regaining my blind faith in god and a preordained meaning of my life.

Unfortunately, nothing short of serious damage to my brain would be enough to make me believe again.

One can't untaste the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Meaning only has value of you ascribe it yourself.
There are consensus views that may make some feel comfortable, but the value of ascribed meaning is in the personal interpretation of it.
I understand why people seek intrinsic meaning, but the very idea of it sounds preposterous to me, it actually devalues the idea of meaning itself.

 

[RepressedMind]

I think it's easier not to think about what the meaning of life is and to base your life around that, but to find out what you enjoy in life and to make that your meaning.

Evolutionarily speaking the meaning of life is just for the species to survive.

 

[lostangel]

To me yes. Knowing that to have any sort of meaning in my life I will have to create it makes me feel like it wouldn't be the same as life had a meaning and I had to fulfil that.

But it also opens up the possibility that life can be anything I want it to be.

 

[BitterlyAlive]

I don't know if I'm going to make sense, but I was thinking about this today. I was thinking about how empty and meaningless my life is. There's one or two people I desperately want to tell this to, but I know they'll respond with "Then it's the perfect opportunity to create your own meaning!"

I mean....it's true. But what if I don't want any of it? I don't even want to live. It really bothers me because I just know I'll have it shoved down my throat. I dunno.

 

[moonchild]

@BitterlyAlive I relate a lot to that. I don't know if this is exactly what you were getting at, sorry if it's not, but my main problem with possibly recovering is probably that I don't see meaning in anything, so for every idea, my brain supplements a "ok... but why?". And then people come and say I can find something meaningful that I care about, or like you said, create it. But I don't really want it if I have to fight for it like that? I also find it annoying that people jump straight to the find/create meaning as a solution, when that feels so far away for me.

If you don't mind answering, what do you feel would be a helpful response from them, if you did tell them?

 

[Philosykos]

I'm not an expert on philosophy, so those who know more about it than me can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I've watched a bit of PhilosophyTube's videos and found Albert Camus rather interesting. From what I gathered, he basically proposed that there are only three ways to deal with the absurdity of human existence. Denial, suicide and acceptance. Denial and acceptance are fairly close practically speaking, but the latter does require one to accept that life is absurd and meaningless, but it doesn't mean one cannot find short term meaning in life.

I do like the idea of creating one's own meaning in life, even in the face of the absurdity of existence itself. If I was a bit 'normal' and my mind wouldn't be so self-destructive, I could see myself being at least reasonably content with existing and find meaning in the small, basic human wishes like a partner, a job, a fairly unspectacular day to day humdrum. I don't see myself acquiring any of those any time soon though and I'm not sure if they'd 'fix' anything at this point anymore. Some days, when I think short term, I can feel something akin to what I imagine 'happy' feels like but it's too fleeting and insignificant a sensation to make a difference in the long term, like a masterfully crafted scent sprayed on skin that takes your imagination to the most beautiful of places but evaporates within hours, leaving you wanting and more empty than before,a poignant reminder of what I so sorely would have wished for but can't hold on to. It's like trying to grasp water.

 

[ArtsyDrawer]

I interpret life as meaningless, and thus comfortable because of videogames. Allow me to explain, if you will.

Let's take a game with a plot first - Skyrim. You, the dragonborn, are on mission to save the world from... I honestly don't know what. I haven't actually played the game, just saw many memes a out it. I'm assuming it's some evil dragon.
A question arises, though, what happens after the dragon is defeated? Seeing as it's a Bethesda game, we might get a dramatic "and they lived happily ever after" and... that's it. The hero saved the world. The hero fulfilled his task, didn't die (unless it's part of the plot), and now has nothing to do, he just "lived happily ever after", that's his new meaning in life.
Still, living happily ever after would be just existing. Much like a college quarterback who developed some knee problem after winning the final match, he now just exists.

Let's look at a game without much of a plot - the sims.
In this game your goal is winning the rat race: buying the most expensive stuff, preferably without the motherlode cheat. Again, after buying the best stuff, you merely exist.
In fact, in the sims you literally invent your own goals, which makes the game more realistic than expected.
Then again, impregnating the entire town is not a very realistic goal, so take the previous statement with a grain of salt.

With all of this said, a meaningless life lattered (or littered?) with your own goals, in my opinion, is infinitely more free than one with a set goal.

 

[BitterlyAlive]

@BitterlyAlive I relate a lot to that. I don't know if this is exactly what you were getting at, sorry if it's not, but my main problem with possibly recovering is probably that I don't see meaning in anything, so for every idea, my brain supplements a "ok... but why?". And then people come and say I can find something meaningful that I care about, or like you said, create it. But I don't really want it if I have to fight for it like that? I also find it annoying that people jump straight to the find/create meaning as a solution, when that feels so far away for me.

If you don't mind answering, what do you feel would be a helpful response from them, if you did tell them?

That's a good question. I don't think there is a response that will satisfy me

 

[TheSoulless]

I've heard the phrase "meaning of life" so many times I don't even know what it means. I think there are just goals you can set for yourself that ultimately don't matter. What even is "meaning"?

I don't know, I'm tired.

 

[Tragoedia Vitae]

I agree....I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in creating my own meaning in life. Such a thing fundamentally goes against basic human nature anyway....most people like to be told what to do and think, they prefer to be led rather than lead, they constantly seek acceptance, reassurance, and confirmation from so-called authorities. They constantly feel the need to be enmeshed in a network of relationships and are largely dependent on other people for their mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

I always think it's laughable when people talk about creating your own meaning in life because the reality is this: the vast majority of people simply aren't equipped (mentally, emotionally, or otherwise) to create meaning for their own lives.

 

[Deleted member 17949]

Making your own meaning sucks. Imagine buying a game that had no objective - not even something as simple as 'built stuff' like in Minecraft - and no mechanics to promote progress or reward you for effort consistently. That would be a pretty boring game. If life was a game on steam it would get mixed reviews at best. What is the point in making your own arbitrary goals and then patting yourself on the back for achieving them?

 

[agentgeez]

Meaning only has value of you ascribe it yourself.
There are consensus views that may make some feel comfortable, but the value of ascribed meaning is in the personal interpretation of it.
I understand why people seek intrinsic meaning, but the very idea of it sounds preposterous to me, it actually devalues the idea of meaning itself.

Funnily enough, I think that the idea of 'giving something meaning' is what devalues meaning. You can't just make up meaning from nothing. Imagine if you could just decide that living on the street and surviving off of garbage was meaningful; who would bother chasing anything higher? No, meaning is something that is given to you; even if it's not through religion, your brain's likes and dislikes will decide it for you. If you 'decide' the meaning of life is to make people happy, that meaning is given to you by how your brain responds when you actually perform that action. If there was nothing 'meaningful' about making people happy, you wouldn't be drawn to it in the first place. The issue with these small things is that they aren't enough to make some people, like us, want to live a life that only contains these things. That's why some people need religion. Honestly, I think both intrinsic and ascribed meaning are, ironically, meaningless. I can't conceive of a life that would be enjoyable, not even theoretically. The only happy moments I can remember are from my ignorant childhood, the memories of which are probably bathed in nostalgia and cherry-picked feelings. After all, my childhood is what led me to become who I am today. I do feel some vaguely happy moments these days too of course, but they are also when I'm completely immersed in something like nostalgia or humor. The basic simple parts of life. A life as a cat seems very appealing. I'm reminded of that "I'm a stupid cat" song where it's just so happy because it has no idea of anything beyond goofing around and eating food, haha.