Looking for reasons to live.

[Kaiten Ryu]

Recently someone called me out on my sorta nihilistic outlook on life, that I needed to stop being so pessimistic and view the world in a more possitive way. But everytime I look at myself and this world, the reasons to die far out shine everything else. I mean, I'm told I just need to look harder, to find life's true purpose. Yet all I see is a world that takes any decenting opinion as bigotry, the glorification of; vanity, violence, toxic competitiveness and selfishness, and blatant abuse of the weak and powerless. In my eyes I see a world where I don't belong, once again reasons to die outweighing the "beauty" of the world. So I ask, what are reasons to live? Why should I continue to fight the pain?

 

[AnxietyAttack44]

Im sorry, i cant help you. I dont see a reason to live either.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

I'm told I just need to look harder, to find life's true purpose.

I've looked for 49 years. There is none. There is what purpose and meaning we make. And, importantly, there are our responsibilities to others if they realistically rely on our support, such as an underage child, or a spouse we have committed to supporting and who is also doing their part in the reciprocal relationship, or a parent who was supportive and who is now aged, sick, vulnerable, and has no other support.

Otherwise, what you're being advised to do is to shove aside all the things you've recognized and just get high. Addiction is a chain, and coming down will be a bitch.

Far better, I think, to be critical of and accept reality, and then figure out tools for managing it, or decide for your own self if the most rational choice is to withdraw with dignity and awareness when the party of life has been irredeemably and irreparably ruined for you. To paraphrase Montaigne, if fortune has made your life a sinking boat with a hole you can't fix, you have the option to swim away from it as if to a refuge.

 

[wanttodie]

me to . I dont see a reason to live either

 

[Kaiten Ryu]

I've looked for 49 years. There is none. There is what purpose and meaning we make. And, importantly, there are our responsibilities to others if they realistically rely on our support, such as an underage child, or a spouse we have committed to supporting and who is also doing their part in the reciprocal relationship, or a parent who was supportive and who is now aged, sick, vulnerable, and has no other support.

Otherwise, what you're being advised to do is to shove aside all the things you've recognized and just get high. Addiction is a chain, and coming down will be a bitch.

Far better, I think, to be critical of and accept reality, and then figure out tools for managing it, or decide for your own self if the most rational choice is to withdraw with dignity and awareness when the party of life has been irredeemably and irreparably ruined for you. To paraphrase Montaigne, if fortune has made your life a sinking boat with a hole you can't fix, you have the option to swim away from it as if to a refuge.

Well I agree with your first statement, our commitments do sustain us sometimes.

Second I'm not sure on your target on your 2nd point, since I've been straight edged for like 10 years. Vices really don't do anything for, getting drunk/high/whatever does nothing for me when you're just gonna be in the same position you were when it subsides.

Third, I have no clear idea of what your last sentence tried to convey. I think I gathered that you said to adapt to my environment but then it just trailed if into analogies I couldn't quite catch. Sry, I'm actually not that smart. (I read it 3 times, maybe it's just how I'm feeling right now, I'll read it again in the morning)

Still thank you for your pointers and concern, I appreciate it.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

Second I'm not sure on your target on your 2nd point, since I've been straight edged for like 10 years. Vices really don't do anything for, getting drunk/high/whatever does nothing for me when you're just gonna be in the same position you were when it subsides.

My second point is about replacing reality with good feelings. I used to get high on New Age beliefs, and coming down from that was hard. I eventually learned that there were no guides, that I didn't choose this incarnation to learn lessons for my soul to grow, and that I don't have a purpose to make the world better. I used to smoke weed, too, and it put me in a temporarily good mood when things were shit, and it sometimes got me through, but reality is still shit, and so I needed better tools manage the shit if I remain in reality.

Which leads to my third point of either finding tools or getting out. The tools I've found are some energy psychology techniques for managing and healing trauma, and Stoic and secular Buddhist philosophy for managing the realities of life, including suffering and all the things you pointed out that you see (which it seems that someone you know labeled nihilistic). Stoic philosophy also taught me that sometimes the most rational response is to withdraw from life, to neither cling to it nor to flee it, but to exit calmly, especially if conditions are such that one has no power to be themselves, or to practice self-control or virtue.

Those conditions, according to the Stoics are tyranny, ill health, poverty, and "madness," as well as coming to the aid of an old friend who needs you, which was, for them, their government which protected them and their society. Governments certainly don't do that now (if they ever did), at least not when viewed according to how you seem to view the world. I was in total agreement with how you view the world, and it breaks my heart.

If that still didn't make sense, it's on me, not you. If you ever want me to clarify further, I'll be glad to, and if you just want to move on from it, I'm happy to do that as well.

 

[laiduponit]

Recently someone called me out on my sorta nihilistic outlook on life, that I needed to stop being so pessimistic and view the world in a more possitive way. But everytime I look at myself and this world, the reasons to die far out shine everything else. I mean, I'm told I just need to look harder, to find life's true purpose. Yet all I see is a world that takes any decenting opinion as bigotry, the glorification of; vanity, violence, toxic competitiveness and selfishness, and blatant abuse of the weak and powerless. In my eyes I see a world where I don't belong, once again reasons to die outweighing the "beauty" of the world. So I ask, what are reasons to live? Why should I continue to fight the pain?

Modern day nihilists are just the equivalent of past realists. What do I mean?

You would have to be insane and brainwashed to believe that this world isn't in a clusterfuck of bad events. What doesn't help is social media and the news as it is quick to cloud any good views you had of the world. People have become progressively narcissistic and overly vain, laziness is becoming more like a daily routine to most as the governments of the world fail us.

The only sanity you'll have in life is yourself and your views, because most people in society aren't sane and don't want to be - there is a reason why the smartest people are the ones that disconnect from the majority of society and become realistic to themselves about the state of it. The majority of society don't want to realize the shithole they live in, they want to pretend it is a constant utopia.

That is my view after 20 years on this planet, I could be wrong but it is hard to find a opposing view on society nowadays.