Discussion My Reason - Why Don't People Understand?

[Supertramp]

Before I start, I would like to preface by explaining The Truth - in the grand scheme of the universe, there is no point. Now I don't know how many people would say this is the objective truth, but for the purpose of this note, it is my truth.

I know many people have reasons for wanting to end their lives. I think most of the reasons people have can be boiled down to 2 things: loss of something or absence of something. In this regard, I don't think I'm any different. It's not that my life isn't worth living, it's that it running on this treadmill that is society, is not sufficient to distract me from The Truth - that it is pointless. I think it was said fairly well in the movie The Art of Getting By.

"We live alone, we die alone. Everything else is just an illusion." It used to keep me up at night. We all die alone. So, why am I supposed to spend my life working, sweating, struggling? For an illusion?

Someone who doesn't understand me would probably say, well you're just lonely. But I think they'd be missing the point. Every thing that a person does in their life is a distractor from The Truth. Getting in a relationship, having children, getting a job, pursuing hobbies and the list goes on. When the distractors are there, The Truth is like background noise, a faint hum that has been thrumming in the ear so long I barely notice it's there. However, when these things disappear or change significantly, I am left alone with The Truth. I'm not angry or upset with this knowledge, it's not a negative concept to me. I'm just tired of seeking or being subjected to the distractors.

I used to think that the purpose of life was to be happy, I thought this for about 10 to 15 years. Recently I found a nice YouTube channel called Pursuit of Wonder, and I have changed my position a bit; now I believe the purpose of life is simply, to live. This belief is just plain insufficient for me to continue to sisyphus through the rest of whatever life I have left, just for pockets of contentment peppered here and there. The Truth is always there, immutable and constant, and I don't want to distract myself from it. Furthermore, since The Truth is that life is pointless, I would prefer to stop living as soon as possible. If you'd like to check out pursuit of wonder, I've included a link to the channel and to two of the most helpful videos I continue to go back to.

I hope to one day I'll get a chance to make my journey the way I want to make my journey: Explaining to my family and friends over the course of an undetermined amount of time why I am making this choice; helping them through the grieving process before I am no longer there to give them comfort. Hopefully in a comfortable bed surround by a few close people listening to some calming music before drinking N and drifting off to sleep.

Pursuit of Wonder - The Law of Reverse Effort & Dying a Guided Experience

Edit: Small edit for formatting

 

[elfgyoza]

Your last paragraph sounds nice. In an ideal universe I think this is how most of us would like it to go
Completely agree with everything else too, there is no point. I guess it's existential nihilism? Humans have absolutely no purpose and the world will end eventually anyway. And if you don't want to do the things society expects like get married, have kids, go to school for 18+ years, and work for 40+ years then why bother? Sounds awful to me

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Humans have a purpose like all living matter and that is to pass on their genetic material and ensure that their offspring live long enough to pass on theirs.
Everything else is coincidental and whatever happiness we get out of the journey has to come from the meaning we ascribe to it, regardless of the truth. This grand delusion is necessary and if you try and peek behind the curtain then it all collapses into existential depression.
It's not just society that's the treadmill. It's nature, reality, everything. It all has to be in motion so it goes round and round in cycles.

 

[TheLastHumanRight]

Sadly the best one can ask for, is a subjective meaning of life, that can crumble at any time. If you are lucky enough to even find a subjective meaning, that makes sense to oneself.


It's funny how even knowing how meaningless everything truly is, humans are still forced to act one way or another, trapped by ones own psychology. Even if we act to do nothing, or killed ourselfs, that would still be just as meaningless.

 

[br0kenMIND72]

This is interesting topic! I always thought that nothing actually makes sense because we all gonna die and what is after death? Heaven, Hell, Nothing? If there is nothing then what is point of living? No one knows and these questions are bothering me for a long time.

 

[MysticPerception]

I actually want to cry knowing that she isn't here to respond to this because I know she would be here for sure. If you haven't already you should read this thread as well.

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/threads/life-and-existence-is-a-burden.28227/

 

[Sour]

Just want to say I love your username

 

[Supertramp]

Just want to say I love your username

Thanks! I'm surprised it wasn't taken. I take it you know Christopher McCandless?

 

[UpandDownPrincess]

I would argue that the purpose of life is to drown out the hum of The Truth. While it may always be there, there will be times when it is all you hear and times when it is not heard at all over the living.

I don't have lots of these times (I'm bipolar) but I know people who go for years without hearing the hum of The Truth. It's not propaganda; these are genuinely happy people with lovely lives. It's not that they don't have struggles but they ride them out in a way I am not able to do. I'm very fortunate that they welcome me as the Eeyore of the group and love me anyway.

I am not saying you should emulate them or want to be like them, but I do believe there are enough of these people on this meatball we call Earth that they prove, at least for some, an alternate reality.

 

[Iloveyouall]

Maybe it's not The Truth but it's the only truth we can apprehend with our limited perceptions. As we don't know anything about any purpose because we can't see it, maybe because we are not supposed to or maybe because we are just not able to. I feel the same as you say, there is no meaning to anything but I also know that we don't know shit. We are all alone into the unknown.
I actually don't know what I'd prefer between "life has no sense" and "life is a great scheme that has a purpose". If I get to know the answer when I die and that I get to learn that it's the second one, I think I'd just want to burn and destroy the universe in a furious anger, to end all piece of existence forever.

 

[Sour]

Thanks! I'm surprised it wasn't taken. I take it you know Christopher McCandless?

Yes! His story is fascinating

 

[PoisonedJuliet]

Before I start, I would like to preface by explaining The Truth - in the grand scheme of the universe, there is no point.

I agree. Makes things really lonely

 

[stevieu]

Thanks! I'm surprised it wasn't taken. I take it you know Christopher McCandless?

Into The Wild. That's just brought back some memories for me. I have only seen the film, but it still resonated on a deep level with me.

When you want more than you have
You think you need
And when you think more than you want
Your thoughts begin to bleed

 

[Sensei]

It's difficult to argue against the notion that existence is pointless. Everything will wither, disappear, and be forgotten. Reproduction is pointless as it inevitably will come to an end. As I see it, only Zen Buddhism provides a reason to live: to understand the world intuitively and live in the moment.

"When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself." ―Shunryu Suzuki

"We do not know the future, and we do not worry about the past. We only live in this present moment to the fullest and in the best way we know how." ―Soyu Zengaku Matsuoka

These moments will be lost like everything else, though. Existence is transient and we're doomed from the beginning.

"Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink." ―Shunryu Suzuki