Purpose of life

[jackrussell023]

Does anyone have a purpose of life. If so, how did you determine it?

I have completely lost any purpose and just existing day to day, which means I'm not engaged with my job too much and easier to just netflix and drink instead. Don't have any friends to engage with and provide a purpose

Ctb seems like an easier way in this world.

 

[MatrixPrisoner]

There is no purpose. We are subatomic particles of subatomic particles of subatomic particles in relation to the size of the universe. We are nothing.

 

[Celerity]

Honestly, I think it's really difficult to find purpose in the modern, secular world. You could find a meaningful vocation - a "calling" if you will, but that rarely works out the way people hope it will. Dependents, particularly children, guarantee purpose if you can provide for them. The ethics of having children has been debated the world over on this forum, but I think few will disagree that most parents find some life purpose in raising their children. If you don't have either of those things and are unable/unwilling to get them, you might believe in some higher power who wants you alive for some mysterious purpose. Or perhaps you have some burning need to create works of art and share them with the world. That's a kind of calling.

Barring all that, the purpose of life is just life, and the question is if life is good enough to justify the suffering inherent to it.

 

[jackrussell023]

Honestly, I think it's really difficult to find purpose in the modern, secular world. You could find a meaningful vocation - a "calling" if you will, but that rarely works out the way people hope it will. Dependents, particularly children, guarantee purpose if you can provide for them. The ethics of having children has been debated the world over on this forum, but I think few will disagree that most parents find some life purpose in raising their children. If you don't have either of those things and are unable/unwilling to get them, you might believe in some higher power who wants you alive for some mysterious purpose. Or perhaps you have some burning need to create works of art and share them with the world. That's a kind of calling.

Barring all that, the purpose of life is just life, and the question is if life is good enough to justify the suffering inherent to it.

Hmmm, I have a couple of children, but they are now adults finding their way in the world, so not as much a purpose. Don't have any burning needs or callings either. Just existing, with a basic government job and nothing else.

 

[KafkaF]

I'd say look up existentialism. Digging into that helped me a lot.

For me it's simple: Life has whatever meaning you give it. Meaning is always ascribed. If you find meaning in helping people that is your purpose. I've always found meaning in helping others, making this shitty world just a bit less shitty, and in writing, creating beauty among the ugliness, and in love, the greatest and worst feeling you can experience.

Yes, it will all be temporary but that doesn't matter to me. It has meaning in the moment and that has value completely in and of itself. A happy moment had value when it happened even if it will end. And that has meaning.

Meaning is a feeling at the end of the day more than anything. And you just have to find what you value and you can feel it. You carve it out and discover it yourself.

Meaning is actually something I haven't struggled with since high school. For me it's not that I don't feel there is any meaning to life. There has been plenty of meaning in my life. It just hurts too much nowadays for me to live anymore. I had meaning and I'm happy I did. But even the best stories must come to an end. And I feel that from now on my life will never get better again. So it seems like it's best to call it quits.

 

[idonothing]

I don't think there is any one purpose to life. The answer is always going to be true in a different way to every individual. For me, my truest purpose I've found in life thus far has been to love others, and to deepen my connection with others. I've lost the love of my life recently and now feel that there is nothing left for me here as my outlook on things was already quite dire with that love in my life. In the most non personal sense, I would say that the purpose of life is simply for life to continue existing. I struggle deeply with reconciling my implicit belief in a God with the equal realisation that we are simply chemical processes of chance. Really, the meaning of life is whatever you decide it to be in this moment. Which makes it all seem kind of pointless if things haven't turned out well for you, doesn't it?

 

[Orbitc]

Does anyone have a purpose of life. If so, how did you determine it?

I have completely lost any purpose and just existing day to day, which means I'm not engaged with my job too much and easier to just netflix and drink instead. Don't have any friends to engage with and provide a purpose

Ctb seems like an easier way in this world.

I feel the same way, but I don't drink. Unfortunately, alcohol doesn't make me happy. I just want to forget myself while watching some movie. There is no meaning in my life - I have a miserable and empty life. I just constantly feel nauseous as a new day begins. I don't even want and don't have the strength to change anything - because I've already lost interest. I don't even want my dreams to come true anymore - everything makes me sick.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Yes- I used to feel like being creative was my driving purpose in life. It developed as a coping mechanism while growing up with a (suspected) narcissist. It soon became an obsession. Trouble is- even if you've identified the thing that brings you a sense of purpose/fulfilment in life- doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to follow it. It's so hard to financially sustain yourself with a creative job and regular wage slave jobs can make you so tired and unhappy that you lose the drive to create. So- really- although I think it helps to know what could bring you meaning in life- that's just the beginning of the problem!

 

[BlackMoon]

I have a sort of "purpose" in life but I know I'll never be able to approach it, even of a iota. So now I just want peace of the mind.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

For me I don't see a purpose to life other than suicide.

Even if I were able to make money you still get old and suffer horribly in old age and then die anyway usually a painful drawn out natural death anyway

For me logically my purpose is suicide asap.

How did I reach that conclusion? What do I really really really don't want to happen the most? Unbearable pain extreme suffering extreme torture. the only way to avoid that is suicide asap

Also I think life is bad, an imposition, prison slavery torture. Again the purpose for me shows itself.

There are many horrible things in life and in this evil world.

What do I logically really really really want the most non-existence forever. So.... Again suicide asap

Many more reasons why

 

[WeDontKnowTheFuture]

I guess the trick is to find an activity in which you're good at and that you enjoy, then improving your skills again and again.

 

[WAITING TO DIE]

My sole purpose in life nowadays is to just keep this body alive until I am ready to dispose of it.
In the meantime, I basically just sleep, watch some crappy movies or stare out the window and wait for death.
I'm too far gone now to even want to get better because mental illness has finally devoured my brain.
My purpose is to die sometime in the near future. Thats all I want now, and nothing else matters.

 

[Tears in Rain]

For me it's simple: Life has whatever meaning you give it. Meaning is always ascribed. If you find meaning in helping people that is your purpose. I've always found meaning in helping others, making this shitty world just a bit less shitty, and in writing, creating beauty among the ugliness, and in love, the greatest and worst feeling you can experience.

I agree; there's no ultimate meaning in life, so it's just whatever meaning you give it yourself.

Most people's purpose in life is the usual mix of having kids/family, making as much money as they can, and chasing pleasure. Then projecting their hopes onto their kids.
Some people gain purpose from making music, art, etc. For others it's chasing power.

They have a purpose, but it's ultimately meaningless.

 

[FuneralCry]

In my case I see life as devoid of purpose in every way. To exist is just a futile process of waiting to die where eventually I believe that most of us will be completely forgotten about like we never existed at all. I believe humans only question what is the purpose as they have the ability to be conscious and aware unlike animals.

I see existence as nothing more than an endless cycle of suffering and cruelty that continues to repeat once new life is forced here. To have the ability to exist is just an unnecessary burden that was imposed by other people, to me there's no deeper meaning or purpose, existing beings are destined for nothing but to decay and die.

 

[doneforlife]

What begins has to end. And the purpose is to reach the end painlessly. Every thought, every action, every endeavour is towards having a painless journey. Everything else is just make belief.

 

[Umacon]

My sole purpose in life nowadays is to just keep this body alive until I am ready to dispose of it.
In the meantime, I basically just sleep, watch some crappy movies or stare out the window and wait for death.
I'm too far gone now to even want to get better because mental illness has finally devoured my brain.
My purpose is to die sometime in the near future. Thats all I want now, and nothing else matters.

You described the position I am also

 

[mortuarymary]

I feel there is a purpose to why I'm still here. I do lots for animal rescues, I guess me not being here, well some animals wouldn't be saved or fostered. My other purpose is my niece. I can't leave her, she's just had a baby and suffers with MH. I gotta stay. So that's my purpose. That what keeps me alive.

 

[Darkover]

There is no purpose to the universe
Humans don't have purpose, rather we have a sense of purpose. Humans also have a sense of direction, as do pigeons, and wildebeest, but not rocks or bus stops. Likewise humans develop a sense of right and wrong; this might also be found in some degree in chimps and bonobos, but probably not in ants or pond slime and certainly not in asteroids.

 

[Tears in Rain]

My sole purpose in life nowadays is to just keep this body alive until I am ready to dispose of it.
In the meantime, I basically just sleep, watch some crappy movies or stare out the window and wait for death.
I'm too far gone now to even want to get better because mental illness has finally devoured my brain.
My purpose is to die sometime in the near future. Thats all I want now, and nothing else matters.

You described the position I am also

Yeah, there's a lot of people on here in that position. Just too far gone to get the life they had hoped for.

(P.S. @WAITING TO DIE checked out the following day

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/threads/goodbye.145272/