Venting The Fragility of Certainty: On Projection and the Absence of Good Sense

[Darkover]

Human beings are born stupid—not in the cruel or dismissive sense, but in the plain biological one. We enter the world helpless, unaware, unformed. Everything we come to know—our language, our morality, our judgment—must be learned. And we learn it imperfectly, clinging to shallow beliefs and simple understandings. This ignorance, paired with the illusion of certainty, leads to dangerous projections, especially when we think we know better than we actually do.


When someone says, "I would never kill myself—life is good," it often comes from a place of temporary comfort or emotional stability. It's a projection of their current emotional state onto a future they can't predict. But when life changes—when pain enters the picture—their certainty is shattered. Suddenly, the world doesn't seem so clear. The person who once declared life's value might now say, "I want to die," not because life actually became unbearable, but because their perception of it has shifted drastically under the weight of emotional pain.


Pain changes people in profound ways. When someone experiences enough suffering, it alters their worldview. What once seemed certain—like the idea that life is good—can quickly collapse into doubt. In the face of immense emotional or psychological strain, many people begin to believe that nobody truly cares for them, or that their suffering is somehow too much for others to bear. They may even start to think that their pain is a sign of their failure or worthlessness. This belief isn't always rational, but it becomes an overwhelming part of how they see themselves and the world.


This tendency to project is deeply tied to our basic human nature. We are born into the world without good sense, unable to fully comprehend the complexities of life or human interaction. We don't know how to measure suffering, nor do we understand the depths of our own potential for resilience. In moments of pain, it's easy to think that we are alone, that the world is indifferent, and that our value is diminished by our suffering. But this is just another form of projection—our current emotional state coloring the way we see reality.


True wisdom, however, begins when we understand that our emotions are not always accurate reflections of the world. The belief that "nobody cares" or that "life is meaningless" in moments of despair is born of pain, not fact. And while pain can change us, it doesn't define us. To know good sense is to recognize that, just as we can feel deeply isolated in one moment, we can also feel deeply connected in the next. Pain is powerful, but it is not all-powerful. It is just one piece of a larger, ever-changing picture.


We are born stupid, with little understanding of the complexity of life, but the hope lies in our ability to grow beyond that ignorance. The danger is that many of us, when faced with pain, never realize we are projecting our suffering onto everything around us. Instead of asking why we feel the way we do, we internalize the belief that our pain defines our reality. In doing so, we miss the chance to see that pain, though transformative, is not the final truth about who we are or how others see us.


We must stop pretending we know more than we do and start recognizing that the fragility of our emotional states doesn't define the entire scope of our lives. Wisdom is found not in certainty, but in the humility to accept that life can be both wonderful and unbearable, and that neither defines us forever.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I agree that intense emotional states can make us paranoid, make us feel worthless or, like we can't cope. I suppose I often read sentiments like this, often read descriptions by people with things like depression. That they hate themselves, they feel worthless or unloved, they feel that life itself has no meaning but, I don't exactly relate to that.

I find I struggle to fit in this 'category'/ description. Which tends to make me wonder if my thoughts aren't being lead by emotion. Of course they are- they must be. It feels more logical to me though.

As in- I don't feel entirely worthless. I am frequently able to do a job I at least used to enjoy and find fulfilment from and, I get paid for it. I don't like many of the things required to do to live. It's a real struggle to push myself to do them but- I can cope. It's more that I don't want to. I certainly have done things I regret in life but, not to the extent I hate myself. I'm lucky enough to know that some people do love and care about me, as I do them. Life at least used to have meaning for me. I can understand why others value it.

Despite all of that though- I simply don't want to participate in it anymore. Can it truly be 'wrong' or unjustified not to like something or, want to do it? Basically, not to want to put in the (neverending, extremely) hard work because- from experience, the reward doesn't seem worth it? To me, it doesn't feel like it's based on paranoia or delusion about my inferior place in the world or ability to cope in it. It's more that I'm simply tired of putting in the effort to live. Can you even be delusional about that?

I'm tired of working a 70+ hour week when I have work and then worrying 70+ hours a week when I don't! Ok, I could try to change my job but- I've done that multiple times in life and, those jobs were even worse! Ok- we aren't our jobs. Most of us need a job to survive though.

It's a little like complaining that drinking fluid- including water is painful. It's not like you can just stop drinking though. So, there's no real point in saying we aren't defined by certain things if they are unavoidable and painful to some extent. The problems simply don't feel adequately solveable. I'm not sure it's really possible to learn not to hate all the things we've grown a hate for. Or, pretend that the 'rewards' we get for doing them are sufficient.

I guess that's why so many people are on anti-depressants- to numb out the pain so, they can continue to be good worker drones. Literally, 1 in 3 people in my friend's old workplace was on anti-depressants! What does that say? In order to function in this world, as its required of us, a huge proportion of us need to take artificial drugs to supress how we really feel about it. Why is that satisfactory though? How is that even a solution?