Cynicism
Perhaps unlike the gothic stereotype, for most of my life I've been fairly happy. Lived 'in my own world', so to speak, and have had a belief in some sort of existence after death. This wasn't an unquestioning belief either; I read plenty in to it, mainly philosophy. I've never been religious, never adhered to any rules or the laws of a book, but I used to feel some sort of connection with most of the people I met and believed that there was something in this connection, this something having the ability to transcend life and death.
Recently, I've started to doubt all of this. I now see death as a brick wall coming quickly towards me and, scarier still, those I love. My mind is completely preoccupied with it now, I can't see 'meaning' in anything (as what is meaning without longevity?), and it's starting to destroy quite a large part of my personality. There must be plenty of atheists on this forum - please let me know how you deal with this. I don't want replies from people who simply chose not to think about it, to suppress their belief or lack of, but people who have had to actually overcome this problem. Any advice welcome. Thanks in advance. |
Can I ask how old are you? I'm not asking it in a snarky or ageist way, but the time in your life in which you begin to question this stuff is important in such a discussion.
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Hey, I'm 26
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screw my friend, you have it inside out !
life has no meaning without death! what does not die is not alive! death IS life and life IS death time is not really a line... that is a narrow way to think... you will always BE... |
also your consciousness may not be carried through all times... but the energy that IS YOU has always been and will always be until we return unto whence we came
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Sorry for taking this long to respond. You're actually a little older than me so you have more world experience, but I can share what I have.
It's natural to feel these things, but it's especially interesting that you're experiencing them way after your teenage years. In that way, you can actually explore this existential angst without the shallow teenage wangst that accompanies so many high schoolers. Personally, when I began to question things liek the very meaning of life or even the meaning of 'meaning' I logically went towards reading philosophy. I feel it helped me. It doesn't help in a psychological way of making one feel objectively better, but it helps in the sense of seeing just how much people throughout history have struggled with these concepts, and made me think that maybe it's part of human nature itself, and therefore even if it feels bad, its exploration might be good. I don't know if it will help you solve these questions, but it might help you reformulate them or put them into a new context if you read the very short story by Albert Camus called the Myth of Sisyphus. It starts with these cynic premises you're talking about, but ends by making a quite optimistic conclusion out of them, but I won't ruin it for you. |
I just try to appreciate life here and now. The idea that life is fleeting and finite makes it so precious. It should be treated as such.
When my dad died I dealt with it like any one else, I grieved. Even if there were some sort of afterlife I'd never get to see him again in this one, so the basic result is the same. Death is sneaking up on all of us, if we're lucky, age will grind us down to nothing until we fade out like a sputtering candle in the night. So, enjoy what you've got while you've got it, appreciate the people you love while they're still here to appreciate. Remember them after they're gone, so that a piece of them still remains in the world. Life just is. Life grows, reproduces and dies. Any meaning beyond that is what we impose upon it. |
I usually hate answering serious questions with quotes and things (especially when it comes to talking about death - I was a palliative care nurse for 10 years, and death is something that I'm good with talking about), but I read this tonight and thought that it was quite amazing.. and I really don't think that I could say anything to top it.
Also, it's about Carl Sagan who is just fucking brilliant. Quote:
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