Quote:
Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst
God, I know the feeling. I was just puttering around on Quora and found some linked comic about how our feelings of meaninglessness - which a character descrbed as a feeling that "you don't matter to the universe, at all" - is basically just megalomania. It's narcissism, a feeling of meaninglessness is a feeling of sadness that the universe doesn't revolve around you. I left some venom-filled comment arguing that the comic was edgily misinterpreting what meaninglessness is.
Though as I think about it, somewhere in that there's truth: there is a sadness that comes from thinking our actions have no higher effect, or that we might not be part of something greater than ourselves. I still contest that that's the same as "wanting the universe to be focused on you all the time" - saying that, I think, is like reprimanding an abused or neglected child who's trying to get some love and attention for being a selfish attention *****. Ridiculous and exaggerated, too strong a condemnation.
Even if you scale it back, though, try to just focus on the Earth itself, there's still an existential fear of being forgotten, being ineffective, being disconnected. And all that's still terrifying and depressing.
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For me it is more about me wasting my life. There are two basic rules of either nothing in this universe really matters to anything so the universe is just some random event that happened or there is a reason for everything, a grand design, a purpose. For either one a wasted life is still sad. One truth is that there have been people who have greatly impacted the world through any facet be it art, architecture, science etc... On a small scale there are people who change the lives of those around them and maybe even just of a generation of people, or maybe just their family. Really it doesn't matter because as you change people's lives for the better then they too will carry that with them and thus you become like a gardener sowing seeds. To me it is sad to have a meaningless life whether life is "meaningless" or not. I am here, I will not be here someday doesn't change. But I think about all that had to happen just for there to be a "ME" and who I am today and a lot has had to happen it seems like an infinitude of events big and small, its a miracle. Then think about how many more other potential "ME"s there have been and will continue to be that don't even make it into this world or leave barely opening their eyes. Yes I have been given a miraculous gift, I don't want to blow it.