[InfiniteSadness]

The hard truth is- Everything is Meaningless. This may get moved to depression, but there's some truth to it. We live for nothing but make it seem like its something. And when people hear me say this they think im being negative, but its true. We make our own meanings to things- but there really isn't anything DEFINITIVE in life or any redemption, sadly. (wont get into religion here though). A one big Nothing sadly.

[angryworld]

True, we make our own meanings to life's events. Creating our own meaning and purpose in life is the only way to "discover" our own sense of purpose and meaning.

[Perna]

What meaning does a tree or sunset have? None either but they are. So are we. One can enjoy without meaning; I liked Erich Fromm's book, To Have or To Be, http://www.amazon.com/To-Have-Be-Con...dp/0826417388/ it helped me with myself and my attitudes about life and what was meaningful. Just wholly being can be meaningful (especially if that is all we "get" through being alive).

Originally Posted by InfiniteSadness

The hard truth is- Everything is Meaningless. This may get moved to depression, but there's some truth to it. We live for nothing but make it seem like its something. And when people hear me say this they think im being negative, but its true. We make our own meanings to things- but there really isn't anything DEFINITIVE in life or any redemption, sadly. (wont get into religion here though). A one big Nothing sadly.

i've never figured out life either- what it's purpose is, why we have to endure it... in my view, we're born to a world of suffering, we undertake in many meaningless tasks |(school, colledge, work), eventually retirement, and then you die.

why bother
even if you had the most important job in the world- it does not really mean anything.

life is sent to give us hell, that's what i believe

[turquoisesea]

we create our own meaning, and existence. Who is to say something we create is anything less than something given to us and told to us?

[InfiniteSadness]

I think life is meaningless- you suffer for nothing... I think the worst part of life is living with no hope for the future or any redemption- i think losing all hope in yourself is the worst part of living. You may as not well live, welcome to my world.

(if only there was an end to suffering)

[Anika.]

Originally Posted by shattered sanity

i've never figured out life either- what it's purpose is, why we have to endure it... in my view, we're born to a world of suffering, we undertake in many meaningless tasks |(school, colledge, work), eventually retirement, and then you die.

why bother
even if you had the most important job in the world- it does not really mean anything.

life is sent to give us hell, that's what i believe

I really don't mean this to be mean or upsetting, but maybe if you believe that life is sent to give you hell then that is what you will experience.. untill you decide otherwise. I think our minds are very powerful, and we create how we experience life. If we want something different we might have to create it as well. All I mean is that our perception impacts us and our experiences in a big way. If all we see percieve is suffering then maybe that is all we will feel. I think we play a big role in this, but we are not exactly taught how to be otherwise. But we can find it, we can create other experiences even out of old experiences.. I think that's pretty cool.

I guess to me I see it as why not bother? We are here now.

[Liberty1785]

Look at those who are poor or handicapped but do their their best to enjoy life.

[InfiniteSadness]

Originally Posted by Anika.

I really don't mean this to be mean or upsetting, but maybe if you believe that life is sent to give you hell then that is what you will experience.. untill you decide otherwise. I think our minds are very powerful, and we create how we experience life. If we want something different we might have to create it as well. All I mean Shattered is that our perception impacts us and our experiences in a big way.

I guess to me I see it as why not bother? We are here now.

You know WHAT?? He's right so far!! At least in my opinion- life sucks a lot..

[InfiniteSadness]

"I think the worst part of life is living with no hope for the future or any redemption- i think losing all hope in yourself is the worst part of living." -I also might add losing hope with life in general and losing hope in humanity.

[Anika.]

I guess I am just offering a different opinion. I used to feel that way, I only try to help if I can sometimes. Maybe thats all people can do, maybe watching others suffer is hard. I have no bad intentions, I did not mean any offence.

Originally Posted by InfiniteSadness

I think life is meaningless- you suffer for nothing... I think the worst part of life is living with no hope for the future or any redemption- i think losing all hope in yourself is the worst part of living. You may as not well live, welcome to my world.

(if only there was an end to suffering)

i think for me the worst part of life is not having anything in it worth while (and not knowing if i ever will)

annica, maybe you're right... but i never had that thought- it's how life has treated me why i now think like this

[-jimi-]

I kinda feel you. And I don't think you just up and decide do be happy or feel a meaning. I think your mood creates the thoughts. For me, deep within, I know it is pointless and I also know I will not reach my dreams. The days I feel it deeply I panic or feel really depressed.

But there are days when I don't feel it. Or don't feel it as strong. People say Look, it's not bad, your OK today.

No, I'm really not OK, I still have the troubles. What I have is a break.

But some days, I have also lived with a curiosity, with a sort of vitality, like life is worth exploring. Those days I was glad I wasn't dead.

But haven't felt much like that lately.

To see things like this, is depression? To see things too clearly? Maybe. But even when I don't suffer I think it is the truth.

Still, your emotions rule. When your emotions tell you life is worthwhile, you will believe it. Thoughts believe feelings, but feelings rarely believe thoughts, at least my brain works like that.

When you lose hope, look around you. There is indeed bad stuff. But also people sometimes are nice and good. And sometimes people regain hope. I always had a "hope" person, someone that had their own struggles but thought there is a meaning and a reason to go on and even more. Even the days I doubted my own ability to live I thought about them, thought they think there is something to life, I will live in their hope a while, even though I lack hope myself.

Because even if I can't have faith, I have this spark in me that WANTS this world to not just be crap.

[di meliora]

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you deal with it is what makes the difference. ~Virginia Satir

[thickntired]

"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves." - Carl Sagan

[CastlesInTheAir]

I ask myself this quite often, then I try to think like this;

Why should there be a meaning in the first place? Society likes to make up things that make most of us struggle through life but really there is no meaning but to breathe i imagine

[InfiniteSadness]

I think this where God comes into the picture, sadly that part of my life has been difficult as well..

Originally Posted by CastlesInTheAir

I ask myself this quite often, then I try to think like this;

Why should there be a meaning in the first place? Society likes to make up things that make most of us struggle through life but really there is no meaning but to breathe i imagine

so then,

why bother living?

you just said that their's no meaning but to breav, why live at all then- why do we have life.

i don't think any of us will ever work out what it truly means... why we have to go through so many years of meaningless crap

Originally Posted by InfiniteSadness

I think this where God comes into the picture, sadly that part of my life has been difficult as well..

i've never believed in god or anything like that, perhaps when he does something for me i might... but until then...

[CastlesInTheAir]

Originally Posted by shattered sanity

so then,

why bother living?

you just said that their's no meaning but to breav, why live at all then- why do we have life.

i don't think any of us will ever work out what it truly means... why we have to go through so many years of meaningless crap

why not bother? theree is at least one thing worth waking up for and if there isn't then that thing to wake up for is to find that one thing.

Originally Posted by CastlesInTheAir

why not bother? theree is at least one thing worth waking up for and if there isn't then that thing to wake up for is to find that one thing.

hmm, good point!

[InfiniteSadness]

Life does seem very mundane- especially if many people DON"T like you or your NOT popular/dont have a significant other- or your not famous/celebrity- Hey this point of view might seem childish but there's some validity to it.. On top of THAT... The most fun or pleasurable things in life are seen as 'bad' by society or immature- or unacceptable by god- I digress. You get what i'm saying.. Lifes a constant struggle. I'm sorry its just seems like your screwed either way. (damned if u do, damned if u don't). (Did I mention dealing with mental illness on top of everything?)

[LadyShadow]

Yeah, I agree with Anika here. I used to feel this way. Oh, did I ever. Every day, the same crap over and over, throw in some alcohol, mental illness, some pills, some hospitalizations, suicide attempts, just goes on and on.

I guess I was lucky to escape the ultimate darkness and did find some joy.

I woke up one day and found a reason to wake up.

Therapy helped a lot in my journey though, I owe a lot to my T.

[A Boring Individual]

I agree with you. There IS no meaning to life.

In reality, though, we create our own meaning within the context of our lives. We can choose to play the part of a friend, a pet owner, a lover, or a parent or anything else. These roles are meaningful, as are the relationships we create, but on a very small scale. It isn't world changing or Earth shattering, and sometimes we fail in these. All of the memories that we create, be they beautiful or ugly, are still meaningful to us. There is meaning, it just isn't grand.

Still, when you zoom out and look at the big picture. . . It's all for nothing. The people that we love will die and not a trace of us will be left, not in a single thing. Nothing we do will matter in the long run because the sun will still die and the Earth reduced to nothing.

And that's okay. It's all a matter of becoming comfortable with your ultimate meaninglessness, and being content with the meaning and role in your brief life. Despite how sad and hopeless it can be sometimes, I feel like it's important to achieve that for your own piece of mind.