# IS life a curse? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040 "2016-10-29T18:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/161 "2016-11-08T07:27:34Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > What we’re saying is “You are right, but so what? Deal with it and move on.” Except there is no “dealing with it” because the hole just gets deeper when you suffer further. We live in an illusion of our own making. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/162 "2016-11-08T07:44:14Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Except there is no “dealing with it” because the hole just gets deeper when you suffer further. We live in an illusion of our own making. Yeah. So? Let it destroy you, or ignore it and do things that make you happy. OR at least less bored. Get busy living, or get busy dying. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/163 "2016-11-08T12:08:07Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > I don’t know why I keep going at this point but I do. It’s like I want to die but I’m scared about what happens next so I don’t. Both ends are not bearable. The unknown of death and it’s finality or the void of life. Here’s what we can reasonably assume about the state of death: Think back to the time before you were born… Can you remember or imagine that experience?.. No?.. Well, we can reasonably assume that death after life will yield the exact same experience, i.e. non-existence. > [@Machinaforce](#): > > Make me wonder why I hold things like morals if they are just subjective? Or justice? Why bother to help others? Why save lives? Why do all that? If there is not point or meaning to it all ultimately, then why do it? Why should we do it? > > Why value such awards or recognition of others when in the end they are just hollow praise based on little more than subjective values we just made up to feel some illusion of significance? Why fall in love at all? > > If it’s al subjective and made up why follow any of it? What makes one way more right than another? If there is no inherent meaning or justice then why bother with what’s “right”? How can we say we must improve when improvement is just a subjective term? > > It doesn’t make sense at all. Sure it does. \*Sic transit gloria mundi. Memento mori. Dum vivamus vivimus. \* [Go and wash your bowl…](http://mnmlist.com/wash-your-bowl/) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/164 "2016-11-08T13:49:21Z")
If everyone else can find some meaning in life and you can’t, Machinaforce, the problem lies within you, not in everyone else. You reject everyone else’s meaning. You refuse to listen to their words. You say they’re meaningless to you, yet you offer nothing that does have meaning. We tell you that you have to find it for yourself. You turn up your nose. You are without meaning. We are not. Figure it out or just stop asking and allow life to happen to you. No, I absolutely don’t give a shit if you don’t find meaning in that or reject it. I reject you. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/165 "2016-11-08T19:38:47Z")
Just out of curiosity - what do you consider “meaning”? What does that mean to you? How would you recognize such a “meaning” if it were presented to you? ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/166 "2016-11-09T03:12:35Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Just out of curiosity - what do you consider “meaning”? What does that mean to you? How would you recognize such a “meaning” if it were presented to you? I GUESS to me it’s something to live by, that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/167 "2016-11-09T03:35:04Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Yeah. So? Let it destroy you, or ignore it and do things that make you happy. OR at least less bored. Get busy living, or get busy dying. How do you just get over the illusion we have made? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/168 "2016-11-09T13:10:15Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > How do you just get over the illusion we have made? Asked and answered. Move on. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/169 "2016-11-09T21:12:35Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Asked and answered. Move on. Where exactly did someone answer that? What it “don’t think about it”? Because not only is that’s terrible advice, it doesn’t work ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/170 "2016-11-09T21:21:34Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > I GUESS to me it’s something to live by, that counts. Why are you alive right now? Why haven’t you killed yourself yet? ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/171 "2016-11-10T03:51:32Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Why are you alive right now? > > Why haven’t you killed yourself yet? I don’t know. Hope of better days. Fear of what happens with death. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/172 "2016-11-10T03:57:19Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > I don’t know. \*\*Hope of better days.\*\*Fear of what happens with death. You just answered your own question. People go on because they hope things will get better. If you have hope, there’s no reason to give up. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/173 "2016-11-10T13:36:59Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > I don’t know. **Hope** of better days. **Fear** of what happens with death. Hope & Fear : _Meaning_ & _Motive_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/174 "2016-11-10T13:58:19Z")
Frankly I want to live through the next four years just to see what happens after this crazy-ass election. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/175 "2016-11-10T14:10:51Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Where exactly did someone answer that? What it “don’t think about it”? Because not only is that’s terrible advice, it doesn’t work Why do you think anyone else is responsible for answering to your satisfaction? Pretty much just teenage angst at this point. Not adult enough to recognize your own part in this, refusing to grow up and accept it, because then it is on YOU and that would be horrible. Nope, better to just keep demanding answers from others. No personal responsibility, no adulthood. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/176 "2016-11-11T15:42:58Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Why do you think anyone else is responsible for answering to your satisfaction? > Pretty much just teenage angst at this point. Not adult enough to recognize your own part in this, refusing to grow up and accept it, because then it is on YOU and that would be horrible. Nope, better to just keep demanding answers from others. No personal responsibility, no adulthood. Please grow up. I’m asking here because I was not able to find an answer myself. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/177 "2016-11-11T15:45:23Z")
I’m really not joking when I say your answer is probably some Prozac. You sound clinically depressed to me. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/178 "2016-11-11T16:06:39Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m really not joking when I say your answer is probably some Prozac. You sound clinically depressed to me. They tried to put me on meds but none of them work. It’s a matter of the question. I can’t seem to find an answer and no amount of medication can fix that. Besides, clinical depression is just a cop out. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/179 "2016-11-11T17:28:03Z")
You have all the answers you’re ever going to need. Refusing to accept that and to do what’s required is the cop out. Anyway, you don’t want “the answer”. You want to navel gaze while indulging in feeling sorry for yourself and have others take pity on you. Long as that feedback loop is working for you, you have no reason to change anything. Good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040/180 "2016-11-11T17:34:33Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Besides, clinical depression is just a cop out. That’s just the depression talking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-life-a-curse/770040.md?page=10)