So we just live because that’s what we do? That seems odd. But what about those born into pain and suffering? Life is a curse to them
Exactly. Even if you are lucky enough to win the gold in front of a full stadium with a world-full of TV cameras sharing your victory with gazillions of people, the moment eventually passes. Big accomplishments are wonderful, but then they are done and you move on. Growing those lovely tomatoes, watching a flaming sunset while the breeze carries stray raindrops across your cheek, reading a picture book while seeing it with the very eyes of the three-year-old on your lap, all kinds of little shit makes it worthwhile.
You just have to learn to appreciate the moment. Drag the joy/value right out of it. I have no idea why they do not teach that in fourth grade on up. Imagine how much better off we would be if everyone were trained to discover happiness right there.
Dude, seriously – what is the point of all of these threads of your’s?
My life may be a living hell, but on the bright side it’s almost over, so I’ve got that going for me.
What are you proposing? That everyone just lie down and die?
I’m miserable and I want you all to know about it! Then I’ll reject any counter argument to my bleak worldview!
But aren’t such feelings just the chemical impulses going through the body. A physiological response from us flesh bags? Isn’t that what it ultimately boils down to? DOing things to repeat that chemical high that we get from it? Isn’t that just what a drug addict does? All the sound and bluster we make about goals and dreams seems more like just reaching for another needle.
Isn’t it just placing too much importance on humans? Doesn’t existence seem much larger than the tiny world we made, almost large enough that the things we do and strive for seem so small, insignificant?
I mean isn’t that what life boils down to? Just a stimulus and a response? You can dress up the stimulus all you want but it seems like it all leads to the same end. A brief feeling of goodness as the result of a chemical. Action-chemical, action-chemical, that seems to be the sum of our lives.
Dude. That is deep. You must be some sort of philosophical individual, to think as deeply as that. Not for you the painted facade of fruitless purpose that the mass of humanity cower behind to vainly shelter them from the yawning abyss of despair that lies beyond, you march right up to that grim pit and whimper into it, “What’s the point of living?”. Deep, man. Have you thought of writing poetry?
Can someone explain this to me? What’s so bad about not existing? You didn’t exist for millennia and I don’t think it particularly bothered you at the time. It reminds me of that Nabokov quote: “The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. Although the two are identical twins, man, as a rule, views the prenatal abyss with more calm than the one he is heading for…”
Did you ever get past the First Noble Truth? There are actually four.
Nice sarcasm, but it still doesn’t address the statement.
The rest seems more like mystical nonsense than anything beneficial. It also doesn’t answer the question of why bother living.
I’m aware of my tongue!
“It’s a gift. And a curse.” - Adrian Monk
This is similar to what I’m getting at.
But you still haven’t addressed my stimulus-response comment
Go away.
Because, who cares? You are stuck in your tiny vessel, tossed about on the heedless gales. You cannot step out of it, for there will be even less to your existence than what you are already whining about. This is what you get, so trim your foresail and lay about for smoother waters, such as you can. Or be a courageous coward and make for the undiscovered country, from who’s borne, no traveler returns. Those are basically the options available to you.
Because I don’t remember not existing. I like my existence and I don’t want to give it up. There’s no proof that nonexistence is preferable to existing.
Stimulus.