Comment by EGreg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by EGreg | Hacker News Reader

How do intelligent people cope with the thought that we can die at any time and afterwards all existence as you know it comes to an end?

It makes things seem pretty meaningless. Even the top accomplishments that I aspire to do will, at the end of the day, be just a temporary thing.

Add to this the prospect that in 50-100 years everything we do now and build now will be as quaint as people who stiched clothes by hand. It will all be automated so even the jobs we do today are like playing with children's toys.

So what's the point of it all? As I got older, I started feeling all the social experiences and all the rooftop bars and so on are just more of the same. A bit like hearing similar jokes over and over. I still enjoy experiences but in the back of my mind I don't really see the point anymore.

I still really enjoy my work and making progress on it. But that dread is often there, especially during late nights. Especially after I finish a video game and the ending of that game world makes me think of being one level up.

Anyone feel this way? How did you deal with it?

I have had life experiences recently (great, great loss) that make me realise and see (quite clearly) that there is no 'point' to things either. Things just are, reality just is (you can do nothing about it, you can only accept it or try to fight against it), and 'purpose' is just meaning we choose to make of it - bullshit stories of our own self-delusion - whether knowingly or not.

It's thrown me into depression (as I'm not used to not being goal-based) and I'm kind of in a big existential limbo right now.

At this point, I'm realising that if there is no purpose in anything, don't live with purpose. Instead, focus on process, and action. Simply accept what is (observe reality), instead of imagining or striving for what isn't, and to me it seems a more logical and successful life, all previous things said.

Be more connected to reality. Simply, existentially focus on that. Reality is different to 'truth', in a way. Reality doesn't involve much thought, or actually any at all.

It's a mindfuck because I just gave a purpose or reason for living this way - but I've articulated the mechanism: don't live with purpose, just live with process. Just do, and yeah read some Eckhart Tolle. And Byron Katie.

And here's a thought: There's no point to anything, so you may as well feel love.

I'd highlight that these thoughts did not produce your depression, but your depression produces these thoughts. I end up believing similar perspectives on life when I'm stuck too deep in depression, too. If you want to be happier again, work on the root of your grief. With the help of a professional, at best.

> How do intelligent people cope with the thought that we can die at any time and afterwards all existence as you know it comes to an end?

Do you consider people that do believe that this life is not the only one - but actually part of a bigger one - to also be intelligent?

By the things I've read, I think some people and writings from hundreds or thounsands of years were smarter then the smarts of today.

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