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Comment by big_chungus | Hacker News Reader

This is why people have religion. Regardless of your personal views on the fact, it's a darn good way to avoid getting depressed by this sort of nihilism. You believe the universe will go on; you'll see your family one day and spend eternity in paradise. You may think it's BS, but have to admit it doesn't really matter for most people, it still does the job.

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Another way to deal with nihilism is to embrace it. Once you accept that nothing matters, you can stop beating yourself up for mistakes and failures. You can strip the urgency from your goals. It allows you to proceed with outcome independence. This needs to be paired with some form of motivation too, but I think that's more up to the individual.

> strip the urgency from your goals

Exactly. I personally know people who have become despondent and given up on life. Maybe a few people will take advantage of total freedom to learn and do, but if we're being honest here, most will watch net flicks and eat potato chips. It is still a net positive for _most_ people.

This is me, up to certain a point. I workout regularly, get slowly better at my job, participate in social activities. Just focus on enjoying life and I do. Still, it's all utterly meaningless. Funny thing is, I'm quit sure that the lack of meaning is holding me back. Holding me back in the sense that my satisfaction with life and success within it could be better with the feeling of meaning in life.

There are people who proclaim that death gives everything meaning. Nonsense, death neither gives nor takes meaning, it's as meaningless as eternal life. I'm an atheist to every religion I've ever encountered and couldn't imagine the existence of a god providing meaning, either. (I actually perceive that idea, meaning by higher power, to be even more absurd).

I have the believe though, that the question for meaning is a side effect of having a modern life. Did ancient tribes people think about meaning or did they simply hunt, socialize and view the world as connected in everything (the natural view of the world, as children have it) and never ever even thing about the concept of meaning of life? There are still somewhat "natural" living tribes out there, did someone ask them that question? I'm really curious about their reaction and answer.

Really, to me it seems, that the answer to the question about the meaning of life is to never ask it in the first place.

If there is an answer, it is that you get to define your own meaning.

I read that often, also in this thread. But it isn't working for me. Meaning is not a rational concept, I guess it is a feeling. I say guess, because I've never experienced it. I only know, that the lack of meaning is a feeling.

One day, I might stumble into a life where everything clicks together and the lack of meaning withers away. But that's not going to be a rational decision. "I conclude that this way of life is meaningful. 5 minutes later, I feel meaningful". Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

> Another way to deal with nihilism is to embrace it. Once you accept that nothing matters, you can stop beating yourself up

But because nothing (incl. consequences) matters, it can also be a path to sociopathy, especially if your nihilistic attitude has deprived you of a normal social outlet.

That's certainly a hazard to look out for.

As someone who has been on both sides of that belief, I can agree that it generally has a stabilizing effect on people's mental state. However, once you lose that belief, it is very difficult to make yourself believe it again. And probably even harder for people that never believed in the first place.

See, I never got how religion solves the problem of 'life not having a meaning'... let's suppose that there is a god, he created everything, and he tells me my purpose is x... well, so what? Just because God created everything, does that mean his choice for meaning is the same as mine? I mean, my parents created me, and if they told me their idea for my purpose, it wouldn't make it mine.

Same with eternal life... how does something without meaning extended forever suddenly have meaning?

I guess I never got the connection with an omniscient creator and a feeing of having purpose.

I have plenty of purpose; experiencing the universe, taking it all in, seeing what happens next, loving deeply, sharing joy, experiencing pain. So much to life.

what if .. the story of there being a god separate from you is just a story. The nondual or advaita insight is that you are divine already, just pretending not to be. It goes deeper than that and should not be made another story but experienced yourself first. This was my own path to unshakeable faith, by own experience with the help of teachings and meditation as the beginning.

And yet millennia of philosophy have also attempted to address it. Epicurus comes first to mind from the materialist camp. Religion is not the only source of solace for existential dread, there are more rationalist approaches that can be viable. I think these have been sufficiently overshadowed by religion that they are only recently re-entering the public discourse.

I’m not entirely sure if this characterization of religion makes sense.

I'm not _entirely_ sure of most things, but am unsure how I am to reply with anything of substance if you don't give me a little more to engage with. _Why_ doesn't it make sense? I'm approaching it from a sociological point in this case, rather than a moral or theological one.

Given my only exposure with any depth is Christianity (still superficial) I’m using this as my reference. If you read any of the really well-regarded spiritual authors (like the doctors of the church for example) you will read plenty about how your family (or you, of course) could easily be damned to hell. In fact, seeing relatives in hell is probably inevitable. Something even more discomforting to discuss is that, being that you’ve made it to heaven, your will is united to God’s and you would in fact marvel at God’s justice while you watch your relatives suffer in hell.

Eg http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5094.htm

It’s not clear to me that these are especially comforting things to think about, at least superficially.

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