Why I shouldn't bother going to work tomorrow... or the day after...

[GirlScout]

In the grand scheme of things, since we do not have any conclusive answer on a supreme being or that we were designed with any kind of mission or plan - I kind of feel that the whole thing is pointless.That life is futile. The sun will explode and we will die, so what is the point? If I thought for one second that humans may one day put all this petty bullshit behind them and stop fighting and hating each other then I could see the point, we could work together and by the time that sun goes supernova we would be long gone, exploring the universe together as one unified species. Instead we'll be here on this rock, getting sun burnt and fucking anything that moves and killing anything we can't fuck.

Humanity, if we take an honest look at it, is not a viable or sustainable idea. We are impulsive and self centred creatures, our selfishness is part of the reason we are what we are today, without this trait we wouldn't have dominated the planet for thousands of years. We wouldn't have evolved into what we are. Of course there are many more things which have contributed to this, and a lot of them good traits, such as compassion and empathy and co-operation. This makes the rest of it seem even worse as we, as a race, are capable of so much more but we fail to reach our potential because we are human. We are greedy. We are violent. We are spiteful. Fact of the matter is there will always be good people and there will always be bad. That won;t change, and I just cannot see how we will ever survive as a species like this. Unity will never happen and without it we'll just disappear when that sun does. I find it hard to care about anything when there is no hope. I laugh at myself for still bothering with it all.

[vishna]

Life as a complex, self aware creature is a gift. You didn't ask for it, yet here you are pondering deep questions.

If you see wrong in the world, why not act to change it, one small or sweeping action at a time?

You are apart of this species and this planet, it's yours as much as anyone else's. And you're luckier within this species than many others.

Use your many gifts.

[madhatters4]

considering that going to work has little to do with your after life or religious standing i don't see why it matters whether or not there is a supreme being. you still need money to eat, live, have shelter, etc

[niceguystillalone]

You view life as if the next generation is building its future on our dead bodies. You look at your actions as an impact on the whole world. You asked why YOU should go to work tomorrow. That's where your focus should be, on you. Even if you don't look at this singularly, the idea that we're all supposed to come together and make the world one unified place is still asking a lot. We, individually, are a part of a system where it is pretty much impossible for one part to change the whole on its own. We should focus on things on a much smaller scale. I don't go to work thinking how I'll impact the world. I go to work thinking I'll do the best work I can. I think about how I impact those who I know and care about to make their lives better. Helping my friends and my family is something that I can do. I can only hammer one nail at a time. I cannot be responsible for every nail everyone else hammers and worry about how if they do it wrong everything falls apart. If that's going to happen, I can't stop it no matter how hard I try.

One thing that I find relates to this is the Serenity Pray:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Even if you don't believe in any higher power, the message is we each have a finite amount of influence. We can't change everything. We shouldn't try to change everything. If we all try and then lose hope, then we will all surely fail. But we can individually choose to do what we can the best way we can and be happy knowing that the impact we had was positive.

I has a discussion with someone who implied that being remember for creating some great work was the only way to leave our mark on this world. My response was we can try to go through life chiseling away at the rock to leave our name behind when we die, but what we will likely find is that all we did was chisel the name on our tombstone.

So you can live your life looking at how the world is being ruined and decide that nothing you do matters, or you can stop trying to look at the whole world and simply get up and go to work tomorrow so you can have the most impact on what you can control, be helpful to those you can, support those you care about, and leave your mark on this world by knowing that in the end you hammered your nail to the best of your ability and if everything falls down it certainly won't be because of you.

[GirlScout]

I'm always confused as to why people feel such a need to be remembered once they're dead, to leave a legacy.

[niceguystillalone]

It probably has something to do with the desire to feel like that's the point of life. If you go through life and die just to disappear from existence than you didn't mean anything, but if you find a way to do something and can be remember than you had meaning. I don't believe this because I think people have meaning even when they do just seem to disappear from existence. Call it the chaos theory of human life. We all matter even if it is just some little way that plays into a bigger part.

[GirlScout]

We matter just as much as some one who leaves ten kids as a legacy. If people genuinely have kids in order to leave a legacy... man, that is depressing as fuck.

[niceguystillalone]

Oh, I certainly don't think that leaving kids is a legacy. Especially given I have absolutely no desire to even have kids.

[Moose2coolvargas]

Leave enough life insurance, it's all you need anyways

[Levin]

Hmm, I kind of see life as like a Mahler symphony. The frustration and the bitterness, and the meaninglessness of it all, gives way, to eventual transcendence. One provides a context for another. One without the other is meaningless in itself. Take his second symphony, the first movement, he's clearly pissed off and frustrated, but in between it there are little clues, little moments of peace and insight, of clarity, that one need hold on to and pay heed to. Perhaps when someone gives you a kindly smile, or when you're absorbed in nature. But they aren't rapturous, one must work through the shit. Towards the end of the symphony, there are moments of bliss, orgasm, transcendence, it all builds and builds. The metaphor to life is overt!

You can see how it builds here, in the first movement, as I describe. The sarcastic sneering bitterness as well, you can hear that in here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwYFlW5voE0

When you see it live, it has even more impact, with the percussion literally thudding through you! The anger welling up!

And then the start of the last movement, the flurry of passion, the forays, the insight, but still, tinged with darkness, with reservation.

Towards the end of the final movement, that's when things overflow, and become too much to even be contained within the body. Some universal insight beckons! But the end, only makes sense, within the context of the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xol0A6owZn4

[GirlScout]

I like this thought process, wonderful analogy.

[hellionthesage]

I think your missing the irony in all of this. Misandry is in fact the biggest indicator of the good of man. A tiger does not feel remorse for the things it does, no predator on the planet does except for man. You also forget that we save as frequently as we destroy and our destructive tendencies are not only a product of biology but usually if we are talking about it in an enviromental sense due to ignorance not malice. Yet unlike any other species in the world we try to fix things, we think about how are actions are impacting others, not just other humans but animals and plants, in fact we actually become depressed at the thought that one day everything dies that it will go away and actually attempt to preserve it. No other species on this planet does that. As for the big picture, its true none of it seems to matter, but then that is actually a good thing not bad. It means that it matters only so much as you believe it matters, that there is no power above demanding that we be good but that we have decided this on our own, that we can choose to do good it is not mandatory. We also know that the universe is empty and devoid of purpose but also that we are of the universe everything we are is from the universe we are composed of the same things as stars, that we are composed of stars, that we are related to all life on this planet a tree is as much a relative as the apes or the bacteria in the soil. We belong here its apart of us and we are apart of it. We may not have a divine or predetermined purpose but that is not the same as having no purpose at all.

[GirlScout]

We are all made from stars, something I think of very fondly. It actually brings me comfort in some strange way, but it doesn't make me think any differently about our existence. If anything it kinda makes me think that this, what we're doing now, is even more pointless. That our existence as a race is merely a blink of an eye in the bigger picture that will be the history of the universe.

I think what it boils down to, for me on a personal level, is that I'm bored of life. I would write something else on that subject but I fear GaG would silence me and send me another suicide helpline message, ha!

[hellionthesage]

Well as I stated its meaning is what you make of it. It is as utterly pointless or deeply meaningful dependent upon your perspective. Thats the beauty of it. I don't know if you play games but I do. I love sandbox games and open worlds. The reason is because there is no meaning and so I create the meaninig, I do what I want to do create the stories I want to hear/see/experience. By having no inherint meaning it in fact becomes more meaningful. For example I have a piece of unevenly folded piece of paper with colored wax scrawled across it. It serves no purpose and is not aestheticly pleasing. Yet I keep it because it came from my nephew when he was very young. Does the universe acknowledge its importance? Of course not, but that isn't necessary because I acknowledge its importance, I give it meaning. If your bored, change the game or how you play it. Life is no different. Your not bored of life, your bored of how you are living your life. So try something different.

[GirlScout]

You are totally right and even though I go on about it being all pointless I do fully understand that life is what you make it... but I'm really struggling to give a shit, ha! I'm just musing depressively recently. I'm sure I'll stop being so bored of it again soon, but that still doesn't change my ultimate feelings towards humanity.

[hellionthesage]

Which is?

[GirlScout]

That we are, as a whole, a bit of a lost cause and our own destructive nature is the biggest challenge we have to face as a species.

[hellionthesage]

Our nature is not destructive, at least not anymore then anything else on the planet. The issue is two things, one unlike all other species we have removed most limiting factors to us ie predators/resources (ie food/water)/disease (obviously not eleminated but reduced considerably) which other species still have keeping them in check. We have evolved to fight to live yet now we really don't need to and its leaving us at a bit of a loss.(look up the mouse utopia experience its chilling, namely because it suggest a perfect world would destroy us, that it is more dystopian then utopian. We where built to strive against the universe without that we begin to lose purpose) The other is ignorance or the curse of not enough knowledge. We know enough to think we understand how things work but not enough to realize we really don't which is what causes a lot of negative repercussions whether it be of a social nature (think china with its one child policy) or enviromental (renewable energy).

[hellionthesage]

This should be something that gives hope since it is not necessarily a flaw in "programming" or "hardware" but rather our interpretation of such. Failure is the greatest teacher and as we have learned as a society from past mistakes we will learn from our current ones in due time. If we look for instance when we where hunter gatherers teh most likely form of death was in combat with other humans but as we have progressed we have actually become less violent (media has a way of skewing this truth by bombarding you with the extremes society has to offer). We have had fewer and fewer wars of conquest since we have become more capable of utilizing the land that we have in a more efficient manner, and we have began to preserve our world because we now have the luxury of being able to care thanks to our advancments (hard to care about the enviorment when its trying to kill you). We are improving, even if we as a society do not wish to admit it.

[TheSalty]

This defeatism will not help humanity at all. We are not weak, we may often be petty but never weak. Our lust for exploration and the unknown will drive us to the Stars, whether the species is united or not. Anyways each day the world grows closer together, more people have access to the internet, globalization continues, and more nations are democratic than ever before.

Sure there will never be a "perfect" society, murder and rape will exist. But international conflicts are at an all time low. To say we are killing each other as always is lying, the amount of people dying in warfare is also at an all time low. Without bad there is no good. And who says being human is bad? What other species has harnessed the power of the atom, either for destruction or energy? Who else has landed there own on other celestial bodies and explored the Solar System with probes?

Maybe I haven't lost my faith in humanity, but I do believe we will rule the heavens and nothing will stop us in our venture.

[GirlScout]

Some of is will yes, for sure.

[GirlScout]

*us , not is sorry.

[TheGamingOne]

Yes in the end it doesn't even matter (bet you read that in a linkenpark tune)

But in my opinion is te idea of human is survival
and when a treu danger appears like a comet, alien invasion or similar
then the humans will unite
Right now people dont see us as one race
they see countrys, they see religion and they see money

There will come a time when these things dont matter and we have to unite

But if you would ask me, it would be best if the human race would go extingt if there are other life forms out there, why?
Becuase somewhere im convinced that if we get to spacetravel that we will become the invaders, and we will exterminate raceses for thier recources

But the chance of us ever going anywhere is very slim, with the exponatial travel rate we growing with right now we would be too late to flee our rock
And even if we can leave in time and travel with the speed of light it would still take very long before we reach the nearest possibly inhabital planet

But i live from day to day, and in the end i dont care about what I've done, or what i cuased
as long as i was happy

[Avenuewriter]

Actually, our sun is too small to ever go supernova, it will eventually grow older and thus bigger that the Earth will get singed, but not supernova.

As for the main issue at hand, the point of our existence isn't unity. We thrive in conflict because without it we'd stagnate. There will always be some new issue for us to overcome because without one we can't continue to grow and change. Just look at how far we've come already, from the muck of our early years where we could barely survive to a world where everyone is connected thanks to digital technology. It's a wondrous time to live in, and it'll get better as time goes on. However, that doesn't mean we'll ever achieve some sort of utopia where everyone smiles and agrees with one another because, it's just not a realistic aspiration. World peace is an illogical thing because we ourselves are illogical, if you don't mind the Spock speak. However, we can work to make things better, not perfect, but better.

The true point of it all is to leave a legacy, be it as simple as propagating the species or inventing the next big breakthrough that propels our race into a new era. With any luck, that legacy will continue long after we've passed, and hopefully that'll be enough to let us die at ease, content that we've left our mark on the world in some way. It's what humanity has done, and it's what we'll continue to do.

[TheGeorge]

Life is what you make of it. I understand where you are coming from. It seems very unlikely that there'll ever be a time when politicians are not corrupt, science and education will get the respect and funding it deserves and people will work towards a common goal. I'm part of the problem because I am an egoist. I just want to live my life, I don't care what happens to the world in a thousand years or whether the human race will survive until after the sun has burned out. All I care about is my own small circle: family, friends, people I work with those I know and how everything relates to it. I'm not in a position to lecture the world about their behavior because I am no better. Even if I think to myself that it would be nice if people worked together more, I am not really making an effort myself. Why should anyone else do? You just have to accept the world as it is and make the best out of it: for you! You can spend your whole life dreaming about a nice concept or good idea, or you can just live and do what you enjoy.

[Flex4Ever]

Couldn't agree more. That's why I don't like people (hehe). Not that I don't spend time with them (and as you say; there will always be good and bad people) but ultimately us, human beings, are fucked up creatures (which is why I prefer animals>humans). Live life as YOU like to, but to me... show me a resume filled with diplomas, educations, jobs etc. It's nothing but toilet paper to me. There is so much more to life than that. I can find other things to worry about other than a "nice" resume. When I tell my family that, they go nuts because "you have to get a job, you need money, you have to get an education." I don't need nor want anything.

[RandomUsername3464]

I'm at the point where I have stopped thinking about this stuff because I beat it to death. I just want to find some type of niche I can be successful at, and meet decent people that I can communicate and collaborate with. Placing the weight of humanity's destiny upon your shoulders will only end in you being stressed beyond imagination and nothing ultimately changing.

[GirlScout]

Absolutely true.

[RalphBlack]

This way of thinking cannot be debated against because at this point in your life, you have already made up your mind and there is no other way to convince you otherwise to at least find the joy of living as it is.
I agree that if you open your eyes to what's really going on then it is lonely. But that is why we are created to sometimes sleep do that we don't have to overthink existence.
Don't dig so deep sometimes and just let the surface be as it is.
Only when it is needed is when it is important to look at the naked truth.
For now just let the truth wear some clothes.

[RandomUsername3464]

Are you saying this because she's 31, and you adhere to the theory that the brain settles itself and completes maturing at the age of 25? I'd like to tell myself that life is not that fundamentalist and rigid.

[GirlScout]

I'm not that rigid at all, in fact I'm already thinking of something a little bit more hopeful and positive to balance out my depressing little outburst, but that isn't to say I still don't feel the same way. I'm just going to do as we all do and as you suggested and bury my head in the sand until the next time thoughts wander to more melancholy ponderings.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the adult world of existential crisis. This won't be your first or your last they'll just keep getting more and more clear but each time you'll feel like it's all pointless and futile. Sad part is your not discovering anything knew. Look around you. The vast majority of adults get what you've stated and have been getting it for centuries. Your options are wait to die or try to do something anyways. yeah it's pointless but when everything's pointless you get to decide what's worthwhile. If nothing is then leave and risk never finding the thing that at least makes you feel delusionally positive about life's futility. That's the truth. Life is arbitrary minuscule and through some perspectives pointless. Now do you wanna live anyways and at the very least enjoy what you've got and quit worrying about all that or not? In the words of Morty Smith "nobody belongs anywhere, nobody exists on purpose, everybody's gonna die. Come watch TV"

[GirlScout]

I just watched that episode last night, It comes as no shock to me at all that people understand and have been thinking it since before we can recall \I'm just having a public moan about it (for want of a better word).

[Opinion Owner]

I couldn't tell your age from the take itself. Most people here are in their early teens so I figured I was ripping the bandaid off for someone but after seeing your age I'm positive you already get it. Existence is dark and bleak you just gotta build a decent flashlight and deal with it.

[Opinion Owner]

It worries me that you have 30 response from guys and 0 from girls. Do you know why that might be?

[abzence]

I like the idea of existence being a fragmented consciousness that is subjectively exploring itself. It removes the need for a point, meaning or anything of the sort. There is only life and it's journey of self exploration.

Humans have a tendency to think we are somehow separated from nature/life when we indeed are not. We make our goals and dreams about how life "should" be when there is no such thing. There is no objective purpose, meaning or how things should or should not there. There's only life and we get disappointed when it's not how we, the insignificant speck of existence want it to be.

The journey of life will continue with or without the perspective of humans. There will always be endless perspectives for existence to explore itself. Life and existence itself will never die or end since there is no other thing or no other place to go.

[Phoenix98]

That's a sad view and just because other people are like that doesn't mean you have to be, you want to be different make a difference? stand up for something then do it, if not sit there and dream of doom and gloom and a bleak future, you are the architect of your own future if everyone thought as you did we'd all die of depression. It's only not worth it if you truly think it is.

But remember the only way to make a difference in both yourself and our race as a whole is to not be like everyone else be and act like everything you hope our race can be and maybe, just maybe others will do the same if not at least you tried, but if you don't well you'll live a pathetic life always wondering what could be instead of what will be.

[Anpu23]

Let me ask a counter question. What is stopping you from being the best you can be? It should never be about anyone else but yourself, and as you are not competing with anyone, it becomes all about how you act, what you do, and as the only one who you really should be trying to please is yourself, then if you are not happy at your work, leave, and do something that will fulfill you. No one is forcing you to go to work, no one is forcing you to do anything. Their are a myriad possibilities out there, find the one that works for you, and do it. Yes the world will die, and so will you, but that doesn't detract from the joy of helping those who can be helped, of creating a beautiful piece of art, of singing in the shower, of laughter, love.

[Xonen]

That's awfully resigned of you, but I'm sure it won't last long. We are humans, which means we're always hopeful of something. Whether humans were ascribed some Almighty purpose for existence by the creator or not, we as a race will always seek our own meaning (with the exception of pessimists like yourself).

Also, kind of funny how no females have commented on this take 😂

[TheGeorge]

That is indeed funny :D

[GirlScout]

I very rarely get many female responses to any questions or takes. Not that unusual.

Also, the mere fact I am discussing the issue kind of points toward my questioning the universe and our place in it, I think to say pessimists don't contemplate life, the universe and everything I think is misjudging them greatly.

[Xonen]

I'm not saying that pessimists don't have any complex thought, but you have to admit: sitting around and denouncing human existence as pointless is a pretty lazy approach to life. The beauty of existence as we know it is that it is unpredictable and endlessly explorable. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to, because you're an autonomous being (-:

[GirlScout]

I think THAT is one of the real roots to it, I can't be bothered to give a shit. I'm feeling incredibly apathetic about life in general, but that isn't to say I don't agree with most of this when I'm in a more upbeat mood.

[Xonen]

Meaning and purpose are relative.

[Humping_Tornadoes]

Honestly, I have thought about this as well but the conclusion is always the same. There's absolutely nothing you can do about it and since our first instinct is survival then you gotta work for your food, and to have a roof where to lay down each night, simple.

You shouldn't delude yourself on to thinking that things happen for a reason, because they don't. All events are random, circumstantial and that's all. Unless you believe in a supreme being who you call out to interfere whenever you need to, it is the same to everyone. Shit happens and everything is aleatory.

In terms of death, yeah we will all die and you can't stop that. All you can do is be ready to die, expect death if you will, but don't think about it all the time. Thanks goodness there are so many things that keeps us distracted and things to look forward to, even if they are on a very personal -universally insignificant- level.

[6161616162222]

A very pessimistic look at things, you make good points, but i think you are a bit ignorant because you do know that the sun exploding into a supernovae is not until a further couple billion of years.

And just before that andromeda will collide with our galaxy, but will have no danger effects, just the stars near our galaxy.
Infact it's slowly accelerating to us now,

This mentality is backward and illogical, because by that logic you could get hit a asteriod and thats it human race and earth over... But no we still go on

[TripleAce]

Humans are like a virus - we multiply, consume resources and produce waste

But we are still a phase 1 advanced civilization. Far from being able to space travel and use the energy out there. Phase 2 the next phase is using the sun as direct energy

We probably wouldn't last on here to make it to the sun dying out - the earths atmoshpere will change drastically, it will probably be too hot by then or there will be a wipe out of some sort

[PizzaGuy22]

you got that first statement from agent smith in the matrix lol

[TripleAce]

But the script that he read out got that from somewhere else 😋

[QuestionMan]

Didn't think I'd encounter a nihilist cynic on GAG.
Here's my answer to you, after reading Nietzsche's work my conclusion is not that life is meaningless but that we each must come up with our own meaning.
No one can tell you what your purpose is, except you.

There are good and people on this planet and sometimes it feels like there are more bad than good, but when you meet people who are truly awesome those bad people no longer matter.

[QuestionMan]

*good and bad people

[NerdInDenial]

Well, just for the record, I once calculated when the sun will die and become a black hole: billions of years from now. Anyway, you should go to work because in the reality you live in you need to sustain yourself. The only way you can do that is to go to work and earn money and buy food, shelter, and clothing. Until you find an alternate reality, this is your life. You will work for most of it and when you are no longer able to work, retire, have free time, and waste away.

[hellionthesage]

I'm just here to nitpick, the sun is to small to turn into a black hole. It will most likely, however, expand into a red giant engulfing the entire planet (as far as humans are concerned the end result would be the same, but if scientists are correct considerablly less cool then being sucked into a black hole).

[GirlScout]

@hellionthesage I don't know, I think being engulfed by a red dwarf is cooler than popping into a big hole of nothing

[hellionthesage]

Yeah but with the black hole you would (if falling feet first) see yourself stretched as the disproportionate gravitational forces stretch you out at different lengths and supposedl when you hit a certain point if you look back reality will have distorted to such a degree that you would be able to look back in time before you hit the ball of light and energy the black hole absorbed which would vaporize you if you haden't been torn apart atom by atom first. With the red giant it would be so slow we would die of storms and draught and heat waves before the sun even got close enough (though it would be interesting to see the nothern lights. I wonder if it being closer would distort the planets electromagnetic sphere as more solar wind hit us.).

[GirlScout]

@helliothesage wonderful description there, but the slow destruction of the planet while the sun turns into a red giant in our skies... plus like you said, the aurora... now that's a show I couldn't miss for all the stretchy legged time viewing in the world.

[Mustachekitteh]

@hellionthesage That is what they call spaghettification by a black hole :D

[hellionthesage]

@Mustachekitteh yep! Interesting way to go, if one must go at all. @GirlScout I would say both would be interesting but we would most likely be dead (Aside from the old age I mean, and the affects of the moon on the earth (its slowing our rotational speed causing days to increase in length, if it hasn't been thrown out of rotation (its slowly drifting away from the earth) it will cause us to be tidally locked to the sun resulting in most likely, death for all life) before any of the really cool stuff began to happen. Not that I wouldn't want to see both (within a protective bubble of course).

[GirlScout]

@hellionthesage protective bubble goes without saying :)

[hellionthesage]

True enough. Not really all that awesome if your to busy being dead to enjoy it.

[GirlScout]

@hellionthesage true, and I sunburn so easily :)

[hellionthesage]

As do I :)