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Thoughts on meaning, nihilism.

Poll - Total Votes: 8
Existence has meaning
Existence is meaningless
We can't know either way
Show Results
You can only vote on one answer.
On the level of human psyche there is definitely meaning at least to us, in Jung's studies into archetypal symbology he found that throughout human history and through studies of dreams he'd found the same recurring themes and images, the same patterns of characters also found in alchemy recur in all great human stories (Alchemy being a form of early psychology mixed with spirituality, the Egyptian word alchamet meaning "out of darkness", it was the origin of the theory of shadow work, exploring the unconscious etc).

Nihilism of course is the belief that there is no objective meaning to anything. I can partly agree with it for the same reason that I can't, that it falls into a matter of subjective definitions. If meaning exists to us as people (which I've argued definitely does, whether you want to put that down to biology or having a soul) then it objectively exists. To say existence itself is meaningless to myself seems to disregard what we already know to be true in ourselves. Now one could say "But by what measure, and outside of human existence what is the meaning?" as eventually we reach a point where you ask the nature of existence itself and that's not empirically answerable by any measurable degree.

Perhaps the point of existence is merely to be able to experience existence, that in itself would have the deepest meaning of all tbh. Perhaps we're what we call souls inhabiting bodies in one dimension to then learn and experience existence to become more. Perhaps we are god or source itself experiencing itself subjectively in order to become more of all that is by experiencing itself in more complex ways, even questioning its own existence. Maybe we are god questioning itself, like the collective unconscious of source itself.

To me, the conclusion that everybody just becomes mulch for the soil doesn't seem to be an end all conclusion that I accept. Considering the richness of existence, the experiences of dreams meeting dead relatives, the strange unexplainable connections some of us have EG. people I know seeing things that eventually happen, personal experiences I've had of spirituality, it seems far too early to conclude everything like that. It's like the god argument, I'll never say source or god doesn't exist or does because I can't know, so I feel the same towards the approach of nihilism. It just feels so soulless and lazy, cynical almost.

Be interested to see what others think overall.
HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F Best Comment
To be honest I don't even know what "meaning" means here, like how it relates to existence. Is it purpose? I don't believe in a greater purpose because I think existence came into existence by chance, if that makes sense... And true, many people like to invent a purpose, and they think that "if my life is meaningless then I might as well die" but I don't get why you need to have a purpose in the first place. If you were born, that's a good enough reason for you to exist, just like for everything else on this planet. I like to say that the meaning of life is that there's no meaning at all. I like what you said here too [quote]Perhaps the point of existence is merely to be able to experience existence, that in itself would have the deepest meaning of all tbh.[/quote]

Perhaps I'm a nihilist, I really don't know. I just don't find any of it comforting, or the opposite. And maybe I personally never needed comfort so that's why I don't understand it.

Like even if god exists like most people imagine this "being" to exist, why did he create anything at all? I'm surprised I've never came across any religious person asking that. Was it a need of his? Was he bored? Did he feel anything at all while creating? To me it's all just too anthropocentric and that's why when it comes to such vague terms and existential questions I don't like any religious or spiritual explanations. Even if there's a creator greater than us, we're thinking of it very simplistically because we like to apply humane characteristics in just about anything. Even the thought of having a purpose is just too humane and therefore not superior than any other feeling. "Today I'm sad, I have no purpose." "Oh I finally found my purpose so I'm so happy!". For some reason purpose is associated with goodness. So yeah I don't think it's anything superior or crucial in the long run.
HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F
@Ryannnnnn it's hard to tell anything about consciousness yet as we don't know too much and I agree, it doesn't have to be either god or science. Maybe science will explain "god" some day.

I don't believe anything is pointless [i]right now[/i], I've heard of some scientists saying that even if you went back in time and removed one grain of sand from one beach, the world would be different in some way. Much like the butterfly effect, like every little something can contribute to something greater, so everything matters.
However I could believe that everything is pointless too, when we have "forever" as a time frame, because what if things were different? Since things are as they are and they will be as they will be, there's not much point to it all either.
Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M
@HannibalAteMeOut I think that's where I disagree. I don't believe things become meaningless in relation to time or anything else. I think it's a very human thing to do, we see things in heirarchies, if we're just a tiny spec in a universe that somehow makes it less significant. I don't think meaning or significance is reducable by scale. Also whereas we might concieve as the future being seemingly forever, the only thing that objectively exists is now. The future is merely a conceptualisation of the now we'll exist in soon.

Depends on how we look at it really, we can either see it as "with so many possibilities we are but one so it makes us insignificant" or "with so many possibilities we are the one that exists so that makes it significant". Plus the other existences are what if's as we're what exists, I guess if you follow that train long enough we'll end up in the realms of fatalism.
HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F
@Ryannnnnn yeah what you explained in your second paragraph is basically what I meant but couldn't express it well enough.

Black pilled.
Everything’s fucked and beyond repair
Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M
@TheOneyouwerewarnedabout Hahaha. I think "black pill" talk is by peeps who've just given up in general, I don't buy it. Same with "red pill", subjective BS that usually doesn't apply outside of their own world view.
@Ryannnnnn and the blue pill?

Just shut up and do as Jim Acosta says?
Jackaloftheazuresand · 26-30, M
I understand and I don't, paradox

 
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