I guess we all have different reasons for being here. For me it keeps coming back to the same thing: I’m not convinced that life is a good thing.
All living things are born with some sort of survival instinct. But has anyone rationalized why we should want to live? I think it’s just some sort of selfish programming, like the desire to take whatever you want. In the case of taking things (stealing), we’ve learned to suppress that instinct. Mindless carnal instincts like rape & violence are mostly suppressed too. But still there’s that ridiculous “self preservation” thing that nobody ever questions.
Maybe I was born with less of that instinct than others, or maybe I lost it. I don’t know. But now that I’m not bogged down by that mindless need to live, I can examine life more objectively. And I have yet to be convinced that I should live. In fact, the longer I live, the more I realize that there is no reason for me to be alive.
None of us ever signed up for this job. We were dragged into life by our parents, for whatever reasons they had. So picture this, suppose you get dragged into a job and you’re not being paid and there’s nothing particularly interesting or rewarding about it. Wouldn’t you say it’s time to quit that job?
6 comments
when life gives you lemons you make lemon aid…throw in some vodka if you’d like.
You have some funny wit in the way you describe things, but obviously you are missing the truth.
The fact is that for many people, definitively not for me, life is a lot of fun, they really enjoy it every minute, either they fall in love, or bang out with chicks or go out for a kit surfing ride, they enjoy it.
So, the fact that you don’t enjoy it is because you are depressed, but not because life IS so.
cyanidesofmarch,
i was agreeing with you until oracle mentioned banging chicks now i’ve changed my mind.
You can’t pin it all down on depression. Sometimes life doesn’t have a lot of things to look out for, short- mid- or long-term. You don’t need to be depressed for that to be the case, losing most things in your life and being stranded with nothing is enough. I don’t feel a particular need to live myself. After all, what’s the point?
@blackhole – Ha, I once heard the saying “If God hands you lemons… FIND A NEW GOD!!”
@oracle & rocket – Ah banging chicks can do wonders for the soul. There are lots of things that can make life fun. But are any of them valid reasons to live? I used to be a happy person and I never questioned living. But one day the happiness just wore off, like an illusion, and for the last 15 years I’ve been wondering why I should bother living.
Could happiness be a delusion? Like mass hypnosis. Something to convince people to go on living? Well it stopped working on me a long time ago unfortunately
@bart That’s what I’m thinking too. I don’t have anymore hopes or dreams, short- mid- or long-term. Just day-to-day routines that don’t go anywhere. If you find yourself stuck in the same meaningless rut, whether you’re happy or depressed, life doesn’t have any point.
If you’re getting paid than no, but if not paid of course.