Actually, i realize you’re actually wondering “why am i me?” I don’t have a good answer for that. I don’t think anyone does. The best answer i’ve been able to invent for that specific question, is that, perhaps we are all the same “source,” experiencing life through each individual, separately, and so, everyone has to be someone, and so “i” am actually not just me, but i am also you, and everyone else as well. “i” is all of us at once, but as human beings, “we” experience life from the perspective of each single individual. In short: you are you, and i am me, and everyone is everyone, because someone had to be. Every time a new being is conceived, the “i” activates and fills it, from the same source that fills everyone and everything else.
I realize that sounds very metaphysical and mystical, but… aside from the purely temporal answers like “because sex” or “because DNA x Time x Environment,” there really isn’t any other answer for why any certain person is themselves, instead of their consciousness occurring in the body of someone else.
So maybe we’re all the same “spirit” piloting all bodies born with different genes at different times. I would like to believe something like that… but there isn’t enough of anything urging me to take the next leap into believing that’s actually true. I just think it’s a cool idea, and sort of makes sense in my own mind, even if others don’t get it.
I think you should try to spend your energy on questions you could possibly answer, rather than the impossible ones… and maybe try to figure out what you can do with what you’ve got, instead of wasting away wishing to be someone or something else. Wishing won’t accomplish that.
@ mysterygirl, it’s good that you’re asking that question: why do I exist? It’s an impossible question, but I think trying to find the answer to that question is, in and of itself, a good reason to exist. As long as you’re looking, you’re doing something useful.
I suggest simply NOT sitting in your room and crying. It’s as simple as that, mysterygirl. If you have a TV, just put something on, or play some game, or write about how you’re feeling. My point is, don’t let yourself sit there and cry. You need to take care of yourself, because nobody’s going to do it for you. And I don’t mean that in a mean way.
Family members, relationship partners, friends–they’re all kind of useless when it comes down to cheering someone up. The only person who can cheer yourself up is you. Maybe think hard on that point of view.
“It’s an impossible question, but I think trying to find the answer to that question is, in and of itself, a good reason to exist. As long as you’re looking, you’re doing something useful.”
How is willful pursuit of futility “useful” in any way, shape or form?
If you expend energy on what is impossible, you will /never/ achieve or attain it, because it is /impossible/.
Do not seek what does not exist. Seeking what does not exist is a waste of time, energy, resources, and life. Wasting your life seems like a guaranteed path to depression.
Instead, seek to discover what /does/ exist, and from those, what is actually attainable, and then from those choices, select one or more according to your own preference.
The tricky part of this is that sometimes something seems impossible, but isn’t… or seems possible, but is actually not. In order to avoid squandering your life on what is impossible to achieve or attain, you must accurately perceive what is either possible or impossible, and that requires a clear and reasonably justified view of reality and relativity.
I’ve seen too many people suddenly realize in advanced age, that they spent their entire lives pursuing something that was never actually possible, and they become filled with regret, and say things like “if i knew then, what i know now…” or “if i could start over but keep all i’ve learned…”
You don’t want to be that; pursuing the impossible will almost certainly lead down that path.
Rather than remaining debilitated by the question “why me?” you should instead ask yourself “what is the best i can do with what i’ve got? how can i figure out what is both possible and worthwhile? how do i enable myself to achieve a relatively satisfying existence?” and other such similar questions.
Fixating on the impossible is never the correct answer. Never. You have to accept what and who you are, and move forward from there… or you will be stuck in fixation upon the impossible, until there is nothing left.
Many people will oversimplify this into such phrases as “get over it,” but that’s just… well, oversimplified and insensitive. You might never actually “get over it,” but you have to move forward toward realistic goals, in order to achieve them. If you move toward unrealistic, fantastical, impossible goals… no amount of effort will have the results that produced the motivation to try. If you pursue impossible, impossible is exactly what you will find. IMO, that’s not a defensible or useful approach… and suggestions to the contrary have always baffled me. I can’t understand why anyone thinks pursuit of futility is “useful,” when “useful” and “futile” are blatantly contradictory terms.
3 comments
sperm+egg=you
problem solved.
Actually, i realize you’re actually wondering “why am i me?” I don’t have a good answer for that. I don’t think anyone does. The best answer i’ve been able to invent for that specific question, is that, perhaps we are all the same “source,” experiencing life through each individual, separately, and so, everyone has to be someone, and so “i” am actually not just me, but i am also you, and everyone else as well. “i” is all of us at once, but as human beings, “we” experience life from the perspective of each single individual. In short: you are you, and i am me, and everyone is everyone, because someone had to be. Every time a new being is conceived, the “i” activates and fills it, from the same source that fills everyone and everything else.
I realize that sounds very metaphysical and mystical, but… aside from the purely temporal answers like “because sex” or “because DNA x Time x Environment,” there really isn’t any other answer for why any certain person is themselves, instead of their consciousness occurring in the body of someone else.
So maybe we’re all the same “spirit” piloting all bodies born with different genes at different times. I would like to believe something like that… but there isn’t enough of anything urging me to take the next leap into believing that’s actually true. I just think it’s a cool idea, and sort of makes sense in my own mind, even if others don’t get it.
I think you should try to spend your energy on questions you could possibly answer, rather than the impossible ones… and maybe try to figure out what you can do with what you’ve got, instead of wasting away wishing to be someone or something else. Wishing won’t accomplish that.
I disagree with clevername.
@ mysterygirl, it’s good that you’re asking that question: why do I exist? It’s an impossible question, but I think trying to find the answer to that question is, in and of itself, a good reason to exist. As long as you’re looking, you’re doing something useful.
I suggest simply NOT sitting in your room and crying. It’s as simple as that, mysterygirl. If you have a TV, just put something on, or play some game, or write about how you’re feeling. My point is, don’t let yourself sit there and cry. You need to take care of yourself, because nobody’s going to do it for you. And I don’t mean that in a mean way.
Family members, relationship partners, friends–they’re all kind of useless when it comes down to cheering someone up. The only person who can cheer yourself up is you. Maybe think hard on that point of view.
“It’s an impossible question, but I think trying to find the answer to that question is, in and of itself, a good reason to exist. As long as you’re looking, you’re doing something useful.”
How is willful pursuit of futility “useful” in any way, shape or form?
If you expend energy on what is impossible, you will /never/ achieve or attain it, because it is /impossible/.
Do not seek what does not exist. Seeking what does not exist is a waste of time, energy, resources, and life. Wasting your life seems like a guaranteed path to depression.
Instead, seek to discover what /does/ exist, and from those, what is actually attainable, and then from those choices, select one or more according to your own preference.
The tricky part of this is that sometimes something seems impossible, but isn’t… or seems possible, but is actually not. In order to avoid squandering your life on what is impossible to achieve or attain, you must accurately perceive what is either possible or impossible, and that requires a clear and reasonably justified view of reality and relativity.
I’ve seen too many people suddenly realize in advanced age, that they spent their entire lives pursuing something that was never actually possible, and they become filled with regret, and say things like “if i knew then, what i know now…” or “if i could start over but keep all i’ve learned…”
You don’t want to be that; pursuing the impossible will almost certainly lead down that path.
Rather than remaining debilitated by the question “why me?” you should instead ask yourself “what is the best i can do with what i’ve got? how can i figure out what is both possible and worthwhile? how do i enable myself to achieve a relatively satisfying existence?” and other such similar questions.
Fixating on the impossible is never the correct answer. Never. You have to accept what and who you are, and move forward from there… or you will be stuck in fixation upon the impossible, until there is nothing left.
Many people will oversimplify this into such phrases as “get over it,” but that’s just… well, oversimplified and insensitive. You might never actually “get over it,” but you have to move forward toward realistic goals, in order to achieve them. If you move toward unrealistic, fantastical, impossible goals… no amount of effort will have the results that produced the motivation to try. If you pursue impossible, impossible is exactly what you will find. IMO, that’s not a defensible or useful approach… and suggestions to the contrary have always baffled me. I can’t understand why anyone thinks pursuit of futility is “useful,” when “useful” and “futile” are blatantly contradictory terms.