We spend our days bound by endless obligations. Yet, even with loneliness, failed relationships, and soul-draining work, people still manage to catch a glimpse of happiness. Why?

  • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net
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    4 months ago

    What do we owe to each other? For coexistence without inherent meaning in an afterlife, is the only source of moral good the social contract that we’ve made with each other to coexist peacefully? What are the bounds of that contract? What are the terms of our coexistence?

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radio
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    4 months ago

    Welcome to adulthood.

    The question you ask is universal. The answer much less so and in that difference lies the journey of life.

    For some it’s about amassing as much wealth as possible, for others it’s about cementing a legacy. The pursuit of happiness is a common approach and to serve is yet another. Some seek solace in religion, others in hedonism. Some spend a lifetime searching, others exist and take in the experience.

    For me it’s about making the world a better place.

  • Ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4 months ago

    All I know is that I’d rather be here than not be here. It doesn’t get much deeper than that for me.

  • bstix@feddit.dk
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    4 months ago

    I prefer not having a meaning of life.

    Imagine having a real purpose. Then the question would still be “why”, but you’d also have that obligation to do.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4 months ago

    It’s up to you to create your own purpose in life.

    In my view, connection with others and the happiness and joy we can find in that is the reason for living.

    It’s what makes the world so terrifying that there are so many broken people who just want to hurt and dominate others and have no care for depth of connection. Because they are wasting their lives on accumulation of power and are painfully obviously deeply sad and broken people.

    Sam Altman has his own issues, but he’s dead-on when talking about someone like Elon Musk:

    “Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy,” Altman said. “I don’t think he’s, like, a happy person. I do feel for him.”

    So find people, find connections with them, make your life about your connection with others. That’s my suggestion. Love is scary, but also freeing. Will that be a struggle with the obligations we face? Sure, but not impossible, especially if you do your best to set clear boundaries and focus on your family and friends as opposed to the soul crushing job you work to be able to take care of yourself.

    One of my favorite films is Dead Man. It’s a “buddy movie” about the importance of friendship and the unlikely places we find it. Two men who have been rejected by their respective societies find friendship, trust, and kinship in each other. I think this may be worth a watch for you.

    • coaxil@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      That absolutely not the point I have made and determined for my run at existence lol

      • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        Hell yeah!

        I have procreated and passed off my genes, but it’s bullshit to tell other people that’s the point of being alive.

        You gotta do what you feel is right. If nothing feels worthwhile, make the best of the ride!

  • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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    4 months ago

    I guess everybody will come up with different answers to that.

    To me, saying “there is nothing after death” is a simplified model. It asks you to live in the here-and-now, to live in the moment, because that makes you productive today.

    Of course, the world won’t end when you die. You will leave an impact on the world, kind of a track. Like, when water flows over a landscape long enough, it leaves a river bed. That will stay, even after the water subsides.

    So in some sense, death might be your end, but it’s not the end. I don’t know whether that helped you.

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
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    4 months ago

    Its something for us to decide. It may very well be meaningless but in the end I would rather exist than not exist overall although I would not mind existence being over as it will be someday. Hope if does before it becomes to awful.

  • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    It’s a sandbox survival game. So, the first step is to survive to the point where you can start making choices, the next step is to figure out what you want your goals to be. Then, the hard part. How will you achieve those goals?

  • Jourei@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    In my book, it doesn’t have a purpose, everything only matters for a brief moment in your life. “This too shall pass”, for better and for good.