does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

when some people get depressed, they comment on how random and pointless the world is and cite it as a reason for their unhappiness, however I feel that this is never the case. I think that in reality it is something else that is bothering them, and that they project this out by calling the world meaningless.

Lets say they are a poker player and they go on a downswing. Now the world sucks and is pointless.

If they go on an upswing, the world is just as pointless, yet now they are happy.

I honestly believe that our wiring makes us incapable of caring about the pointlessness of our existance.

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that life is largely pointless, but it doesn't affect me at all. Regardless of whether i am happy--almost all of the time-- or depressed i still feel that the world is pointless. It doesn't really make sense in evolutionary terms to care about the pointlessness of our existence as then we might question our existence and start killing ourselves at a pretty fast rate, thus it makes sense that we are relatively incapable of caring about the pointlessness of our existance.

As i side note something i was thinking today actually was that i actually go as far as to derive meaning from the pointlessness of life. It's kind of funny how seriously we take our lives when we are basically pointless blips that mean nothing, and one can only laugh at the absurdity of it.

ps. i think i stole that or atleast derived that from Camus, but i don't remember.

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

If this topic interests you, read some Nietzsche, he has a lot to say about this.

Through the reasoning of a depressed person, happy people are too distracted to realize what's really going on, and only when happiness is taken away can they see "reality."

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

I sometimes used to feel the same way, and then I got married and had a kid, and now it makes a little more sense.

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

sam, honest question. the thought of our sole purpose in life being to procreate often depresses me. is this what you are talking about, or something different?

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

[ QUOTE ]
sam, honest question. the thought of our sole purpose in life being to procreate often depresses me. is this what you are talking about, or something different?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's it.

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

I believe the feelings of "hopelessness" and "pointlessness" are more a symptom of depression rather than the cause. The first question a shrink or psychologist will often ask to try to determine if a patient is depressed is if he or she feels this way. I have been depressed at times, sometimes for a reason like death or for no reason at all, and I always come back to this notion. I can imagine that having kids is the #1 biggest cure for these feelings.

[ QUOTE ]
I honestly believe that our wiring makes us incapable of caring about the pointlessness of our existance.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is an easy conclusion to come to for a normal person, but I think this is exactly the sort of assumption that drives depressed people crazy. They don't see this "hope floats" attitude as being obvious at all.

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

the pointlessness of life is the GOOD thing about it

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

To me, life is not about making money and 'getting ahead' in life. Sure that makes things easier, but it's not what I live for.

I live for the interactions between myself and my family and close friends. Those moments that happen every day that a lot of people take for granted are why I enjoy life so much. I don't think I could continue living if my family was gone.

Re: does the pointlessness of your life bother you?
 

I have come to terms with the pointlessness of my life. It does not bother me a bit.