Do you ever feel like you are living a pointless life?

@chai2,

Quote:

When I was a wee Chai, I used to get up in the middle of the night in the summer and go to the window. I'd open it and the screen, sit on the sill and lean out backwards, holding onto the sash. I watch the stars and lose myself in them.

When I was a kid I worried about if G changed a teeny bit, our entire atmosphere would be ripped away and wed all be standing there gasping and coking until we died a horrible death.
I was also afraid of catching rabies

Have a wonderful holiday season.

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@chai2,

chai2 wrote:

When I was a wee Chai, I used to get up in the middle of the night in the summer and go to the window. I'd open it and the screen, sit on the sill and lean out backwards, holding onto the sash. I watch the stars and lose myself in them.

i can remember reading ufo abduction stories as a kid, and laying on still summer nights watching the stars from my bedroom window, willing the aliens to come get me

as far as i know they never did

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@djjd62,

As far as you know...

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Worst then living a pointless life is thinking about living a pointless life.

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@Symphony,

Sometimes, I feel like my life was ruined with time! Because of everyday I started my day with my daily routine, but at the end of the day nothings happened. I want my day will be different and much productive.

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@orangeharley,

So make it happen! If you're waiting for others to change your life or make
it more productive for you, you'll sit there forever.
Go and do something - the very least you can do is get out and volunteer
so someone less fortunate can also have a day where nothing happens.

The less fortunate ones thrive to have a day like this!

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http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/06/03/tolstoy-confession/

Quote:

Leo Tolstoy on Finding Meaning in a Meaningless World
by Maria Popova
“For man to be able to live he must either not see the infinite, or have such an explanation of the meaning of life as will connect the finite with the infinite.”
...

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@FBM,

Really like that Tumblr quote FBM.
I also find a certain reassurance in the fundamental insignificance of all things, including my personal existence.
Although occasionally I do find it difficult to appreciate this perspective. As a human being, I want to 'make a dent' on the world as well, and at times, the idea of just sitting back and reflecting on how it all "doesn't really matter in the end" often just seems like a cop out from pursuing ones potentialities.
I think for some people such a view may function in that way, to alleviate the guilt we feel for not having pursued our possibilities. It's an antidote for our guilt.
However, it may just be that the reason I sometimes feel guilty and unsatisfied with life is just because in those moments, I have not really let go of the need or desire to pursue my potentialities, my goals and dreams, and the existential dread that is consequently experienced in light of the insignificance of life, is due to my clinging on.

It just sometimes leaves me wondering...do we comfort ourselves by reminding ourselves of our 'ultimate insignificance', in order to reduce the guilt we feel for not having fulfilled ourselves?

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@ExistentialPotential,

ExistentialPotential wrote:

Really like that Tumblr quote FBM.
I also find a certain reassurance in the fundamental insignificance of all things, including my personal existence.
Although occasionally I do find it difficult to appreciate this perspective. As a human being, I want to 'make a dent' on the world as well, and at times, the idea of just sitting back and reflecting on how it all "doesn't really matter in the end" often just seems like a cop out from pursuing ones potentialities.

I've never felt a desire to make a dent on the world, but at the same time, I don't think it doesn't really matter in the end.

It does matter in that I'd like to look back that I didn't live a life in pain, and that I had inate pleasure at being in the world. Pleasure at living, breathing, being able to move, being able to think.

I know I've posted this quote before, but it certainly hits home for me.

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch

I never wanted to make a name for myself, or have some big point to my life. I want to live a faithfully hidden life.

Anyway, this idea of having a point is strange. What would be a big acheivement to some people is utterly pointless to others.

Does the OP want to have a meaning for themselves, or in the eyes of others?

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@ExistentialPotential,

ExistentialPotential wrote:

...It just sometimes leaves me wondering...do we comfort ourselves by reminding ourselves of our 'ultimate insignificance', in order to reduce the guilt we feel for not having fulfilled ourselves?

I think that's a question for the individual, and I suspect a range of answers are possible. As for me, in the past I could've answersed that 'yes,' but these days, 'no.'

Much of that has been the result of a shift in goals. In the past, my goals were external. I wanted to own this or go there and have that experience. Now, I'm convinced that the better goal for me is to erase thought and behavior patterns that made me suffer and replace them with patterns that make me happier, healthier and stronger. As it turns out, a serendipitous finding was that my relationships with others have improved, and I think/know I have a better influence on those around me. It's an ongoing project, of course, but in my experience, the shift in goals was pivotal.

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Do you ever feel like you are living a pointless life?

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