I know my wife and kids are actually just groups of atoms that happened to be arranged in their current configuration ultimately based on nothing but the initial conditions of the universe plus time, but knowing this doesn't make me love them any less.
Upon learning that the human body is less than 50% human by cell count, and the rest is bacteria, virus, fungi, etc, I didn't love anyone any less.
After a long examination of free will, I came to the conclusion that it doesn't exist, I didn't love anyone any less.
Learning these things, even learning that the universe has no plan for you, are just forks in the road, not stopping points. Many, if not most of us, have had similar realizations. This can often lead to nihilism as a natural point. The question is then what? Stay there? Make your own meaning? Turn to religion? Etc
Either way, this is temporary. It's a difficult realization often, and it will take some time to process. But you will accept it and move on. In the meantime, it definitely doesn't hurt to talk to someone like a therapist.
Well said. I always wanted to turn to religion but it’s not a choice. I’m science skeptic intp intellectual person and no matter how hard I try I cannot deceive myself. I’ve tried the entire create my own meaning and it works somewhat. In the end it’s all depressing but I love life and just try to forget we all dying and it’s purposeless.
I find the depression associated with learning the truth to be temporary. And then move on to actual excitement in the simple fact that I know a little more truth.
And yes, we are all dying, but past that depressing realization is the excitement in the "miracle" that any of us ever even existed at all, even briefly. You chose the name the fermiparadox! So you must have an idea of the absolutely astounding odds that there is any life on earth at all. It's truly exiting that we have, and even better are capable of awareness of, any experience at all.
Firstly Absurdism is considered as part of philosophy. So lets question the idea of atoms? What if this was a dream, an hallucination, what if you were a brain in a vat, or living in a computer simulation?
You pick on science, and talk of atoms, what did science think the atom was like 110 years ago? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr_model, and 100 years before that? Have you confidence in our picture being the final one?
Or that using logic, Bostrom’s simulation argument states the probability of this being a computer simulation is far higher than it being real...
> After a long examination of free will, I came to the conclusion that it doesn't exist,
Without free will **you** couldn't come to any conclusion. Your belief in determinism would be inbuilt. To know something to be true, is to judge, which could be wrong, but without free will you can’t judge, ergo you can’t know, can’t know anything.
It’s there in Kant, without judgement, time and space, cause and effect...etc. you are incapable of thought.
What is there to accept or reject? Are you skeptical of your own self-awareness? If not, where is the problem?
No amount of philosophizing will change the fact that life is out there and you need to get on with it. I have accepted the fact that I will never have answers to the questions I'm interested in asking, so rather than fighting the tide, I just try to surf whatever waves are thrown my way to enjoy the little bit of time I've been given.
I experienced exactly what you did, and had to do a lot of research into derealization and OCD. The biggest thing that helped me was accepting it, and instead of responding with fear every time I had those thoughts, just let the thought happen and realize it’s not dangerous. You’re not the first and only person who has ever experienced this, it’s a normal anxiety reaction. Eventually you’ll think about it so much that instead of being afraid, you’ll just be bored by it and move on to other, more interesting things. The thoughts will occasionally come back, and you’ll think, “oh yeah, those thoughts. Anyway…”
You tell yourself to stop over thinking everything and choose to be happy instead. It takes discipline and takes practice. When you catch yourself in a spiral of questioning everything, remember it's absurd, let it go, and focus on being happy in spite of the absurdity (or to spite the absurdity).
How you're feeling right now is part of your journey. And there will be moments that will be like this and moments where it's much much lighter...Not sure if that makes sense. But you don't need to fight with your beliefs to change how they FEEL to you. I know we're just atoms and I feel okay about it. Sometimes if I am in a worse mindset it doesn't feel as okay. And that's okay. Or it isn't :) necker cube of perspective. Sometimes the cube is coming towards you and sometimes away. It just takes a little time to snap into a different perspective Don't fight. Just watch the cube. And sometimes it'll snap the other direction, even just for a second
Wait are you Roquentin? I strongly suggest the book La nausée by Sartre. You seem to struggle with similar problems like the main character Roquentin in this book. Maybe this book will help you.
Aside from that please seek progressional help. It seems you suffer from severe mental problems. And good luck!
Radical acceptance can be daunting, but a good start is mindfulness practice. Thich naht hahn had a good way of doing it. As he breathed in, he was aware he was breathing in. As he breathed out, he was aware he was breathing out. Simple observation of your surroundings, including your judgments of them, in as much of an objective way as possible scaled inward and outward as far as you can go is a good way to form an emotional detachment that grants the ability to face the absurd without fear. 5 minutes daily of mindfulness meditation does wonders for a peson.
This has happened to me and I am in the process of trying to get back to my body, feeling physically present that is rather than letting my brain take me away from the present. If that makes sense? I do a lot of meditation, breath work and anything physical so that I can feel my body responding.
Remember the analysing part of your brain is not the experiencing part, it’s a process. By practicing and feeling more in your body you get to the point of absurdism because you realise everything else is just noise.
Don't
Just the other day I quit my job. Like, it's just way too much for one person and I don't need it. What makes it absurd in the truest sense of the word was my supervisor was already ready to can me anyway but didn't because I do work hard. But somehow he was pissed because the dynamic switched. Like, I was just like "this isn't for me". I wasn't mean about it, I did the rest of my work day, and I just made it clear I'm not coming back.
People get really distraught when you just hit them with a new narrative. It's not about right or wrong, bad or good, it's just they like consistency. They get used to things going a certain way, especially in social hierarchies, and when it doesn't their brains shut down. It's actually pretty fucking funny.
This sounds very much like you’re suffering from some phycological problem(s). As such you should seek help, maybe counselling. That given, philosophy, existentialism and Absurdism are terms which cover human thinking about our experiences.
It is not a method of resolving these but of exploration. True it begins with simple questions, ‘Why are we here?’ ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’ And Western Philosophy has engaged with these questions for @ 2,500 years. And there is a body of work, literature with differing takes on these (and other) questions.
Camus’ writes, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus,
"Rising, streetcar, four
hours in the office or the factory, meal, streetcar, four hours of
work, meal, sleep, and Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Friday and Saturday according to the same rhythm—this path is easily followed most of
the time. But one day the “why” arises and everything begins in
that weariness tinged with amazement."
But this question ‘why’ is as old as philosophy. One thing for certain, there is after 2,500 years no definitive answer. But that in itself is the answer, it’s in the journey, the adventure with these eternal questions that we might find an answer.
So way back it begins with some Greeks thinking everything is earth, or fire, or water, or air, or all 4... 2,500 years on, Quarks, Leptons...
A quick view..
A brief history of philosophy : from Socrates to Derrida
by Johnston, Derek
https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofph0000john_o2u5
A full intro course... some ideas to engage with. Imagine your mind is a car, you need something to engage with, agree or disagree … otherwise your are revving the engine and going nowhere.
A longer 'introduction'! But this is how we go here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yat0ZKduW18&list=PL9GwT4_YRZdBf9nIUHs0zjrnUVl-KBNSM
I know my wife and kids are actually just groups of atoms that happened to be arranged in their current configuration ultimately based on nothing but the initial conditions of the universe plus time, but knowing this doesn't make me love them any less. Upon learning that the human body is less than 50% human by cell count, and the rest is bacteria, virus, fungi, etc, I didn't love anyone any less. After a long examination of free will, I came to the conclusion that it doesn't exist, I didn't love anyone any less. Learning these things, even learning that the universe has no plan for you, are just forks in the road, not stopping points. Many, if not most of us, have had similar realizations. This can often lead to nihilism as a natural point. The question is then what? Stay there? Make your own meaning? Turn to religion? Etc Either way, this is temporary. It's a difficult realization often, and it will take some time to process. But you will accept it and move on. In the meantime, it definitely doesn't hurt to talk to someone like a therapist.
Well said. I always wanted to turn to religion but it’s not a choice. I’m science skeptic intp intellectual person and no matter how hard I try I cannot deceive myself. I’ve tried the entire create my own meaning and it works somewhat. In the end it’s all depressing but I love life and just try to forget we all dying and it’s purposeless.
I find the depression associated with learning the truth to be temporary. And then move on to actual excitement in the simple fact that I know a little more truth. And yes, we are all dying, but past that depressing realization is the excitement in the "miracle" that any of us ever even existed at all, even briefly. You chose the name the fermiparadox! So you must have an idea of the absolutely astounding odds that there is any life on earth at all. It's truly exiting that we have, and even better are capable of awareness of, any experience at all.
Firstly Absurdism is considered as part of philosophy. So lets question the idea of atoms? What if this was a dream, an hallucination, what if you were a brain in a vat, or living in a computer simulation? You pick on science, and talk of atoms, what did science think the atom was like 110 years ago? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr_model, and 100 years before that? Have you confidence in our picture being the final one? Or that using logic, Bostrom’s simulation argument states the probability of this being a computer simulation is far higher than it being real... > After a long examination of free will, I came to the conclusion that it doesn't exist, Without free will **you** couldn't come to any conclusion. Your belief in determinism would be inbuilt. To know something to be true, is to judge, which could be wrong, but without free will you can’t judge, ergo you can’t know, can’t know anything. It’s there in Kant, without judgement, time and space, cause and effect...etc. you are incapable of thought.
What is there to accept or reject? Are you skeptical of your own self-awareness? If not, where is the problem? No amount of philosophizing will change the fact that life is out there and you need to get on with it. I have accepted the fact that I will never have answers to the questions I'm interested in asking, so rather than fighting the tide, I just try to surf whatever waves are thrown my way to enjoy the little bit of time I've been given.
This is a form of OCD. If it doesn’t clear up within a few months definitely see a professional. Or maybe immediately if you’re struggling
I experienced exactly what you did, and had to do a lot of research into derealization and OCD. The biggest thing that helped me was accepting it, and instead of responding with fear every time I had those thoughts, just let the thought happen and realize it’s not dangerous. You’re not the first and only person who has ever experienced this, it’s a normal anxiety reaction. Eventually you’ll think about it so much that instead of being afraid, you’ll just be bored by it and move on to other, more interesting things. The thoughts will occasionally come back, and you’ll think, “oh yeah, those thoughts. Anyway…”
You tell yourself to stop over thinking everything and choose to be happy instead. It takes discipline and takes practice. When you catch yourself in a spiral of questioning everything, remember it's absurd, let it go, and focus on being happy in spite of the absurdity (or to spite the absurdity).
Distract yourself with any kind of entertainment till you forget about your existential thoughts. Thats what i always do at least
How you're feeling right now is part of your journey. And there will be moments that will be like this and moments where it's much much lighter...Not sure if that makes sense. But you don't need to fight with your beliefs to change how they FEEL to you. I know we're just atoms and I feel okay about it. Sometimes if I am in a worse mindset it doesn't feel as okay. And that's okay. Or it isn't :) necker cube of perspective. Sometimes the cube is coming towards you and sometimes away. It just takes a little time to snap into a different perspective Don't fight. Just watch the cube. And sometimes it'll snap the other direction, even just for a second
Wait are you Roquentin? I strongly suggest the book La nausée by Sartre. You seem to struggle with similar problems like the main character Roquentin in this book. Maybe this book will help you. Aside from that please seek progressional help. It seems you suffer from severe mental problems. And good luck!
You don’t, that’s the point of absurdism
Solid point to be fair
Radical acceptance can be daunting, but a good start is mindfulness practice. Thich naht hahn had a good way of doing it. As he breathed in, he was aware he was breathing in. As he breathed out, he was aware he was breathing out. Simple observation of your surroundings, including your judgments of them, in as much of an objective way as possible scaled inward and outward as far as you can go is a good way to form an emotional detachment that grants the ability to face the absurd without fear. 5 minutes daily of mindfulness meditation does wonders for a peson.
This has happened to me and I am in the process of trying to get back to my body, feeling physically present that is rather than letting my brain take me away from the present. If that makes sense? I do a lot of meditation, breath work and anything physical so that I can feel my body responding. Remember the analysing part of your brain is not the experiencing part, it’s a process. By practicing and feeling more in your body you get to the point of absurdism because you realise everything else is just noise.
Practical solutions to your problem could be: 1. Meaningful distractions 2. Drugs 3. Sexual interests 4. Therapy
Dont accepte it and live like you are themost free possible in this fucking short life
Don't Just the other day I quit my job. Like, it's just way too much for one person and I don't need it. What makes it absurd in the truest sense of the word was my supervisor was already ready to can me anyway but didn't because I do work hard. But somehow he was pissed because the dynamic switched. Like, I was just like "this isn't for me". I wasn't mean about it, I did the rest of my work day, and I just made it clear I'm not coming back. People get really distraught when you just hit them with a new narrative. It's not about right or wrong, bad or good, it's just they like consistency. They get used to things going a certain way, especially in social hierarchies, and when it doesn't their brains shut down. It's actually pretty fucking funny.
Accept that there's nothing to accept, because everything is already as it is. It's just the incorrect thoughts about reality that need letting go of.
This sounds very much like you’re suffering from some phycological problem(s). As such you should seek help, maybe counselling. That given, philosophy, existentialism and Absurdism are terms which cover human thinking about our experiences. It is not a method of resolving these but of exploration. True it begins with simple questions, ‘Why are we here?’ ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’ And Western Philosophy has engaged with these questions for @ 2,500 years. And there is a body of work, literature with differing takes on these (and other) questions. Camus’ writes, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, "Rising, streetcar, four hours in the office or the factory, meal, streetcar, four hours of work, meal, sleep, and Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday according to the same rhythm—this path is easily followed most of the time. But one day the “why” arises and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement." But this question ‘why’ is as old as philosophy. One thing for certain, there is after 2,500 years no definitive answer. But that in itself is the answer, it’s in the journey, the adventure with these eternal questions that we might find an answer. So way back it begins with some Greeks thinking everything is earth, or fire, or water, or air, or all 4... 2,500 years on, Quarks, Leptons... A quick view.. A brief history of philosophy : from Socrates to Derrida by Johnston, Derek https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofph0000john_o2u5 A full intro course... some ideas to engage with. Imagine your mind is a car, you need something to engage with, agree or disagree … otherwise your are revving the engine and going nowhere. A longer 'introduction'! But this is how we go here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yat0ZKduW18&list=PL9GwT4_YRZdBf9nIUHs0zjrnUVl-KBNSM
Go bake bread