I've noticed a trend on this forum where anytime anything or anyone suggests that existence is objectively meaningless people just reject it. Often citing that it paints a bleak picture of reality and generally makes them feel bad when they think about it. I just can't understand why people would want to resit such an idea beyond some childish fear to grow up and be an independant person making their own decisions in life and/or a narcicisstic desire to be told you're special and every little thing you do matters.
So first I'll explain where I'm coming from on this. Here's why I reject any notion that I or anything I do has any importance or relevance to anything ever.
Nothingness allows for complete freedom, complete abilty to be "myself" whatever that even means. The moment something else comes in and says that existence has some sort of intrinsic value to it, I can only assume this means moral value, I become nothing but a slave. I am no longer allowed to be myself, there are limits. Lines that, if I cross, will presumably lead to punishment. My life is no longer my own, I become nothing more than a tool to something or someone else. I would much rather not exist at all than live that way.
I have no problem dealing with the prospect that there might not be any free will and that even my desire to attain free willl itself may just be a predetermined outcome that I'm experiencing in the moment. But if someone's going to tell me that the universe has meaning, that my life has meaning, a meaning that exists regardless of whether I believe it or not then they're going to need to demonstrate how it can have that meaning without putting restrictions on my choices, regardless of whether those choices exist or not.
I personally see no way to do this, thus I believe there can be no possible meaning to anything. As any restriction brings up the question chain "But why that restriction? Why not a different one? Why not no restrictions at all?" ending with the conclusion that there isn't a reason and thus there are no restrictions.
I would rather people be completely free, I would rather respect teh choices they make even if those choices go against everything I personally value. I would rather existence be messy and chaotic where the full specturm of possible experiences can exist. Where the only thing that truly exists is the interplay between what I can do and what I want to do.
Yeah, maybe things might not turn out so well for me sometimes, maybe things might turn out downright horrific. But that's better than living in some prison cell where everything is regulated, everything is "safe," everything is just part of some prescribed spiritual lesson that I never signe up to learn but who's classrom I'm forced to sit in anyways. I rebel against meaning for the same reason I rebel against determinism. Objective meaning makes any subjective meaning meaningless.
I choose myself over reality.
So first I'll explain where I'm coming from on this. Here's why I reject any notion that I or anything I do has any importance or relevance to anything ever.
Nothingness allows for complete freedom, complete abilty to be "myself" whatever that even means. The moment something else comes in and says that existence has some sort of intrinsic value to it, I can only assume this means moral value, I become nothing but a slave. I am no longer allowed to be myself, there are limits. Lines that, if I cross, will presumably lead to punishment. My life is no longer my own, I become nothing more than a tool to something or someone else. I would much rather not exist at all than live that way.
I have no problem dealing with the prospect that there might not be any free will and that even my desire to attain free willl itself may just be a predetermined outcome that I'm experiencing in the moment. But if someone's going to tell me that the universe has meaning, that my life has meaning, a meaning that exists regardless of whether I believe it or not then they're going to need to demonstrate how it can have that meaning without putting restrictions on my choices, regardless of whether those choices exist or not.
I personally see no way to do this, thus I believe there can be no possible meaning to anything. As any restriction brings up the question chain "But why that restriction? Why not a different one? Why not no restrictions at all?" ending with the conclusion that there isn't a reason and thus there are no restrictions.
I would rather people be completely free, I would rather respect teh choices they make even if those choices go against everything I personally value. I would rather existence be messy and chaotic where the full specturm of possible experiences can exist. Where the only thing that truly exists is the interplay between what I can do and what I want to do.
Yeah, maybe things might not turn out so well for me sometimes, maybe things might turn out downright horrific. But that's better than living in some prison cell where everything is regulated, everything is "safe," everything is just part of some prescribed spiritual lesson that I never signe up to learn but who's classrom I'm forced to sit in anyways. I rebel against meaning for the same reason I rebel against determinism. Objective meaning makes any subjective meaning meaningless.
I choose myself over reality.