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Op.. I totally get that mindset. The big picture pretty much reminds us we just aren't that important.
Then I jolt back and realize I'll be spending more time underground ...so best to enjoy this awareness whilst I can.
Silibran...yup my sons and kin have no bothers in hearing of any history..it's all about tomorrow's. When my mom passed I savored every story folks shared about HER journey. Ohh how I missed not knowing all those things while she was here.
This generation has no interest in the older lives. I had some nice friends who are now gone and I loved listening to the stories of their lives, my one friend talked about a brother sleeping in a drawer as a baby, the family was quite poor. The 3 of them grew up to be quite smart in their professions. All contributed to building our country.
This generation has no interest in the older lives. I had some nice friends who are now gone and I loved listening to the stories of their lives, my one friend talked about a brother sleeping in a drawer as a baby, the family was quite poor. The 3 of them grew up to be quite smart in their professions. All contributed to building our country.
Textbook definition of conservative vs. progressive. (Excluding single hot-button issues commonly attached to each ideology.)
A good balance would be for the next generation to carry the mindset that they are willing to work hard enough to never have their baby sleep in a drawer. This can be done with or without student debt. Poor stories are very eye-opening but I'd rather not have any to share when I raise my kids. They are something that are kept in black and white pictures of the first generation of my family that arrived in the US and died with them.
Textbook definition of conservative vs. progressive. (Excluding single hot-button issues commonly attached to each ideology.)
A good balance would be for the next generation to carry the mindset that they are willing to work hard enough to never have their baby sleep in a drawer. This can be done with or without student debt. Poor stories are very eye-opening but I'd rather not have any to share when I raise my kids. They are something that are kept in black and white pictures of the first generation of my family that arrived in the US and died with them.
Are you saying that conservative is sitting there reflecting on the past, wishing others would look backwards with you, and feeling that the suffering and hard work of people in the past was valuable...
Versus progressive of wanting to raise kids without so much hardship and looking forward and trying to build a better future?
Why not both? I'm kinda into both. I love genealogy and stories from my older relatives and the history of my family, as well as regional histories and so on. Mainly I love the stories of people. Not so much your stats on battles and dates and generals and how many died, like they feed you in too many history classes, but real human experiences. I like to go to old places and touch the bricks. I like to look at the hand written and hand drawn creations of people who lived hundreds of years ago. I loved hearing stories from my Grandma or my Great Aunt. I love antiques, because I always feel like old things were part of someone's story. And I've got many stories of my own past, too. I hope to keep on telling them a while, and leave them behind when I go.
I disagree with jaminhealth that this generation doesn't care. Some of them do. Some don't. Just like my generation and every generation. But if you leave something of yourself behind, probably sooner or later, someone will take an interest.
Yet I am very progressive about wanting a lot of things to be better, hopefully much better, for all sorts of people, in the future. I do look forward. I do a lot to try and "be the change" and all.
I think that appreciating the past and looking to the future, both...it's part of living a rich life.
Out of 200 million sperm cells and one egg to make a baby, you were the result of one sperm and one egg. You were given the miracle of life.
Life is just that. You live it however you use it, and then you die.
Unless you are famous, within two to four generations after you are gone, you will mean nothing to no one other than a relative that has died. In three or four generations from now, you might be in photos in an album or on something digital, but you won't be in someone's memory.
So this is your time and your time ONLY. Just live and hopefully enjoy it as much as possible.
As for life after death or moving to some greater plane, or reincarnation, we won't know until we die.
But where do all of our experiences go upon death?
They vanish. It doesn't matter. Life has the meaning that you give it, you can leave your mark on the world or not. You can enjoy your life, or you can suffer through it- the choice is *yours*.
A little while after being 'retired' from the Army as 'disabled', I once seriously contemplated suicide with a loaded gun in my hand. After some time, I realized that ending my life meant that there would be no joy ever again for me. Why should I take that route? I could always change my circumstances, go where I wanted to go, do what I wanted to do and take my pleasures where I found them. If there was even *any* chance of doing something that made me happy, it was better than eliminating *all* chances of it.
Nothing matters, unless you *make* it matter, to *you*, and that's what matters. Find ways to enjoy your life for as long as you are happy to live.
I do not know where this came from but lately I have been stricken with thinking "so what? I am going to die anyway"
Regardless of what the afterlife may hold (heaven, hell, nothing at all, something else), I've been feeling as if what I do here does not matter. So for example if I build a homestead and live a self sufficient lifestyle that is great but what does it matter after I am dead? I can build up skills over the course of my life but I am just going to die anyway and go somewhere else. If I get reincarnated then my skills and experiences from this life are discarded. If human consciousnesses never dies and when we die we continue to "live" (this is what I believe) as nebulous beings, then does what we have done as physical humans really matter?
It does not stop me from doing things in the present moment. If I want to do something, I just do it. But, I do not necessarily have the future in mind. For example, if I am interested in watching a video about a technique in a video game, I do because that is what I want to do in the present moment. However I am not necessarily thinking about building my skill in this game long term, because I am going to die anyway. It is a very depressing feeling. It has been demotivating me I would say about 50%.
I realize that this life as a physical being and at least as "*my name*" is the only one I've got so I SHOULD make the most of it. But I am finding it hard. This does not mean that I am necessarily afraid of death. I used to not care if I lived or died when I was depressed. Now I want to live but also recognize that physical death is inevitable and that is okay.
What is your take on all of this? How can I program my mind to keep away from these thoughts?
TL;DR I feel that no skill I build or anything I collect or anything I DO matters because I am going to die anyway. How do I stop thinking this way?
I have only been feeling this way for a month or so, and never before in my life. I am in my twenties, so young.
I think this is called "ennui".
In any case, fairly common. But your instincts are correct- what you do does NOT matter, in the big picture, and in the long run, and at the large scale. For example, a planetary scale. Or for the scale of humanity. Unless you're truly a "Great Man" and can influence the course of history. In which case, do that, if you like. Might as well try, right? Do you have any passions for contributing something of great significance to humanity? Some people hope to solve major problems with their research. A cure for cancer, or even the common cold, would change the lives of billions of people. And even positive things like that will have negative effects, so don't think you can escape responsibility for anything negative that happens as a result of your efforts either...Life isn't all accolades and compliments even for a Great Man (or Woman, as the case may be, of course).
But if you don't have those types of aspirations, just want to be a normal average guy, can't you just focus on enjoying your life then? Optimize it so that you get the most from it. Stop obsessing over the fact it is going to end and just enjoy what time you DO have. What else can you do but that anyway?
It sounds like you WOULD do that, like you have and acknowledge the impulse to do that, but a feeling there should be more, that you should be doing something ELSE, prevents you from enjoyment.
Is that accurate? If so, what you're experiencing is also common - a human quest for usefulness, which most normal humans have. Some humans don't - they're lazy or anti-social and don't want to ever do anything or be of any productive help in human society. And that's fine too - we live in a time when humans can do that sort of thing and still survive. Its not very admirable of course, but if the admiration or respect of others isn't important to you, then that shouldn't be a problem.
So, I say, figure out what it is you THINK you should be doing instead of goofing off playing video games. And it doesn't have to be anything amazing. It can be something ordinary or common. That's fine too.
Step 1) Think of dead people you admire, what did they do? Step 2) Do it too.
PS: Can't help you on the vastness of the universe thing.
PSS: Playing video games is the most futile thing you can possibly do, spending hours of your life making that 5 turn into a 6 or 10 become 11 is self inflicted purgatory. At least learn to code them or something.
Realize the the most basic things we can do as living thinking human beings is amazing. You are a piece of the universe that has become aware. You have the ability observe understand the world around around you. If you never accomplish anything, your life is already amazing. This is something I've been thinking about. Maybe somebody smarter than my can pick up this idea and say it better.
I don't know if this has anything to do with what I'm trying to say but watch this video. I think it's powerful
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