> you could be joyful but think your life is worthless
I find this hard to believe. At a certain point I think a lack of meaning in your life is going to make you day-to-day unhappy, whatever you’re spending those days doing.
>> you could be joyful but think your life is worthless
> I find this hard to believe.
Albert Camus developed the philosophy of Absurdism around a very similar idea. A gross oversimplification is that in the grand scheme of things, logically and objectively our lives have no meaning, but our brains are wired to need meaning. The solution is to create that meaning for ourselves even while acknowledging that meaning is a delusion.
I think there is some truth to this. Many of my colleagues who come from well-off families seem to struggle with finding meaning in their life, and I suspect it might be because work quite literally doesn't have a purpose for them - they could quit working today and not have to worry for many years, possibly forever.
To me, I work so I can earn money and provide for my family, which I don't take for granted. That alone makes any work-related annoyance not such a big deal.
Of course I also like getting intrinsic pleasure from work, social relationships, rewarding hobbies, etc., but I find meaning in life prior any of those, which is a good defense mechanism for when one or more of those things aren't going so well.
>The solution is to create that meaning for ourselves even while acknowledging that meaning is a delusion.
Well, that also can be presented as "freedom of purpose". If you associate freedom to some positive and desirable situation, then you should welcome with gratitude that universe doesn’t come with any pre-established meaning for your life.
You still have to deal with the fact that you can’t write on the book of universe as easily as you can fantasize any made up story, and that you are not alone with accreditations to write with some level of freedom.
I think a better argument is that there is no objectivity to begin with. It's all subjective. If you believe life is meaningless, it is. If you believe there's meaning, there is.
> If you believe life is meaningless, it is. If you believe there's meaning, there is.
If you believe that there's meaning, and struggle to achieve said meaning, but ultimately failing, or ultimately proven that the struggle was ineffective at achieving said meaning, you will turn bitter and end up unhappy.
If you believe life is meaningless, you will observe that your internal model is correct, and thus be vindicated, if not cynical towards everything.
> you will observe that your internal model is correct
What I was saying is that there is nothing extrinsic to compare an internal model to, so you should know that any meaning created is your own. Creating meaning that requires you achieve something and possibly fail seems unnecessary.
I view willful ignorance as a method of resisting potential pain - and resisting anything usually introduces its own pain at some level. I find that being aware of, and accepting of pain works well for me, although I'm not always good at it.
Alternatively, what’s wrong with just accepting that there is no meaning to our existence..? Why not laugh at the absurdity of it all instead? Don’t worry about this or that, just be…
Why should the meaning of life we choose for ourselves be a delusion?
I get the point that this meaning is arbitrary (in the sense that it has no ground since the world is absurd).
But as long as this meaning works for you, who cares if others find it meaningless?
Loneliness may be an issue though, but this is where the internet, among other ways, makes a difference. You can look for like-minded people or
publish your work, your project, your ideas to attract people interested.
Some just can't stand a meaning world, but many as I consider this lack of meaning as a requirement for our freedom.
I'm an atheist ; the absurdity of the world appeared to me at an early age - as an experience than my body can feel, an emotion, that only my mind made a rationale of.
However, raised in an open-minded but deeply Catholic family, the Bible points that very clearly. God is said to have given humans the freedom to choose to follow the path of Jesus. Or not.
Faith implies doubt, by definition. Having faith is not to be absolutely sure of the existence of God. Faith is hope despite the doubt, and God asks of the believers their fortitude in their faith into Him.
The "ultra" believers, those who have no doubt, are not "in the faith". They are usually fanatics, those kinds of people who think they are always right and want others to be like them.
It's like courage: being courageous means going over our fears. If you have no fear to handle in doing something, then your courage is not tested.
If you have no doubt whatsoever in the meaning of life, you are either a fanatic (whatever you do, some are moneymaking fanatic, fame-fanatic, power-fanatic or racist misogynist incels, hate also provides meaning, onviously) or someone who avoid at all cost to face the absurdity of the world.
For example, I have close friends who are always super busy. If they have half an hour of free time, they feel bad: they feel an emptiness that they can't bare.
The world is absurd? Great, we are totally free to give ourselves the meaning we want to our life! Isn't that amazing?
Find your crowd! They are people out there sharing your meaning of life. Create a community of intention, so that you live in the world you want.
"Become who you are".
I'm not saying it's easy, and not everybody is in capacity to be free. But most educated people are, if they want to. But acting freely requires courage, much more than succeeding in the career and the way of life the society wants you to.
That meaning of life that works for you doesn't have to be "for life". One path may prove less meaningful that expected. Loving to dev on projects you want to work on is meaningful to many. Having a well-paid job as a developer can be utterly meaningless: hence the so many side-projects to retrieve a bit of spontaneous enthusiasm whike coding.
Sometimes, what has been meaningful for years is not anymore. Many men live that during their 40s, the so-called " mid-life crisis". Or you are done, that meaning doesn't work anymore. So what? Is it lost? No! As long as you had meaningful years, that's a huge win. Just time to move on and explore another part of yourself or becoming someone else.
I'm both a joyful person, and perhaps the futility of the entire Universe is what makes me so joyful in laughing at the meaningless of it all, while also appreciating the connections, insights and flames that are ultimately worthless.
> I find this hard to believe.
I would suggest you give Emil Cioran [0] some time. It sounds like the kind of person that you find hard to believe exists, so might provide some context.
I find this hard to believe. At a certain point I think a lack of meaning in your life is going to make you day-to-day unhappy, whatever you’re spending those days doing.