Sorry I’m depressed af and need answers. Are y’all even real? What if y’all are just part of the program to torture me? What if this is a test? What if this is a VR simulation and the societal collapse is just moral character test to see if I would be do anything about it? Like imaginr a society in the far future like 26th century and in a history class where people are wondering “why didn’t the 21st century humans rise up against their oppressors” and then this VR simulation is just testing the students “what would you have done”
(Sorry for the bizzare question, its just brain chemicals acting weird today :P)
I’m real I thought I told ya
I’m real even on Oprah
So first off existence vs what is the reality of existence is sorta two different thing. Descartes pretty much sums it up there which is kind of funny as it did not really click when I was younger but I finally sorta got it. My reality starts with my thoughts. Having thoughts means I exist in terms of if existence is a thing. If my existence is false my concept of existence is false and therefore I have a false existence that I see as existence which is a type of existence. From there it gets a bit more difficult but follows sorta the same. With your thoughts you have perceptions. They could be true or they could be false but from your perspective your perceptions come at you relatively consistently with your actions so either way they functionally are a type of existence. When it comes to others they appear to have knowledge I do not and I learn things from them and the world. So there is some independent existence to them. There is a possibility of a false existence that is completely encompassed by you but if that is the case then you apparently hide knowledge from yourself till it fits the story. Once again regardless the nature of the existence you perceive and interact with works with the best consistency if you interact with people as if they are their own independent existent beings. So for all practical purposes they exist. As you can see it pretty much continues on with WYSIWYG. What you see (experience) is what you get.
What if this is a test? What if this is a VR simulation and the societal collapse is just moral character test to see if I would be do anything about it?
Then the answer is no. So what? If god doesn’t like it, he should have designed humans differently. And if it’s aliens, then it literally doesn’t matter.
Just enjoy the ride. Test or no test, we are only here for a short time, so better make the most of it.
It is what it is.
The thing is you have no way of getting to a higher position in order to discern the truths that are directly in front of your face.
So the only sane response to the universe that we are presented with is to treat it as if it is what it is.
Of course, feel free to keep your skepticism and, you know, to play the game however you choose to play it. Just know that there is no exit that is not eternal at this time as far as anyone knows.
Read the book Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hahn. It’s about realizing it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters and it’s freeing.
It’s only freeing if you want it to be true. If you’re like me you want things to matter inherently so knowing that isn’t true is painful.
Let go, or be dragged. You are choosing to suffer.
I am.
Enjoy!
Haha thanks.
You can’t technically truly prove any of these not to be true, but given that if you reject all the evidence available to you for what the world is with the notion that it could be fake, you end up with nothing left to make decisions with, you might as well just take the world at face value until things are proven otherwise.
That’s what people refer to when they say “it is what it is”.
It is impossible to prove that it is the case that everything is fake and it is impossible that it isn’t. Lots of things like this we cannot know for sure. However, you parents being real, society being real etc is a less complex explanation than everything being a VR simulation. If you do not have additional information, then the less complex explanation often is the most likely. So, if you assume reality is not a simulation, you are more likely to be right.
I struggled with a lot of this myself until I stumbled on Taoism. It teaches that you can only interact with one moment. Now. The future and the past are an illusion that can easily slow you down.
Trying to understand the why will ultimately lead to no answers. A big part of this challenge was the idea of identity. There is no ‘you’. Everything you think of as ‘you’ is ultimately ‘dead’.
We assume all the living things around us have souls and perspective and feeling and life, but this is only perception from us. It’s a trust of our senses. But that’s all they can be. Senses.
When you describe who you are, you might tell someone what you do for work, your hobbies, where you grew up, your favorite pets, flavor of ice cream, and what terrifies you and makes you cry… But none of things are you.
Existence is only the moment through which you can perceive. It is right now. The choices you make in this immediate moment are the only thing you can be. Planning to do something tomorrow or wishing you did something different in the past is not you and never was or will be you.
The person in the past that made all those mistakes or successes is gone and that person that might fail at something risky doesn’t exist either. Only you can make choices and changes and it’s a responsibility to act accordingly.
This is something you can do for yourself at any time, in any place, at any moment. Take a moment in the place you’re in right now to stop for several minutes. Just do nothing. Observe the room you’re in. Listen to the sounds around you. Smell and feel the place you’re in. Let it wash over you with its infinite detail and complexity.
This is always there, available to you. It is a power known as mindfulness. If you are able to accept it, and make active choices to pursue it, you will find the world is filled with magic. Even in the worst places.
If you want a really good video that gives you a bit more of a grounded explanation, see Kurzgesagt’s video on Optimistic Nihilism. Waking Life is another recommendation along with Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.
An yes, main character syndrome. Are you a teen? Teens in particular have a warped perception of everyone else’s attention.
This kind of thing is found in more than just teenagers
Sorry I didn’t mean it like that, my brain isn’t operating at 100% cpu right now, its hard to think clearly with depression.
About 2 decades ago I was a fetus and a government ruling over 1/7 of the world’s population came after me before I was even born (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy#Enforcement). I was the second one born in my family, my existence was illegal. Then they tried denying me the legal documents like a birth certificate.
Then later my older brother started being abusive towards me and he tied me up at home using zipties and watched me suffer. He would’ve been the only child had my parents followed the government policy, but then I came into existence and he didn’t like that my parents had to split their attention, so that’s why he was torturing me. It got so bad that one day, I ran away from home once, then later my own mother told me she would not miss me if I was gone. Then the family (I’m saying “the” family instead of “my” family, because I don’t feel like I was ever part of it) moved to the US, and I was promptly facing racism and xenophobia, my fellow Chinese American classmates didn’t defend me either. People would exclude me, and I once overheard kids talking shit about me behind my back. Then when I defended myself against a bully, I was the one that got arrested. School admins decided to be a dick, I was a minor for fucks sake, and it was fucking SELF-DEFENCE.
Now my adopted country’s government declared war on non-whites. My previous country is already a failed dictatorship. I have no where to go. Which is why I feel like this is a torture chamber designed to punish me.
Less of “attention” more like notoriety. Everyone hates me for some reason.
Sounds awful, i think i can empathize. I strongly suggest thinking much less about grand concepts, and instead put all your thoughts and energy into practical things you can do to improve your life. Things like:
- Go to the gym
- Find a therapist, or if you’ve got one try to find a better one
- Apply to school, or if you already are in one then try to improve your grades
- Look for a job, or if you’ve got one try to find a better one
- Start going to more social events, like local block parties
- Make a goal to say hi to a stranger every day
- Join a hobby group
- Start doing a new skill like painting or guitar
- Volunteer at a hospital
… and other stuff like that. Focus on how to make your everyday life a better life to be living
The author is setting up your backstory before you get the cool superpowers /hj
On a more serious note
Endure. In enduring grow strong.
~Dak’kon from Planescape: Torment
And don’t you dare go hollow!
Honestly, my “backstory” is absolutely insane.
Like normally people just have the typical “I was an unwanted child”/“failed abortion”, or “I was born as a result of [S.A.]”, but like mine just went from 0 to 100, “my government sent agents to try find my mother to force an abortion” crazy icebreaker. Its an insane story, but I was born during the years when that policy was active, and I do have an older brother, so I know that my mother wasn’t just bullshitting me, its corroborated by legal documents, relatives, history and news articles regarding that policy, and my childhood memories.
But what good is a good “backstory” if I die within the first 10 minutes of the movie?
Cuz I’m totally just getting the GoT season 1 “anyone can die” death
GoT S01 Spoilers
I’mma so get Ned Starked 👀
Or worse, those dudes on the wall that got executed in the very first acts.
Owlman: It doesn’t matter.
I think you would enjoy the concept of solipsism. We’re all just thinking computers driving around skeletons with flesh armor. Maybe our flesh mechs are part of the simulation too.
The Truman show is one of my all time favorite movies and sound tracks
You are the architect.
In the big picture and when you realize the vast universe that surrounds us and how short of time we’ve been on earth, we are just a spec in time and none of us are important. Just live your life and try to be kind to others while you’re here. I find comfort in knowing we are all the same and we are nothing.
We are important. We are special. The most important thing in your life is how you make others feel. If you can give yourself someone, then you should.
Nothing else is important. Nothing else matters. All we are is dust in the wind.
