The futility of our time here on Earth

[Andres]

I had a weird thought today.

I moved a couple of years ago, but I still work in the town where I grew up. I work at the same place for about 9 years now. As I was driving through the street where our office is situated, I saw this man. A friend of my parents and I've known him since I was a child. He's about 10 year older than my parents, he's married and he has a son who is the same age as my brother. He waved and laughed at me and I waved back. It's a friendly guy and he does a lot of charity work.

Driving further, I looked in my back mirror and a random though crossed my mind: add another 9 years and he'll probably be no longer with us. Then I realised that within 9 years, I'll be 41 and my son 9.

MTW was only 9 years ago, yet within only 9 years, a lot has changed and over another 9 years more will have changed.

After another 4 or 5 periods of 9 years, I'll probably be dead too and I won't see all those changes anymore.

Mind you, I don't find this idea to be depressing or so, I'm not the type to go all philosphical and talk myself into a deep depression and all, but it just fascinates me how a man carries on with his life in the illusion that he is immortal, that he has all the time in the world, while at some day, it'll be over. It also fascinates me how people have all kinds of ambitions and pursue all kinds of nigh impossible things, while they could just be happy. Why not giving yourself a break and be happy? It'll be over after a few 9-year periods, no matter what you do.

I don't feel the need to change my life drastically. You have people who say that you have to live your life and do and see as much as you can or gather as much wealth as you can, try everything, but why would I? At the end, it will be the end and it will be over, regardless of how much things I did or tried. Why pursuing all kinds of things, striving to achieve objectives, wanting to visit this, eat that, try out X and Y and all that, when I'm happy here and now?

Why are people always so busy and stressed? Why do people care so much about reaching goals, achieving things, what others think of them?

It is my belief that the key to happiness lies in not wanting too much and in not taking yourself too seriously, let alone finding yourself important. A coffee and a bar of chocolate on a sunny Sunday afternoon is more than enough to be happy.

[TinCow]

Why not giving yourself a break and be happy?

...

Why are people always so busy and stressed? Why do people care so much about reaching goals, achieving things, what others think of them?

It is my belief that the key to happiness lies in not wanting too much and in not taking yourself too seriously, let alone finding yourself important. A coffee and a bar of chocolate on a sunny Sunday afternoon is more than enough to be happy.

This is exactly what I believe as well. Our time here is very, very limited and it will not come again, so enjoy it while you can. I have two rules that I live by:
1) Have Fun
2) Don't Hurt Anyone

Those are the basics, but there are multiple layers to each. For example, #1 doesn't necessarily mean pursue all immediate pleasures. I believe in maximizing pleasure over the course of my life, which often means doing things I do not want to do (like going to work) so that I can ensure that my enjoyment is heightened at a later point in time. In addition, #2 has lots of layers to it. People can be hurt physically, but also mentally/emotionally. All of that has to be taken into account, with the objective being that my mission of pleasure-seeking does not cause someone else to be unhappy.

I've followed those rules for about 12 years now, and they haven't failed me yet. I think it's a good philosophy.

[Ronin]

"Everyone just lies down next to their ugly wives with their ugly kids and loser lives and looks at me and says I don't get it."
- Charlie Sheen.

And thus....a new philosophy is born.

Go out and be happy man.

[Monk]

Why are people always so busy and stressed? Why do people care so much about reaching goals, achieving things, what others think of them?

Have you ever lived the pointless life? A lot of people i've met always fantasize about doing nothing, ie, just spending your time in a leisurely fashion. I've lived that life. When i was 16 i dropped out of high-school and told the world I didn't care about it, so it shouldn't care about me. I didn't care about much, and thus did pretty much whatever I wanted.

In short: that kinda life is awesome but it gets very tired. After a couple years I started to realize that I'd be in the same place for the rest of my life unless I got my **** together. Waking up day after day with no direction or justification for it. Of course, there were eventually things added incentive to live. A girl, a good book, a night out, but they all led me back to the same place without any option or chance of growth as a person.

I'm 22 now, and while i've experienced a lot, I haven't really accomplished anything. Working towards goals gives me a reason to get up in the morning. Because I want something better for myself than what I currently have, and the only way to achieve that is by hard work. There are times when stress sets in, but it's never more than I can manage - likely because I am studying things that I really enjoy. The sense of accomplishment I get from my work, and the exhilaration caused by seeing the 'lights turn green' makes it all worth-while. Its a happiness of its own.

I'll be getting my associate degree in the Fall which would make me the first member of my family to obtain a college education - even before my older brother who is still spinning his wheels. It feels good, man. Feels good.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Why are people always so busy and stressed? Why do people care so much about reaching goals, achieving things, what others think of them?

It is my belief that the key to happiness lies in not wanting too much and in not taking yourself too seriously, let alone finding yourself important. A coffee and a bar of chocolate on a sunny Sunday afternoon is more than enough to be happy.

My family has a mausoleum. Several generations of my forebears lie in silent admonition to each of us who is destined to fill the next alcove.

I used to get quite gloomy about this. Where, I would think, will I fit in times to come? Amongst those tombs wherein lie men who made a difference, or in the undisturbed corners where the spiders laugh at the unremarkable lives mouldering below their thickening webs?

Not long ago, I came to realise that it really doesn't matter - we're all dust one way or another - and that the opportunity to shape history rather depends on history. A lot of this understanding was guided by a great man with the signature "Be well. Do good. Keep in touch".

Life is what you make of what it gives you. Like you, a good coffee and a sunny day is something one can greatly appreciate. And we have a good saying here: "You're a long time dead".

[rajpoot]

If a man stops wanting and just sits in sun content with his lot, then his life stops changing...it stagnates....and I don't know if that's going to be fun for a long time.
I mean, sure....I visualize stuff like this all the time....my dream is to have a small house somewhere on top of a snowy hill miles away from any civilized place. I want to go to such a place and then just live....but one wonders how long can one simply 'live' and do nothing.
And people all have different views of life....some are content with little, others go crazy and want to do everything from skydiving to walking all along the Great Wall of China....They're all right...because the key to life lies not in wanting nothing but in being content. Ofcourse when one wants nothing contentment comes by itself...that's what they call Nirvana...want nothing, and then even when you have nothing you'll be happy and at peace...but that's kind of paradoxical....
So when I look at people running the rat race what do I feel? When I see people doing so much more than me...achieving so much more...what do I feel? At times I wonder...what would I have been like had I thought like them...but never ever do I feel that they're wrong or I'm wrong. In our own place we are all correct.

The first and the last stanzas of Lewis Carroll's poem at the end of Alice int he Wonderland are my all time favourites.

A boat beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July--

Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?

[Andres]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I have no goals or objectives or that I don't strive to achieve things, it's just that I'm sometimes amazed about what people want. I talk to a lot of people in my kind of work and it sometimes amazes me about what their goals are, what they want to reach, how they can get worked up over trivial things. How much value is added on money, status and more generally on what others think of you. There also seem to be many people suffering from what I call the "self importance syndrome". At best, we're important in relation to our closed ones. Of course, to our parents, children, close family and friends, we're important, but apart from that? No; we're not important at all.

Where, I would think, will I fit in times to come? Amongst those tombs wherein lie men who made a difference, or in the undisturbed corners where the spiders laugh at the unremarkable lives mouldering below their thickening webs?

Not long ago, I came to realise that it really doesn't matter - we're all dust one way or another - and that the opportunity to shape history rather depends on history.

Worrying about what people who aren't even born yet will think about you seems like a bit of folie de grandeur, no? You're absolutely right that, in the end, it doesn't matter. There are things that matter, but what history will think of you, is not of one of them.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I'm having a mini early mid-life crisis right now. I feel I've got my priorities wrong. I'm about to be finished my Uni education with a degree from a top Uni in a few months time, and I ploughed straight on with my education, so I'm as young as you can be to be in such a position. I've got a job and I've built up savings for when I move out after Uni, so I have no debt worries or anything like that.

And yet I've had no social life, no hobbies until very recently. I know people working dead-end jobs (without future prospects for a better one, before anyone points out where I work ), but they are married. I have friends who have no jobs or education, yet they still go on holidays and see the world. I literally haven't been without a 30-mile radius from where I live in the whole four years I've been at Uni.

idk how to feel. On the one hand, my life is kind of boring and crap so that's meh. But on the other hand I am very happy because I am in pretty much the perfect situation for where I need to be in terms of building a future.

The OP is right in that people worry too much about goals. A lot of people work so much they never have time to appreciate what they work for, so I don't want to be one of those people.

Man, I have no idea what to do with my life right now...

[Ronin]

I'm having a mini early mid-life crisis right now. I feel I've got my priorities wrong. I'm about to be finished my Uni education with a degree from a top Uni in a few months time, and I ploughed straight on with my education, so I'm as young as you can be to be in such a position. I've got a job and I've built up savings for when I move out after Uni, so I have no debt worries or anything like that.

And yet I've had no social life, no hobbies until very recently. I know people working dead-end jobs (without future prospects for a better one, before anyone points out where I work ), but they are married. I have friends who have no jobs or education, yet they still go on holidays and see the world. I literally haven't been without a 30-mile radius from where I live in the whole four years I've been at Uni.

idk how to feel. On the one hand, my life is kind of boring and crap so that's meh. But on the other hand I am very happy because I am in pretty much the perfect situation for where I need to be in terms of building a future.

The OP is right in that people worry too much about goals. A lot of people work so much they never have time to appreciate what they work for, so I don't want to be one of those people.

Man, I have no idea what to do with my life right now...

someone needs to get laid.

[Strike For The South]

Oggi a te, domani a me

Death use to worry me until very recently, My consciousness thinking about the end of itself produced a primal fear in the pit of my gullet. I went through a period where I would lay awake and worry about the end of it all. Not coincdentally this happend the same time I "left" the church.

I am simply going to try and take everything in knowing I could've been dealt a much worse hand

What else can you do? Demanding time halt is a most fruitless endavor, some men waste a lifetime on it, only at the end to beg for more

Dont be that guy

[Rhyfelwyr]

someone needs to get laid.

Not only am I accussed of making everything I say about women, now when I don't, people still find that what I am saying is really somehow all about women.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The thing is, you are probably right.

No! No sex before marriage!

[Banquo's Ghost]

Worrying about what people who aren't even born yet will think about you seems like a bit of folie de grandeur, no? You're absolutely right that, in the end, it doesn't matter. There are things that matter, but what history will think of you, is not of one of them.

A burden that you are not perhaps familiar with, maybe.

I'm sure that you are concerned with how your child will think of you, and perhaps how your parents think of you. Extend the principle through generations, fore and aft. When one inherits a set of expectations and responsibilities, bequeathed by a set of historical events, one can either shy away or take up the challenge.

What history (in my familial terms, not the grand picture) thinks of me does matter. To me, and I hope, to my descendants. It may not matter to you, of course.

[Megas Methuselah]

I just want to get my family out of the hole, man. I just want to get us out. We deserve better than this.

[Hooahguy]

Whenever I think of these things I just pull a nice cold one from the fridge. Makes it all better.

[Togakure]

I agree with many of the sentiments expressed, but keep in mind that some do not have the luxuries that some of us do have. Take the homeless, for example, or the oppressed. Maslow's Needs Hierarchy etc., etc.. For the longest time I felt as has been expressed in this thread. But I had made a life for myself, I had family and lots of friends, there to pick me up when I stumbled. Fate had been kind to me. Thinking within my own box, I couldn't understand why so many were less enthralled with life. I took for granted the feeling of safety that my family and friends, my career and income, provided.

That changed. The life that defined me in my own mind was taken away by a series of events over which I had only partial control. I got to experience homelessness for a short time, personally--recently, in fact--during my tenure here at the Org. I lost almost everything. It was a real eye-opener, and changed my perspective drastically. It was absolutely the scariest, loneliest, most helpless period in my life. Before, when I saw homeless people, I wasn't indifferent--I'd take them to a nearby place for food when they were willing if I had some time, or buy them some food and non-alcoholic drink. But now, when I see them, my heart feels like it will break. There are so many, and I can do little to help them ....

It is good to strive for happiness, recognize its importance. Just consider that we live in different shoes, and it's not so easy for some. More important than personal success and happiness now, is the need to help others in need when I am able. To do this, I must first help myself, to be in a position to assist. But I see a greater purpose now, because I have directly experienced, and hence, understand better, a greater need. Thus, I am grateful for the hardships I experienced. It's made me a better man. That being said, I hope I never have to experience such utter fear and self-deprecation again. The fear is still here, and I don't think it will ever go away completely. In a New York minute, everything can change ....

[Megas Methuselah]

Whenever I think of these things I just pull a nice cold one from the fridge. Makes it all better.

Yeah. Yeah, it does.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Life isn't about having fun. Life is about living. Some people get off on living their lives as a crusader for social equality, some people just get drunk and **** women. Do what you want, and hope that stem cells will give you another 50 years.