3 ms·
Ask HN: How did you find meaning?
A few hours ago, an interesting thread (and a even more insightful comment section) popped up on HN: Fatal silence: Why do so many fortysomething men kill themselves? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9366219
I'd like to ask you: how did you find your own meaning? What core values or practice let you get rid of doubts and hollowness?
- skidoo 12y agoMy older sister was murdered in 2000: http://www.leoweekly.com/2008/11/deadly-delay/ http://www.leoweekly.com/2008/11/deadly-delay/ She was a truly amazing young woman, with limitless potential- especially as a writer. The years following her death were hard for me and my family, but seeing how her life could be so easily snuffed out, and seeing how the local government fought tooth and nail from admitting any guilt on its part, compelled me to accept the inherent absurdity that is life. Once I stopped taking the world seriously, stopped taking myself seriously, I suddenly found all metaphorical walls removed. I would not recommend tragedy for everyone though, obviously. But perspective really is everything. We all really are just specks of dust floating in the aether.
- opless 12y agodoubts? hollowness? all still there. It's how you deal with them. As skidoo says, perspective is everything. If you can switch perspective on negative thought processes you can dodge nasty side effects. Better than going to the doctors for happy pills anyway, which seems to be the default action for 'I feel sad/bad about many things, I need help' these days. And that's not meant to belittle folk with mental health issues in any way.
- gamechangr 12y agoGod, as in Jesus Christ, not in that "all roads lead to fulfillment" or "let us each follow our own path". Nothing worth having comes that way. If you live according to a standard of truth with accountability on the inside, you will break out of that "hollowness". If you stay where you actions compromise your true values, because it's enjoyable or you don't believe you have accountability, you will stay "hollow" no matter your success or accomplishments.
- enkiv2 12y agoLife is inherently meaningless -- all meaning must be created by human beings. So, you don't find meaning -- you impose it upon your life. Decide what meaning you would like your life to have, then change your life to suit the meaning you've given it.