The purpose of human existence
What is the meaning of human life? Is there a meaning to life? What do people live for?
Philosophers, psychologists, writers, ordinary people wonder about the meaning of human existence.
Sometimes opinions are completely opposite, disputes arise, but no one has yet come to a single answer.
Each person understands the meaning of human life in his own way. This largely depends on upbringing, attitudes, outlook on life, and the trials endured.
Understanding the meaning of life can change depending on what a person has experienced . In his youth he looks for one thing, in the second half of his life he pays attention to completely different things.
Difficult events and traumatic situations can radically change a person’s view of reality.
Constant growth and development
Never stop. Constantly break through your own ceilings with your head, raise the bar, increase the distances. This upward movement should always be there. Be afraid of stops.
No matter what age you started to wake up, growth is possible and should always be. After 50, my mother actively began to grow rapidly in yoga, which she practiced for half her life. Now she is 71 and she is an actively working yoga therapist, giving a good kick to hundreds of people who think they are sick, inflexible and no longer capable of anything, takes them through the Himalayas, puts those who cannot walk on their feet, raises the bar for the healthy... I try to come to I practice it every year for a month and make significant progress in yoga during this time.
The meaning of life for men and women
It is believed that a woman must certainly get married and fulfill her main task - to give birth to a child, or preferably two or more. There are women who categorically disagree with this.
Yes, by nature the weaker sex is intended to bear offspring, but this does not mean that she should perceive this as the meaning of her existence.
A woman is designed in such a way that she considers it her task to take care of her offspring and to be a support to a man .
However, modern representatives of the fairer sex often strive to realize themselves in the profession .
And this is not something wrong, because every person needs to be someone.
The meaning of a woman’s existence is, first of all, to be a woman - a mother, a housewife , and at the same time not to forget about her essence.
Initially, a man is perceived as a breadwinner and protector . It is not for nothing that they call him the stronger sex - he is a guard, the one who does not give offense to his family and loved ones. A man, as a rule, wants to leave behind offspring.
He also definitely needs self-realization. If a man achieves nothing in life and is unable to support his family, this negatively affects his self-esteem and leads to the development of depression, neuroses, and the use of substances hazardous to health.
He must feel his importance, that he is needed by his family or society . That is, self-realization is one of the foundations of the meaning of existence.
It is not necessary to reach great heights, the main thing is that you are accepted in the family and that you matter to someone.
What to do if the meaning of life has disappeared?
Yana, hello!
Thank you for your letter and for your trust.
Yes. Only those who have had close contact and lived with people suffering from alcoholism know how scary, difficult and painful it is.
You really can't relax for a single minute. You cannot be sure not only of tomorrow, but of the next hour!
Life with alcoholics is full of “surprises.” That's not it, that's it. Especially if your own position, like yours, Yana, is absolutely dependent!
Ian, this is all clear. But, dear, you still MUST APPRECIATE WHAT IS GIVEN TO YOU, THAT IS LIFE ITSELF!
It's corny, but I'll repeat it. You are still very, very young. In principle, you can do absolutely everything: find a good job, study, start a family that will love you, have children, etc. You can become your own source of happiness! And this is a very big plus for your situation.
You know, it also happens that life in a family of alcoholics greatly influences the fate of their children. Chemical dependence is transmitted genetically!
But it also happens that it is in the families of alcoholics that children grow up who have, as it were, an innate immunity to alcohol. And not even in terms of rejection, but in terms of the lack of alcohol addiction!
God grant that this is exactly your case.
Next... You were brought up in very bad conditions in terms of psychological-emotional standards and moral and ethical standards. In short, living conditions were not very good.
But since you managed to survive and remain a responsible person, then we can say that you are strong, stable and completely viable!
This does not mean that you have a brilliant state of mind and body. Not at all. You feel bad. You don't feel well. Are you scared.
BUT YOU WILL STAND. YOU WILL OVERCOME. YOU WILL LIVE AND LIVE HAPPY.
After such stress, Ian, anything can happen! And “brain fog,” and psychological problems, and a not-so-pleasant sex life.
Consider all this as residual phenomena. Be brave and, I’m sure, if you wait the right amount of time, everything will go back to normal.
Time, Yana, is needed for recovery!!!
Having experienced this, being in a state of eternal anxiety and doubt, it is impossible to relax! Especially during sex!
But you have to “endure” correctly. You really need to be examined and consult a specialist. Let's say, for starters, with a simple therapist. You need to get a referral for a consultation with a psychologist and neurologist. They will tell you everything you need. And, especially with such vivid symptoms, they will help get rid of neurosis.
There is neurosis! And the nevorz is quite strong. Of course, there are also disturbances in the psycho-emotional sphere. I'm not sure that you will need any complex therapy. Most likely, we will talk about rest and taking vitamins and some moderate medications.
Fears will go away without a trace.
You, Yanochka, need to get on with your life. It so happened that there is no one else to do this but you. But who said that this is a tragedy???? - NOBODY!
Alcoholics, Yana, are sick people. But their illness is social. That is, she is, as it were, integrated into society. It is generated by society itself. It has a social assessment - social disapproval.
Alcoholics have their own laws. In principle, you and I need to feel sorry for such people, because every time they talk, excuse me, with Satan. We may feel sorry for them, but never understand them! We will never understand how scared they are and how they suffer!
I say this because you shouldn’t project your parents’ lives onto yourself. This should NEVER be done, especially when the parents are sick people.
In general, you have done a lot for your parents. You can be proud of yourself!
And you shouldn't be afraid of loneliness. Or rather, even this way: you even need relative loneliness in order to come to your senses quickly.
I'm saying that you shouldn't make too close acquaintances now. Friendship and correct friendship are enough for you for now!
A little later, when the neurotic manifestations go away, you will find those with whom you want to communicate more closely. You will find your love.
You didn’t write what you do, where you study, where and who you work for, what you love, how you relax... I don’t know anything about you.
I could give more specific advice.
The last thing... YANA, SORRY MOTHER AND FATHER. JUST SORRY AND THAT'S ALL!
“I forgive my mother for not being what I would like”...
Here is the idea of such an affirmation, which you need to say 100 times a day. You can even write in a notebook!
Very soon you will feel better. You will have strength. You will see real light.
I look forward to your letters, A. Zhuravlev.
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According to Freud
Freud wrote that the question of the meaning of life was raised by people more than once, but an exact answer was never given.
Religion imposes its understanding and path to happiness on a person; it distorts the picture of the world and intimidates.
But in this way it can save some people from the development of neurosis.
According to Freud, people strive to be happy. Desire has two sides - negative and positive . On the one hand, there is the experience of pain, on the other, pleasure. Happiness is achieved when needs are suddenly met, and that is a short moment.
Another desire is love , including sexual love, as one of the needs. Satisfaction of primary needs gives a person happiness, but it also becomes the cause of suffering.
We are drowning in whining, trifles and someone else's principles
Why do you care so much about someone’s behavior, what difference does it make what people think about us, how competently someone you don’t know and don’t want to know writes.
What percentage of your time and energy is filled with unnecessary reactions to all sorts of crap? Following rules invented by someone?? 90? 100? Do the math.
We drown in our own whining and self-pity. For what?? If you're tired of your job, stop going to it every day and whining - quit that job to hell. If your joints hurt, stop eating salt, change your diet, and take care of your health. If you were abandoned and you poor thing is depressed - look in the mirror, maybe there was a reason for that and it’s time to kick your fat ass and go to the gym, don’t crawl out of it until your form is perfect?
Send your depression to hell, get carried away with yourself and your life, cry not from grief, but from the beauty of the world and muscle pain after physical exertion..
Any whining is a reluctance to act.
Doctrine of hedonism
What does hedonism see as the meaning of life? According to the teachings of hedonism, pleasure is the highest good and the meaning of existence. Good is that which gives pleasure .
Life is about present moments, and each of them should be filled with pleasure, as intense as possible.
The future does not exist, and any path is good for obtaining pleasure. Getting pleasure is the main motive for the existence of people and any of their actions.
Where the goal begins is desire. What are you burning with?
Just setting goals is fraught with the fact that you will not go to them, because they are not yours. A goal starts with an idea. With obsession and strong desire.
You simply cannot help but do what you are passionate about.
Don’t write yourself a list of other people’s goals, first find inside what you’re passionate about. You don’t need to look for it, it’s in plain sight most often.
What I'm passionate about, what inspires me - photography, blogging and travel, sports. For example.
I know that physical fitness, sports and various activities give me not only health, but also enormous creative energy, which I release for other purposes - writing texts and taking cooler photographs. If my physical health declines, then my energy drops and I begin to feel less passionate about everything else.
And even if you have completely lost your desires, then kick yourself out of the house to run, yoga, etc. Replace rolls with apples and beer with freshly squeezed juice - this is your health in the end. The goals will return to your cleared head and body, and you will begin to return to them.
The problem of meaning
Even in prosperous countries, the problem of the meaning of existence remains relevant.
It does not depend on a person’s status or financial availability.
The meaning of life can be found or lost by both a poor person and a person with great income, alone and with a large family.
The meaning of human existence largely depends on the personal characteristics of the individual, his desire to find his place and role in life. Every person should have goals, desires, aspirations.
You can’t just stand still, otherwise human development will roll back to a lower level. Some people do not think about searching for meaning, yet they enjoy life, enjoy every moment and consider themselves happy.
Others are deeply immersed in the search for the meaning of human existence, and in the end they acquire nothing but neuroses and depression.
Walk into fear
What are you afraid of? My favorite exercise is to do something every day that is scary or scary to do. Ask for food in a line with homeless people, climb another tower illegally, go surfing (I love surfing, but I’m still wildly afraid of the waves), meet someone on the street, take a helicopter pilot course, etc.
Every day, overcoming fear a little bit helps in important moments - when you need to do something really cool and very scary.
Important: what we fear most is most often what we really need!
The meaninglessness of existence - what is it?
If a person feels inner emptiness, nothing makes him happy , then we can talk about the meaninglessness of existence.
This condition often occurs during depression, when a person does not know why he should live, work, communicate with people, or be close to his family.
The feeling of the meaninglessness of existence is a dangerous syndrome , and consultation with a psychotherapist or at least an ordinary psychologist is required.
A feeling of meaninglessness often leads to dangerous consequences and death, so if loved ones are diagnosed with a similar condition, you should pay attention to this.
Each of us periodically experiences a short feeling of the meaninglessness of existence .
Perhaps this is necessary in order for the psyche to reboot or for a person to take a different path of development when life reaches a dead end.
Psychology of rethinking life
Rethinking life occurs during periods of crisis . They cannot be avoided, but everyone experiences them differently. For some, crises are almost unnoticeable; usually these are self-realized people who succeed in many things in life.
Others go through difficult periods, change jobs, leave their families, move to another city, fall into depression, and commit other unexpected and not always logical actions.
Life rethinking is happening:
- If you suddenly realized that everything is not going as planned.
- When an unexpected, terrible event happened.
- If you suddenly realized that everything you have achieved is meaningless, and you have never realized your dream.
- When you want to radically change everything around you.
- When you feel tired of life, everyday life, loved ones.
The period is dangerous because at this time the most unexpected actions are committed . It is during a crisis that families are destroyed, without thinking about the consequences, the feelings of other people, the years lived.
The emotional state at this time is unstable, there is a danger of developing severe neuroses and depression.
A feeling of loneliness appears , even if there are many close people and family nearby.
It is especially difficult during this period for those who do not have tangible support.
Rethinking life can happen more than once; you need to be prepared for this so as not to lose yourself and loved ones .
What to do:
- Stop resisting the new things that come into your life. Give up established stereotypes and habits.
- Stop delving into the past , analyzing mistakes, relationships, people, your actions, what you didn’t have time to do or did wrong. You can't fix the past, so there's no point in worrying about what happened. Dwelling on the past worsens your emotional well-being, especially if you remember people you care about but won't see again.
- Have an active life position , constantly do something, be interested.
Motivation by people
If I started to talk about the topic of motivation and break everything down into points, then this is point number one!
I often meet cool people, communication with whom energizes me and gives me new ideas. I owe a lot of my achievements to some of them! I try to meet and communicate more with motivating people, I value them very much.
Such people will push you upward, while whiners and dreamers will suck you into the swamp. Choose.
There is a very interesting fact: Motivating people are not always noticeable, you need to learn to see them!
The person thanks to whom I began to do very cool things in life that have greatly advanced me is not such a noticeable person. He came into my life sometimes and unobtrusively mentioned something in a quiet voice and disappeared again for a long time. And I clung to this idea, this thought settled in me and began to work and change my life! I think many people around him would change for the better if they listened. And they started doing it.
I know a girl whose travels blow my mind. Without money, she manages to make the coolest trip around the world, but her group does not have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, because reality is not interesting to the masses, the masses like dreams.
I know one of the most popular models in the world - her photographs can be seen in any country on billboards, they are everywhere on the Internet and on the streets, you have seen her many times. But no one knows her name and her Instagram is a hundred subscribers-friends. She and her husband take cool photos together and travel all over the world together all the time. These two modest guys form the visual taste of the entire planet and are an important link in this meaningless chain of humanity. Who are you with your hundred likes on your selfie post?
Most of the people who motivate me the most are invisible on the outside, keep to themselves, don't give a damn about what others think of them, but do unrealistic things for their lives and ours.
Mutual motivation and people passionate about development should be in our social circle. There shouldn't be any other people. Either your friends motivate you immensely, or you motivate your friends immensely.
The rest are thrown into the firebox. At the same time, learn to exclude and reject unnecessary people from communication, this is also useful for development.
Why live?
How do you know if there is meaning in life? The meaning of life is a certain internal experience, the correspondence of your expectations with what is happening in reality .
You know why you live, you act in a certain way, you feel a state of satisfaction. If there is meaning, then you feel your significance in this life, you have found your place.
Why does a person see no meaning in life? When does life lose its meaning? You feel that you have lost the meaning of your existence. There are certain reasons for this , and psychologists have studied them quite well.
Why a person does not see the meaning in life:
- he has incorrect life attitudes and principles;
- he did not fulfill his main dream;
- disappointment that your successes are not appreciated by anyone;
- chronic and severe diseases that change the state of mind and lead to depression;
- psychotraumatic situations;
- loss of someone close to you;
- loss of large finances, ruin, business failure;
- feeling of personal inadequacy;
- lack of self-development;
- passive life position.
A person lives in an environment familiar to him, he does not leave his comfort zone.
But suddenly an event happens that unsettles him. The husband says he is leaving for someone else.
Children move out of home. A loved one dies. Severe illnesses are detected.
At this moment , a reassessment of values occurs, and it seems that further existence is already meaningless. If there is no support nearby, the condition may worsen, since not everyone can get out on their own.
Why live if there is no meaning? Many people ask themselves this question.
It’s good if a person decides to visit a psychologist or entrust his experiences to a loved one who can help and support. Otherwise, the individual's actions are unpredictable.
If a person does not yet see the meaning, this does not mean that it does not exist. Life is worth living for life's sake, for one's own sake. You wake up in the morning and realize that a new day has come, it is still different from the previous one, even if it is not.
Motivation with a kick. Go and do
For a result, if there is an idea, there is a goal, you only need one thing - to act. If there is no action, then nothing will happen for us. Let's just sit, plan and watch how others move forward and achieve our goals at this time.
Start realizing your fantasies and plans right now. Let them be small first. Or immediately big ones. Sexual fantasies are also considered, even required on the list. Get up right now and go do what you've been dreaming of for a long time. If you want to run, run out of the house right now. If there is slush and rain outside, run through the mud, fall on the slippery slush, get up and run. If you dream of starting a business, go and do it! Without reading a mountain of literature in advance, just go and get started. Let this first business fail - this will be your beginning and invaluable experience that will help you move on.
If you want to start traveling, buy a ticket and go. Unfamiliar country and language? Unknown roads and scary? Backpack on your back, head up and forward. Be afraid, but go - there are a lot of interesting things waiting for you. And in general, read the simplest instructions on my blog and start traveling with it in your bookmarks.
Lost the meaning of life - get up and move forward without meaning! You will find meaning along the way..
