Dealing with existential nihilism

[Edwardo Piet]

Does anyone have an answer to the question: If there is no afterlife and no consciousnesses to remember what we did in life and we are forgotten, why does it matter? Why should I logically keep living?

Because a life to live is more valuable than a life to remember.

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Howdy Pawed-ner.

That's kind of a Debbie Downer. 

Why keep living,...... how about to procreate? It's a hell of a lot of fun, even when you just practice. 

You have no clue how you/your life may impact the world, neither do I. You could be that one butterfly.

But that's the point. It isn't that my life isn't good and full of potential to get even better, hell I'm in high school and I have a desk job with a 401k and I love my classes and my friends are great but it all ends and if I won't be able to look fondly back on my memories in an afterlife then why does it matter at all?

Non-sequitur.

[Angrboda]

We understand experience through the lens of narratives, narratives which have beginnings middles and ends. Only through closure of an ending do we gain any meaning. An event without end has no meaning. It is the temporary, transient nature of our experiences which gives them meaning. A movie which never ends has no human sense or meaning.

[Edwardo Piet]

Non-sequitur. A meaningful experience doesn't have to end meaningfully for the journey there to be meaningful.

In fact, meaning is subjective, we make our own meanings and personally for me the ending is when the meaning disappears. When reading a story I find the development of the story meaningful but once it ends I am always disappointed and I feel that that is where the meaning ends, not where it begins.

And we draw our own arbirary lines. We could say each moment has an ending.

And there is certainly no meaning for us once our life has ended because then we don't even exist to experience meaning. Death is the end of all meaning, not the resolution of it. There is no resolution unless we find it and we can just as easily find meaning in the journey.

And again for me personally life is an unfolding tapestry and there's meaning in that but once it has unfolded completely the meaning dies.

There's meaning in progress but once a goal is reached the meaning is dead until we work towards a new goal and go on a new journey.

For me: Meaning is growth.

I also despise the saying "all is well that ends well.". What nonsense. A long blissful journey ending terribly is far better than a long hellish journey ending well. The intensity of the ending is no more special than the intensity of the beginning or the middle or any other point in time. Every experience can be isolated and every peak matters. Well... actually what matters most of all is avoiding the craters.

But yeah... "the destination is meaningless therefore the journey is meaningless" is just a non-sequitur.

Not even every journey requires a destination. Not even every story needs an ending.

And that's just an example of the perfect solution fallacy.

[Neo-Scholastic]

An event without end has no meaning.

I think what we are taking about is meaning in two senses. The primary sense is purpose. For example, the Westminster Confession begins with the question "What is the chief end of Man?" The answer has two parts, the first of which is to glorify God. To glorify God is both purpose, the ends we should seek, and meaning, that which we are meant to exemplify. As such, the life of a pious Christian serves as a sign pointing towards God. To use your movie analogy, you do not need to know the ending to know the archetypal roles of particular characters.

[The Grand Nudger]

If there are two or more senses to meaning, the whole thing becomes moot.  Chiefly in that lacking meaning in one sense, among many..does not entail an absence of meaning.

[Edwardo Piet]

Well if we personally find our life meaningful TO US then TO US our life is meaningful... however we choose to find it.

That's what it MEANS for existential meaning to be subjective.

Absurdism > nihilism

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An event without end has no meaning.

I think what we are taking about is meaning in two senses. The primary sense is purpose. For example, the Westminster Confession begins with the question "What is the chief end of Man?" The answer has two parts, the first of which is to glorify God. To glorify God is both purpose, the ends we should seek, and meaning, that which we are meant to exemplify. As such, the life of a pious Christian serves as a sign pointing towards God. To use your movie analogy, you do not need to know the ending to know the archetypal roles of particular characters.

Purpose doesn't require an ending or full solution either though.

Purpose just requires progress. 1% progress is still better than 0% and 99% is a hell of a lot better than 0%.

[Angrboda]

Non-sequitur. A meaningful experience doesn't have to end meaningfully for the journey there to be meaningful.

I'm not arguing that the ending being meaningful is what makes the whole meaningful, only that without an ending, our experience has no graspable sense or meaning.

[Edwardo Piet]

I'm not sure about that. I think our brains only have to conceptualize change for better or for worse in order to make sense of meaning. Endings are entirely arbitary as are the lines we draw but change is constant and experiencable from a young age.

I think what we subjectively value and change is all that is required for comprehending concepts like "better" or "worse" and I think that that is all that is required for personal subjective existential meaning in one's own life.

And apologises to you, Jor, if I am coming across as grouchy or rude or like an asshole lately. I hope I don't get on your nerves at all because I like you. I am very stressed out and depressed lately and I am finding myself triggered easily. And I don't want you to have to see me at my worst. Hell, I don't want anyone to see me at my worst. Been certainly finding meaning in my life it's just a pity that it mostly isn't positive. Anyways... Sorry for off topic paragraph as well.

[Mystic]

Does anyone have an answer to the question: If there is no afterlife and no consciousnesses to remember what we did in life and we are forgotten, why does it matter? Why should I logically keep living?

Because a life to live is more valuable than a life to remember.

Thank you for proving Anslem to be correct! I agree!

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I think what we subjectively value and change is all that is required for comprehending concepts like "better" or "worse" and I think that that is all that is required for personal subjective existential meaning in one's own life.

I believe the opposite, I believe we require "all-existence" for meaning and we cannot find it just in our selves, because we ourselves are defined by our link and relationship to beings around us, and so must love every creation, be it the pebbles that glorify God or trees that do so to, and especially humans. Not only that, but we must form bonds with humans, like our family and also I believe half the religion is seeking marriage and lies in marriage, that is because love and virtue half of that is going to be in marriage and how you treat your spouse. I believe the language of love points us to purpose and interconnection.
There are fabrics of love, and the most important fabric is the mystic link and name of God, which is our leader and guide, by which we are connected to God and know God. All creation glorifies God through him whether they know it or don't....the matter is becoming aware of this glorification and the guide in the journey, the companion in the journey!

[Edwardo Piet]

You really like your non-sequiturs, MK.