Dealing with existential nihilism

[bennyboy]

I was born Christian, er Mormon. I think it's christian, others have their own opinions. My dad had indoctrinated me into atheism by giving me skeptic podcasts, which completely changed my viewpoint.

I was about 14 when I determined I didn't believe (have evidence for) god(s) but I have, in the last four years, not been able to shake my existential nihilism. 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?

Why do you need logic?

We live because it is in our nature to live.  That's pretty much it. We have the instinct to live, some interest in the world, and so we live and interact with the world. Then we die. At no point in this process do you have to justify living.

[Astreja]

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?

When I was 11 years old and going through a phase of puberty-related major depression, I was extremely nihilistic.  One afternoon after school, IIRC in midwinter, I thought hard about the question and essentially had a vision that encompassed all of time-space.  I watched civilizations and planets arise and disintegrate, and at one point imagined myself standing outside space and time.  I realized that not even eternal life can have a coherent meaning.  I didn't have a solution at that point but resolved to just keep going anyway.

Some years later I discovered the concepts of flow and mindfulness.  At that point I internalized meaning, made it completely independent of the outside world, and from that point forward have just been enjoying life experiences for their own sake without trying to stick "...but why?" at the end of them.

[SuperSentient]

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?

The meaning of life is the meaning you give it, a promise of eternal life is not needed for a reason to live. We humans can give ourselves reasons, rather than rely on a God to tell us what we should do.

[Amarok]

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?

Why live for death when you can live for now and tomorrow. Life matters now why would you wanna spend eternity reflecting on it  rather then just enjoying it now.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

What Khemikal said. I may get run over by a lorryload of exploding dildos tomorrow, but that doesn't stop me trying to have fun today.

Suck it up, buttercup.

Boru

[Amarok]

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?

Matter to who? . Why would you wanna remember a life you have already lived ? and why would you care if total strangers remembered you? Frankly I don't see how having a life after this one would make this one any less meaningful.It just seems like a lot of pointless lingering without a true conclusion a ending to the story that is my existence that sounds much nicer. And what happens when you get there do then pine for after after life to make that one meaningful . Fact is if you can't enjoy this life why on earth would a second of the thing that didn't you happy make you happy?

[bennyboy]

I may get run over by a lorryload of exploding dildos tomorrow, but that doesn't stop me trying to have fun today.

I now know what it means to have a good death!

[Neo-Scholastic]

I was born Christian, er Mormon. I think it's christian, others have their own opinions. My dad had indoctrinated me into atheism by giving me skeptic podcasts, which completely changed my viewpoint.

I was about 14 when I determined I didn't believe (have evidence for) god(s) but I have, in the last four years, not been able to shake my existential nihilism. 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?

I think your path is similar to mine; although, you appear to have embraced nihilism much earlier than me. Come to think of it I started reading Nietzsche at around 14 (which was way too early). Anyway, I do believe there is a pleasant sense of freedom with nihilism and also a kind of dignity in defiantly facing the darkness. So you need not embrace Camus's dilemma in the "Myth of Sisyphus." As someone biologically prone to depression, that plus a Existentialism can be a deadly combination. Just be aware that Camus, Sartre, and Nietzsche lived to ripe old ages. All atheists, they said "Yes" to life and so can you.

As for me, I think nihilism is the logical conclusion of atheism. There may be some kind of way to reconcile a godless world and transcendent purpose but as for me I have found none forthcoming. In the end, you may decide to embrace the angst or you may choose as I did to look elsewhere, as I described here: My Path

[Mister Agenda]

In a million years it won't make much difference whether I ever was. But it doesn't make any difference now that I won't matter in a million years. 'Mattering' is something that only makes sense if there's someone to care. If I'm some kind of ghost in a million years, I have trouble imagining what would make my present life more meaningless than it being a mere prelude to a never-ending existence, and my first 75 years less than on ten-thousandth of it. Then there's the next million, the next billion, the next trillion, and so on.

A prolonged healthy life sounds good to me. I might enjoy living for centuries under those circumstances. But forever? What would be the point of it? My life is a narrative, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Without the end, it's incomplete.

[bennyboy]

A prolonged healthy life sounds good to me. I might enjoy living for centuries under those circumstances. But forever? What would be the point of it? My life is a narrative, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Without the end, it's incomplete.

I think living forever sounds good, so long as there is infinite variety in experience to allow me to enjoy it.

I can't see how that could be the case, though-- I think eventually you'd start getting the "meta-experience"-- the experience that connects all the variety, and then it would fail to be fresh even with a lot of new details.