what you make of it
2024-07-29_0
I write this blog post as a way to refute a post I wrote years ago. Although I fundamentally disagree with most of that post now, I do not regret writing it because those ideas were what felt right to me back then. Now, two and a half years after publishing that post, my ideas on the topic have matured into more concrete thoughts. My new thoughts on the subject matter are the result of reading a lot of prominent existentialist thinkers and living through two very formative years full of experiences. So, what is it about that post that I dislike so much now? Let's go bit by bit.
I wish I knew the answer to [why we are here]. -perfectn0ir, 2022-01-07
Do we really want to know that answer? I'm not too sure. Although it may seem like knowing these answers would benefit us by giving us a clearer path to follow, these answers would also significantly restrict our lives into said path. If we always knew which path to follow, are we really living? In my opinion, the strive for meaning is infinitely more rewarding and important than the meaning itself--it's how we exercise our free will and authenticity. Back when I wrote the aforementioned post, I thought that finding the meaning of life would be the solution to all my problems. And despite the fact that I never found the silver bullet I was looking for, I was still able to take responsibility and start living the way I wanted to live, by making conscious, authentic decisions.
Now I see meaning as something with fluid properties. After all, our lives are constantly changing, so why shouldn't meaning constantly change too? -perfectn0ir, 2022-01-07
I still agree with this. Meaning, what ever it may be for me or you is at constant flux. What may be meaningful today may be overturned tomorrow, which is why it is so important to remain authentic to oneself. Once our understanding of meaning changes, one should follow their ownmost possibilities and move ahead towards other more relevant sources of meaning. Remaining authentic is key.
Personally, I believe that the idea of free will is false. I think that we are prisoners to our brains. So if everything was determined billions of years before we were born, why are we here then? -perfectn0ir, 2022-01-07
That whole paragraph is terrible. Even though I disagree with the opinion today, I can respect it when it is well defended. I can't respect such awful delivery. After reading so many different perspectives to the debate of free will, I believe that we do have free will. My main argument for having free will is that it feels like we have free will, for example, my hand only lifting when I decide to lift it. And we not only feel like we have free will, we also assume it into our lives. Take for instance a court of law. When someone is being tried for a crime, we assume they were able to act otherwise. If we don't have free will, then there is no point for the judicial system, since the defendant could just say that they were not responsible for their action.
TL;DR, >tfw life is what you make of it
Appendix:
Here are some of the books I felt were good in informing my opinions on the subject matter:
- The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche
- On the Genealogy of Morality by Friedrich Nietzsche
- Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre
- Being and Time by Martin Heidegger