The Art of Living a Meaningless Existence: Ideas from Philosophy That Change the Way You Think

by Robert Pantano

It is these questions that we find at the bottom of philosophy and at the top of the descent into meaninglessness—a descent that we must arguably make, because if we have already explored any of these questions or intuitions, we have already begun down this path, and it is too late to turn around and unknow

Nineteenth-century writer Henry David Thoreau wrote: My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to commune with the spirit of the universe, to be intoxicated with the fumes, call it, of that divine nectar, to bear my head through atmospheres and over heights unknown to my feet, is perennial and constant.

In truth, no matter what we think we know, we are probably wrong, and no matter what anyone else thinks they know, they are probably wrong. No one knows what’s going on in any fundamental sense. Nothing about this life is simple or clear, and from the perspective of the stars, nothing down here on earth—including us—matters all that much to anything beyond itself. Paradoxically, in this, we find great opportunity for wisdom, humility, exploration, and profound experience in our lives. “Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough,” said renowned theoretical physicist Richard Feynman.

As if to say, I’d love to marvel at and enjoy this work of art I’ve created, the universe gave itself humanity.

Would a game where the rules always work in the players favor even be a game at all?

Is it fair to compare life to a game?

What experience would there be to have? To give up on life entirely would be like refusing to play a game because we lose sometimes, as if the game would even be worth playing if we knew we were going to win every time we played. There is courage in facing the realities of pessimism and there is strength to be formed in its name. We must be pessimistic about life’s conditions in order to face their realities, but we must also be optimistic about our ability to face their realities and form strength, meaning, and experience through them.

Both pessimism and optimism build strength

They respond not only with resistance but also violence, hostile to his attempt to challenge their beliefs and encourage a new, improved knowledge of the world.

Response to Socrates' philosophy

Perhaps there are no ultimate answers in philosophy, perhaps there never will be, but there are no ultimate answers in music, in art, in a beautiful landscape, or in a conversation with a friend, and yet, I know of no one who does not find value, insight, love, and solace in all of these things.

Central to Taoism is the idea that everything is in a continual state of flux, ceaselessly changing and adapting. Thus, no single idea or thing is to be attached to. Nothing is to be forced in or out of place. All is to be permitted to run its natural course, subject to the one, constant, unchanging truth: everything changes.

The First Noble Truth is that life is fundamentally suffering. No matter who or what they are, all living things are bound and connected by this intrinsic existential quality of suffering, in its broadest sense. The Second Noble Truth argues that this suffering is a consequence of our desires and attachments. The third truth, in a revolutionary way of thinking for its time, goes on to claim that since suffering is a product of attachment and desire, one can personally overcome and end suffering by eliminating or recalibrating one’s desires and

attachments. The fourth and final Noble Truth contains the steps Buddha believed were necessary to do so. This collection of steps would be named the Noble Eightfold Path, also often referred to as the Middle Way.

bringing the spiritual down into the hands of the pragmatic, everyday person.

it is to be experienced from the perspective of a passenger, flowing with it, and avoiding attachment to things within it that might make one stuck or rigid.

processing them. You are the mind that

No matter what task we undertake, we will do it wastefully if we assume that anything beyond the task itself will provide anything better than the experience of focus and presence in the task.

But of course, after a point, worrying about the future, the unknown, and the potential for things to go wrong is nothing but a useless handicap.

Even if you end up facing the worst-case scenario, you would likely still be some form of ok. The ingredients of your being that have gotten you where you are, that have given you what you’ve experienced, will still remain. To paraphrase the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero, while one still breathes, one still has hope. At least, in some form.

Because, in truth, there is likely no heroic, ultimate defeat of worry, but only small, mini victories, moment to moment, along the way.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, most commonly referred to as just Seneca, is recognized as one of the forefathers of Stoic philosophy.

senator is mentioned several times before in the text- why does the author decide to introduce him now?

The following essays cover ideas and philosophers that have helped me, and hopefully might help you, by pointing to the value in the difficulties and sufferings of life, not by denying them, but rather, by accepting and facing up to them.

This is perhaps one of, if not the greatest contemporary issue of humankind—finding motivation and a sense of meaning in a period of time in which existence has revealed itself to be, or at least appears to be, meaningless.

Rather, we should attempt to follow our own barometers of meaning and believe in the only thing we have any evidence to believe in at all: ourselves and our relationship with this little sliver of time and space.

Since the Will has no aim or purpose other than its perpetual continuation, then the Will can never be satisfied. And since we are expressions of it, neither can we. Thus, we are driven to consume beings, things, ideas, goals, circumstances, and all the rest, constantly hoping that we will feel satisfaction or happiness as a result, while constantly being left in the wake of each achievement unsatisfied.