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

by Robert Pantano

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.

“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.

At the base of almost everything, the resulting truth is this: we don’t know. When we disregard this unknowingness, we can easily become disinterested, uninspired, and worn out of this life. We can put great stress on things that perhaps don’t matter all that much and neglect experiences and things that do. We can feel the pressure and anxiety of chasing perfection and certainty, which do not exist.

“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence,” said twentieth-century American-British philosopher Alan Watts.

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.

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.

Albert Einstein wrote: A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true [religiosity]. Not to nourish it but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.

In the words of Kahlil Gibran, from his poem, On Freedom: At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom, Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them. Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff. And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfilment. . . . In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes.

There is in fact no one-size-fits-all prescription or cheat-sheet or instruction manual to life, and there is likely no ultimate circumstance, idea, or thing that will make life’s uncertainty, pain, and chaos go away. Realizing and accepting this is the first step.

the following step is to realize that this permits us to no longer be subservient to some specific grand meaning or template of life, that we don’t have to discover or join in on someone else’s ultimate answer or way of living, nor should we live in hopes of some future ideal or afterlife. 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.

In 1829, he was ordained into Boston’s Second Church and would spend the following three years or so as a pastor. During this time, however, Emerson would find an increasing sense of detachment from and disagreement with traditional religious orthodoxy. Specifically, he found that contemporary Christianity countered and sedated the very essence of human spirituality that it was supposed to inspire.

In all cases, this sort of self-realization requires an effort of radical self-acceptance; and radical self-acceptance requires an effort of radical self-honesty. In order to actively move deeper into the psyche, each time one examines a personal feeling, thought, or action, one must attempt to do so by accepting the complete and potentially undesirable truth of what it indicates about them—that they are not always who they think or hope they are. Each of these capitalized-upon opportunities, personal or professional, is like a small step down the stairwell into the unconscious. As one goes further down, as they confront these deeper and darker elements of their being hidden in the basement, they must, in Jungian terms, work to integrate their shadow—the full breadth of their potential faults and wickedness—as opposed to rush back up the stairs in denial. One’s shadow does not disappear by looking away from it.

Although self-acceptance and authenticity is perhaps simple and obvious-enough sounding, the act of actually working toward radical self-acceptance and individuation is, of course, far from simple and obvious. In the absolute sense, it is almost certainly impossible. In the above average sense, it is still perhaps life’s greatest and most difficult endeavor. To truly and honestly accept your weaknesses, potential evils, and shameful or unpopular interests and qualities, to admit that what you see, fear, or hate in others is or could be inside of you, to admit to yourself that you are not and will never be completely who you think you are and want to be, that you are not as virtuous as you had hoped, and to confront what your mind has worked a lifetime to keep from itself, is a task that shakes the very core of the psyche. However, it is perhaps proportionally essential for a fulfilled and complete life.