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Comment by gbuk2013 | Hacker News Reader

gbuk2013

Life does not ask “why?”, it only asks “how?”. Just enjoy being alive! :)

Looking too hard for meaning, even if you zoom out a little to the context of our solar system is a sure way of getting depressed.

The meaning of life is to experience life, in all that it has to offer.

If you have made your arrangements well, then your job is a part of that. Otherwise, at the very least, it is what you need to do to survive at whatever level of comfort you need - don’t knock it, it’s not a small thing!

From experience, this “dark place” is entirely self-manufactured by your own mind that is not taking instructions from you. Working to address that is he way out.

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>From experience, this “dark place” is entirely >self-manufactured by your own mind that is not taking >instructions from you. Working to address that is the >way out.

This is a frustrating belief I have come up against time after time from people who cannot seem to understand that their experience isn't everyone's. Most people I know who live in the dark place have plenty of valid external reasons. I know I do. While my mental state can be influenced by attitude to one degree or another, the root cause are entirely NOT self-manufactured. This is a real problem seeking any sort of care for it since people believe as you have stated either from their own experience of "getting better" from nothing but an attitude or primary situational depression etc, or because others have told them so. It's a universal complaint from those I know who have real issues.

> This is a frustrating belief

It is not a belief. It is a realisation that came from 15 years of inner work, for which I literally travelled the world.

But if you want to play the victim and wallow is self pity that is your right - it is your life to live as you please. For me, I was done with that shit a long time ago and chose to do something about it.

That said, I would never claim that it is an easy thing to do. I also realise that some people’s physical circumstances may make this more difficult still - I am very grateful that I have been spared these extra difficulties.

> the root cause are entirely NOT self-manufactured

Unless there is a way someone can beam thoughts into your head, or inject chemicals into you, or mess with electrical circuitry in your brain, what you think and feel is entirely self manufactured within your own body. It is simply your own inability to control your compulsive responses to external stimuli that is causing the problem for you.

> Just enjoy being alive! :)

Telling this is like telling "Just believe in God". Both would be solutions, if it was that simple to format human minds.

Nowadays, the highest rate of suicides is no longer among the young men. In Western countries, the maximum rate is for elder people (65+). Another (correlated) change of demography is that women are much more prone to suicide then a century ago. To these old people that feel that their life is behind them, that they have seen enough of the world so they don't expect anything really new, that their joys have dulled with repetition, is there a universal way to enchant their lives again? I doubt it. Some people will feel dampened at 80, some at 40, and others never will. This can certainly be mitigated, but probably not much.

> Telling this is like telling "Just believe in God".

It is nothing like it. Believing or disbelieving actually means you don’t know, but are not accepting it as that.

If you know something it is useful, if you admit that you don’t know something it is a possibility for knowing, so it is also useful. Belief and disbelief have no such usefulness - it’s just forming an opinion based on what you don’t know. Basically, it’s bullshit.

As for the mind, it’s similar to the body in that it can be trained. It’s not easy but plenty of people have managed. But if you don’t work on it it will never happen. If you wait until your are 60 to start then you will need to do a lot more work.

Nobody can “enchant” your life except for you. If you are willing to put in the effort there are plenty of tools available, after all this problem is as old as humanity. But it is your responsibility to fix your own life.

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