Life isn't meaningless, the question is.
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- Опубліковано 15 лис 2024
- Patreon: / angelosomers
Free discord server: / discord
22-year-old kid convinces himself he's discovered the meaning of life
Jokes aside, this video is two things: firstly, an attempt at explicating the perspective that developed in me in place of my nihilism once the latter ended, and secondly, a thought experiment about how the conversation would go if a human was able to ask the meaning of existence to existence itself.
The video took a long time to make, but the analogy of the tapestry gripped me, and I really wanted to do it justice. The most dangerous illnesses are the ones you don't know that you have, and I think nihilism has clung to my generation as a host without us even being aware of its presence. The consequences of that are already evident. So, I wanted to make a video to maybe counteract some of those undercurrents as much as possible for whoever the algorithm dishes it up to.
If you act as if you are seeing through everyone's eyes, just not all at once, in the same way you see through your own eyes, but not at all moments in time, then you realise how relevant you are, and it also provides the basis for a morality that holds water. I also happen to believe that it's ontologically true (Dr. Donald Hoffman has some good stuff on this from a scientific lens).
In my view, the more you act as if that is the case, the more meaningful life becomes, because its not life that's meaningless, it's the question; it can't all mean something else.
Channel overview:
A few years ago, I was stuck in bed, hating the universe for subjecting me to the 'sick and twisted game of life' without my consent. I was pathetic.
It was only after I realized something very important that things began getting better... life didn't suck; I did.
In the absence of friction, my mind was conjuring its own, so life was hard, yes, but it didn't have to be. The suffering was unnecessary. After a few years of incremental progress, I'm having the time of my life. I've never been in better shape, my mind has never been sharper, I've never experienced so much happiness, and it's all rooted in a deep sense of meaning that was once absent.
I had to shake myself of lots of old beliefs and patterns to get to where I am, and I believe there are millions of other people who feel stuck and could learn from my mistakes. So that's why I'm starting this channel: to share some of the insights that formed the foundation of the psychological habitat I now occupy.
I don't know exactly how the channel will develop but I'm going to start by posting my raw ideas as that's the only thing I can consistently do at this point in time.
I hope it helps!
Socials:
Instagram: @angelo.somers
twitter: @angelo_somers
SYNCID: MB01FCZDUTRVAXP
"You're looking for a linear answer to a circular question" that part helped me
Not everyday you find something that completely blows your mind and changes your perspective on reality. Good stuff.
„But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing, or to dance while the music was being played.“ Alan Watts
.
What???😂
"Life, as one looks at it, is in fact a celebration of itself. When you look out at night at the stars and you really wonder 'good god, what is all that about?' well, it's a firework display, and it's celebrating high holy day. That's whoopee. And the whole world is whoopee, it's a kind of exuberance.
Therefore the proper function of religion is diggingness. It's not seeking, not seeking anything. But in a way, Thanksgiving."
-Alan Watts, Trusting The Universe
My absolute favorite Alan Watts lecture always gives me what I need in life when I need it most. If I ever had faith in anything, it's that fact.
Eventually it all comes down to itself again. You're just a being experiencing the world. No matter if you are thankful, happy, angry or hateful. You can experience life however you wish to experience it. And this will be different for other beings. For us it could be happiness, for another it could be someone else's suffering. Even though it sounds weird this is what it is. Whatever you want to do or whatever meaning you create is what the world will be for you. And that counts for everything.
If you want to be famous, do it already
No 'trailer' before the video and no commercial breaks.
Just pure artistry, substance and food for thought.
This is the UA-cam I log in for.
toast
Well, I got a midroll ad, and it terribly messed up the flow, a shame monetary value means more to them than enlightenment.
Ads at 9:00
@@St1ckY72beware any so-called enlightened individual who shares wisdom for personal gain
I had an ad shoved in there
Exurb1a vibes, great work 🫡
Fax
Now we have a place to go while waiting for hime to release a new video
I thought the same
"You are the universe experiencing itself"
SHUT UP
The Tapestry, Faith vs UnFaith... What tasty concepts! Time for a rewatch or two 👌
@@steveconcha7691 thanks! Watch time really helps the algorithm push the channel :)
So basically what I got from this is that to find a sense of meaning in life is to stop looking for it because you then miss the moment, the very experience containing the meaning. Definitely gotta rewatch this to make sure I fully understand it, but great video dude!
Your purpose is what you choose to make it. So, be!
@@PlagueGuy not really. Your mother smoked meth while you were in the womb, and gave birth to you with mental defects. You cannot speak properly, and you need assistance to function in society for you cannot on your own. Did they choose that?
@@PlagueGuy Its the easiest thing in the world for someone with all limbs and a perfectly functioning and developed mind to make such claims. But to all of those who dont....well. Seems a foolish claim then now doesnt it?
Exactly the opposite 😂
@@Имя-о9ъ Want to have an actual discourse or you just gonna be a bitch. Intellectual or Hateful....you choose.
I think the question of meaning is a coping mechanism for a person that doesn't believe they can have a happy life. If I can't be happy, I at least want to know what I'm suffering for. If I can't even have that, then life is just pain. But if you could live happy, you wouldn't need to ask why. And if you could even die fulfilled, you wouldn't fear death either.
Yeasss ❤❤❤
I think you've missed the point. You are in control of your own tapestry; you can shape your own perspective, how you see the world, what you get from it.
If you're truly unhappy, what's stopping you from trying to improve your existence in that moment? Would those incremental improvements drastically change your life? Can you be happy if you start working for it?
It's all based on your circumstances and decisions. But they are YOURS, no one else's. Fundamentally being happy or unhappy is a choice. And the choice is yours.
@@TADMonty That was the point I was making; that rather than seek meaning in a painful life, you should make your life happy and avoid the question altogether. After all, giving meaning to your pain won't make you happy either, hence why the question of meaning is meaningless, as the video essay argues.
@@TADMonty haha thats a nice thought 🥰 but let me correct it a bit
Having any desires even if that desire is to attain happiness is going to make you unhappy!
As buddhist figured it out: "From craving springs grief, from craving springs fear; for him who is wholly free from craving, there is no grief, much less fear." (Dhammapada 216)
Craving (including the desire to change things) often leads to frustration, attachment, and ultimately suffering.
So your desire to change and control things is ultimately going to lead to suffering and you being unhappy 😊
What you should instead focus on doing is letting go! And not trying to hold on.
An important thing to point out is also that happiness comes naturally and is not based on anything. If you are free from suffering there is no other state for you to be in but to be happy 🥰❤️
And change in itself is not bad 😌 just the desire to change ...
Hope this helps ❤️❤️
@yuro-h7m just a small correction ☺️ you shouldn't "make" anything... just let things happen without controlling it ... the happiness comes naturally from that ❤️
@@1bertoncelj I don't know why I in some way agree on this, but I have a fundamently different approach. Desire can lead to suffering but often prevents it. I also think leaving all your desires behind would be a boring state. I think going in the direction of this state may be helpful, so maybe the whole point is to go in this direction slowly and firstly lose your desire to attain a state of no desires. Maybe attaining it through refusing desirable things for something you yourself value more and attaining desirable things you where scared of, or choose not to do since you didn't believe in yourself is the better way. The goals you are afraid of or don't try to achieve are mostly the important ones. Thought I am also a big fan of being able to let go and letting change come to me. But that change mostly comes in the form of new or changed desires. Maybe I just can't really picture a state without desires, since when I feel the most drained of desires, I in some way desire desires and comfort.
I don't know if my comment had any point but well that are my thoughts on this...
This perfectly articulates my philosophy. You have somehow combined so many ways of explaining this nature of existence into one.
Almost like... A tapestry
That "what's it all for?" part helped me a lot. When we ask that question we're looking for something outside of "it all". But "it all" is all that exists. So now it becomes obvious how little sense the question makes.
It's like asking find me a needle outside a haystack but as soon as it's discovered the haystack expands to contain the needle and now that needle is not outside and hence you're back where you started.
Or like alan watts used to say, it's like trying to touch the tip of your finger with the tip of that finger.
Exactly! that's the point. You can't find something, if you don't even know what you're looking for
Existence is because it exists. All things that exist now will not in the far future. You exist simply because you do. So yes it all ends. But right now. You matter to someone. You impact peoples lives. Your friends, family, co-workers. You impact them all. The meaning of your life? Who says there is one? The meaning to your life is what you decide to make it.
We are life. We're the meaning. We're the universe being, wearing masks to experience ourself. The meaning is to be. Like the tao, who we are and our existence will never be able to be described. We just are. We are .
Strings being woven, the happening of existence is painting the greatest painting ever made, and that is the point. Marvelous. One of the best things I've ever watched.
Damn, that tapestry metaphor hit me hard
Man, those are the best videos I have seen in a while, thank you. I lost almost all hope and your really helped
A question that leaves you NowHere. Afterall, NoThing matters, and what does, is immaterial.
Great essay.
A wonderful dialogue to clearly show a shrouded path. Wonderful video. I like how it dips its toes into the fact that everyone is one because we are all the universe. I fell onto that realization 2 years ago. Very enlightened video.
I'll have to watch this at least 5 more times before I start to understand it but what I'll say for now is this...
Wow. Angelo this is incredible beyond description. I honestly think you've created a new art from. Dead serious. I can't describe the impact these videos have... thank you for what you do bro. Life changing concepts bro. You have something more than talent my dude. By the end of your life... or, your thread of existence... I think your name may sit alongside some of the greatest in history.
This was a profound experience that touched the strings of sadness, beauty and that relentless search for that fading meaning in my heart. Thank you for bringing this into existence...
eternally grateful for such sincerely thought provoking, lovely, inspirational truths. wow.
I can't thank you enough for creating & sharing this. liked, shared, & subbed - thank you
You're so wise beyond your years... i found your channel 2 if not 3 months ago. Your content keeps evolving, and you dont post to fit in... keep it up bro.. fully supporting you
Big love bro thank you 🙏
This is nuts! I really needed that 🙏🙏🙏
Keep preaching my brothers! We will get this knowledge to the mainstream one day!
This almost perfectly presents an idea I have been trying to communicate thank you.
you made some good points like we need meaning to justify suffering and some poor points like beginning is accidental (its not its just uncertain)
you are not perfect and its ok
I hope you keep improving and we as viewers become joyful the better your videos get ❤
Respect to you my man. I'm glad you're doing these videos and I'm glad that I found you. I'm still having trouble comprehending your video but, maybe a second watch will help. Much love ❤
@@John-du5kr thanks man
This was simply Beautiful. Almost had me in tears. 🥰 And gave me a new way to think and question problems. ❤❤❤
Why do people think that life being meaningless is dark? It’s okay that there’s no meaning, you can still enjoy things
It probably just breaks their world view to a point where it gets really scary, because they’ve been basing their thoughts and decisions and stuff on that world view that is being broken. So it turns into a thought of “what was I even basing my decisions and thoughts on?”
God danm Angelo this some deep sh!t. I love it, great work man.
alright another boost to bring back motivation to my life for the next few months, jokes aside, it was a very good and interesting video, thanks for you effort
This is a masterpiece. One of the best videos I've ever watched on UA-cam. The dialogue, the images, the analogies... Everything.
14:07 thats not logically correct, here is why: To conclude that the Laws of Physics are intelligent, you would need to demonstrate a direct causal or definitional link between intelligence and the Laws of Physics. But the premises here only establish that:
You possess intelligence.
You are governed by the Laws of Physics.
This does not imply that the Laws of Physics themselves possess intelligence. Instead, what this argument actually suggests is:
You are intelligent and you follow the Laws of Physics, which simply govern your behavior and the behavior of all matter.
The Laws of Physics do not gain attributes of entities (like you) that they govern; they remain neutral rules that dictate physical processes without "thinking" or "awareness."
Analogy to Clarify
Consider a similar argument:
Premise 1: "A cat is agile."
Premise 2: "A cat is subject to the Law of Gravity."
Conclusion: "The Law of Gravity is agile."
I do believe the premise of the statement was that we are a direct result of the laws of physics not that we are simply governed by it. The law of gravity did not only make the cat agile it made the cat able to be without gravity every bit of matter would just disperse.
So its not
Human=Intelligence, Human has to obey Physics therefore Physics=intelligent.
Its
Physics=Intelligence, therefore Intelligence=Physics
This seems logical to me or did I misunderstand your comment.
Also correct me if I'm wrong but we have yet to discover a single thing that falls outside of the laws of physics that we can observe, that isn't hypothetical.
I think it’s also important to define what exactly we mean by intelligence. Personally, i’d attribute it to a conscious will to live. DNA, or whatever is the driving force behind evolution and control, is intelligence.
The question i still ask however, and i don’t think is a stupid one, is where did that come from? Or has that always been here? The origin of a thing is a part of its nature, and is an important question to ask if you see to truly understand it. Not even using God as an answer truly satisfies that question, because then what created God? If it’s always been, or created itself, then why couldn’t that just be the case for the universe as we know it without “god” as a part of the equation?
If intelligence is synonymous with consciousness in this context, and "the laws of physics" are a stand in for the logic underpinning and dictating the interactions of the universe, I would argue that the laws of physics are intelligent. In the same way Adam's brain is intelligent (being that it only dictates the way his consciousness behaves), if fundamental logic dictates the way a universal consciousness behaves then those laws are the part that are intelligent. This is under the assumption that there exists a "weaver" as outlined in the video.
🎉
intelligence is a construct created by the human mind.
even a construct is a construct also made up by the human mind.
the human mind follows the laws of physics, it is not able to break it, because it simply is physics, there is nothing to break.
the human mind is physics, the human mind created the construct of a construct that it called intelligence.
therefor physics created a construct of a construct that it called intelligence.
Everything is physics, therefor physics is everything, even "intelligence".
I've been saying stuff like this forever. people always say "oh life is meaningless because in a million years I'll be forgotten" but like.. that holds no relevance to you. just find value in the present moment live life how you want to
Just found your channel, great job! Reminds me the early days of Aperture but with a fresh take. Keep going you have a bright future infront of you !
im saying this without any exaggeration. this has to be the most life changing piece of content out there. what a beautiful perspective to look from. thank you
Idk what else you may have released, but you have a new sub in me. Thanks, for this fresh perspective. Every now and again i need a new angle to glance upon the beauty of life, lest i grow dull and irritated.
I am 5 minutes in and I just want to say, you are articulating what I searched for since I was 16. I’m 27 now. My search has come to an end. DO NOT TAKE THIS VIDEO LIGHTLY
This is lovely. Thank you for sharing.
Pfft, shut up im not crying, YOU ARE!
In all seriousness, this video is beautiful. Not even joking when I say ive been having very negative thoughts lately and this video brought me a little peace in believing that maybe i dont have to listen to my head all the time and i can just enjoy the moment, even if the moment itself is difficult to enjoy.
Thank you!
If you are everyone, then in knowing your intentions are good, the same can be true of 'others'.
Good job on this video, it's probably one of my favorites that slices right through existential angst and dread.
Great writing, friend! I'm glad UA-cam recommended this to me. Subscribed.
thank you man!!
bro thinks he's exurb1a (nice try diddy)
that being said, fantastic video. I think you sir, just gained yourself a subscriber! I really liked the idea of asking the question of "what's it all for" being inherently circular. This really helped me put the whole ordeal to the side. Thank you.
Wonderful!
I'm sharing this to the Church of Madness. Amazing reasoning, perfect logic and philosophy!
huge compliment, thanks brother
.... the laws of physics thing kinda spoiled the whole thing for me. Kinda sidestepped the whole question.
The laws of physics lack personhood. They cannot be intelligent because they do not think in the first place. Which is the point Adam was getting at, isn't it. The laws of physics are not a substitue for God, because God (were one to exist) would be capable of conteplating the portrait being discussed. The laws of physics cannot be embodied that way, and so are not an answer to the topic being discussed. If we were to discuss the meaning of basketball, we could not say the laws of basketball are contemplating itself, because rhe laws do not exist. They are a description of the rules that are obeyed. Pointing out that there are players that exist within the rules wo can contemplate the existance of basketball dosen't grant the laws of basketball thr ability to contemplate themselves. Its a nonsequitor.
This is the most Jewish thing ever... at least by my accounting.
Beautifully done. One of the best videos on youtube. Thank you for creating this.
Okay. Haven't seen that coming, when UA-cam recommended me this.
Watched multiple times. I’ve now ascended. This is great work!
This is one of the best examples of storytelling I've ever encountered, and I happen to have read a few books. Keep it up!
@@wojtek987 wow, thank you big time 🙏🙏
I really like the circular answer analogy and i recognize it in my own self constructed thoughts on life so thank you for improving my explanation of life
Happy for you man, your getting really good at this, and your making a difference 🙏
This is the exact message of the Hitchhikers Guide. The answer to life is 42, a solid definite response, but the actual question is never defined.
ahhh i'll have to check it out
Damm you really fumbled me with the second part of the video :/// some Poetic portrait that tries to give some narrative
yeah a non-linear narrative that's reflective of the nature of existence and reality, self-portrait get's that across i think
@@AngeloSomers for me it make some nice visual painting on some ideology of faith into concept that we are all one
Beautifully expressed. Thank you. It's always a pleasure to stumble upon like-minded humans. Very nicely put together and wonderful artistry.
We are one. You. Me. I am.
Angelo, the universe creating a self-portrait. The tapestry is the weaver giving birth to itself. I need to extract the meaning from every sentence but it's impossible and the whole video is interesting to listen to. I should come back here later
"If you crave some cosmic purpose, the find yourself a worthy goal." - Carl Sagan
see, i beleive we are made to just to be. to have our own story. find a passion, pursue something that has a meaning to us. i dont beleive we have a divinely chosen purpose or anything. we are the writer of our own book. we create our own story because its our life. just like everything and everyone else in nature, we are meant to be. that is the answer i have to the crowd that always says "what are we made for?''
Absolutely. Every time I see someone all hung up on the meaning of things I just want to make them see that entire endeavor is made up by them.
2:52 was just beautiful
Very good, timing is impeccable.
Hey, I'm also 22
I really needed this to get through my week
One is not special... What you are is significant.
This is the best video you’ve made and the best I’ve watched in a while.
That’s absolutely beautiful. ❤
Why questions have 4 types of answers
1) what is it made of
2) how does it work
3) what's its history
4) how's it good for your future
Each of these depends on the prior category:
Nothing can be good for you without having a history
Nothing can have history without working a certain way
Nothing can work a certain way without being made of something
The world:
1) Made of Possibility
2) Works according to Logic
3) Universes are Mathematical Structures
4) Adaptation is Good
This reminds me of the short story The Egg, by Andy Weir
You can view God or the lack thereof in two perspectives. Either Heaven (love) or Hell (hatred). If you have Heavenly faith, you seek to live life to a list of morals & virtues which is through the act of love. If you have Hellish faith, you seek to live life to a lack of morals & virtues which is through the act of hatred. Seek adversity and be loved as a King or Emperor, or shy away from adversity and be hated as a Tyrant or Dictator. Do what is best / do what is worse. Heaven and Hell is a mindset, not physical planes of existence.
It’s interesting the hints at the Bible, “I am” and “Adam” as well as toying with ideas of faith in nothing. I’m glad I’ve found what to place my faith in, and it’s definitely not nothing
The meaning to life is in the conscious experience of sentient beings. Feeling bad or not feeling bad. That’s the truth
About the tapestry: yeah humans become social entities when they unite. Each homo sapien is a cell in a social organism, and those organisms combine civilizations, and evolution of matter of the universe from dead to living and thinking goes even further.
The Story Of Jerry comes to mind here, your life is determined by your choices, how you CHOOSE to be.
You got to ask ̶y̶̶o̶̶u̶̶r̶̶s̶̶e̶̶l̶̶f̶ your point
What's the p̸o̸i̸n̸t̸ self in it all.
"In Itself, is it awe?"
Yah, now you're onto something.
Thank you for this 🙏
I like the combination with bits of melody sheeps vids
yeah his vids are great and pertinent to the topic (id never be able to create those 3d renders myself hahah)
The point of life I've found for myself is... To be better than the rest of them in my life time, so others may be better than me at my peak. Allowing me to inspire new idea's and beliefs, making my life more meaningful to myself and those in my life time.
this is cool
I love the strings metaphor. We are now tying up the middle part of the strings but we get scared realizing that the strings have loose ends.
We are happenings.We just happen and the things uou do today wouldnt be relevant a million years later
Our strings intertwine with other strings creating a tapestry. So we can't see the meaning of the entire tapestry but just our strings... Wow
The Mystery examined reveals the MyStory.
Angelo you are a really mind opening person. I love the fresh air. But i feel so stuck sience years and i fight and fight but i cant get forward like in a bad dream.
Had to pause several times to let the words sink in and ruminate on what I just heard!
Almost lost my patience waiting for a new video. Always a pleasure 😂
Shivers.
Put into words elegantly the fleeting and seemingly impossible to remember things one sees when on mushrooms.
It’s a good effort, but I think it makes some strange leaps and presents them as powerful realizations.
Just to give you an example:
1- You are intelligent
2- You follow the laws of physics
-Therefore the laws of physics are intelligent.
That is absurd sophysm. Intelligence is an emergent property of matter arranged in a specific way.
Is a stone intelligent? It follows the laws of physics…
Absolute cinema 🖐️😐🤚
my atoms shall exist on in my consciousnesses absence
Thank you, blessed are the lucid ones.
It's been long I heard something new like this
huge compliment
I can't believe these channels still work. Everything bad that happens to me in life is my fault because I could just get my lazy ass to a store buy a mic and make self improvement content and get like 50k a year
This guy averages 100k on a good video which is probably around 500$ to 2k so you’d have to make between 100 and 25 videos of that quality a year.
accurate
Well a beautiful point of view indeed but I wonder what am I supposed to do with the life that I am given
Woah this video is just epic! Keep going Angelo 👏
the purpose of life is the action every single living creature is doing, pleasure.
Wild vid. Good work!
What's the background music?
Love the video's mate!
you inspire me thank you
too many tapestries, my interest has unraveled
I have to read the guide series again
“It’s accidents all the way back” 😂 I can’t understand how could you convince yourself to believe such thing
Easy. Naturalism.
I mean it pretty accurately explains your existence, so why is it a leap to think other things aren't the same?
@@nikobaehr3638 I don’t know what do you mean exactly but the thing is that I don’t reject any of them. But it’s hard for me to call them accidents. It’s like saying all of this came by some magical chance into perfection, no intelligence behind it whatsoever it just time. Do you get what im trying to say?
By discovering for instance the big bang, we found the how not the why.
@emdlo Intelligent design is magical thinking. Nothing about Existence requires invoking magic.
@ it’s not a magical thinking it’s rational and necessity to exist unless you want to blind yourself and believe everything we know came from nothing and formed by laws that came from nothing too but managed to get things working out, then you’re free.
The universe has a start, its birth is an action and as we can agree every action must have a cause. Without a first cause nothing will come to existence, if you didn’t push the first domino piece the other ones will not fall.
And as we know how big the amount of energy that was in the singularity, a weak non conscious being can’t handle that and can’t create any laws to prevent it from collapsing in fractions of seconds.
In another words there’s a god and there are no accidents it’s all a big intelligent design, as albert einstein said “god does not play dice”.
Defiance.
The purpose of life is defiance.
We create for the sake of creation.
We destroy for the sake of destruction.
We live and die as a ritual to defy nothingness.
We do it all without even knowing.
The ultimate enemy is the void of unmaking.
You are the universe experiencing itself. Ignoring the absolute wonder that is reality to seek something greater is arrogant and egotistical. You are looking for some greater to experience. You expect something greater. Realize your insignificance is the grand scheme of things then realize the absolute privilege to be able to experience this fragile and fleeting existence.
Life is meaningless like the empty pages of a book are meaningless. But it's also the space in which great creation happens. You are a line in that book. And that line is a book onto it's own. How you write your story is how you write your line in the great book. You can leave it vacant if you want. You can smudge it dark. Or you can be a line that changes the story afterwards.
Everything you do ripples out from you. The things you do can be so insignificant that those ripples don't carry far. This is the standard. Not a failure. Yes you are the main character but the main character doesn't start on the throne with everything going for him. He starts right where he's at at that exact moment. You can only work with where you are and what you got. Investigate your insecurities and you'll find gold.
I needed this thank you