hmmm.... This video disturbs me. As it lightly touches upon what I've been devoting my thoughts to for the past few months.

As the video mentions (Sam Harris is a great speaker by the way), we are stuck in the "now". And that the past and future are merely thoughts. But rather, in terms of physics they actually exist, but regardless we are now.

However, acting in the now may cause unfortunate circumstances in the future. Acting for the future may cause unfortunate circumstances in the now. And either way, (as he mentions) we are going to die anyway.

This leads to my problem. There's no point to anything. The video seemingly "mocks" the debates on controversial topics or paying attention to celebrities, but isn't "important" stuff really just as pointless and unimportant?

With both the "unimportant" and "important" stuff being ultimately pointless and unimportant, what is there? Pleasure in the current moment? But ultimately it makes no difference, and the end is coming, but why drag it out?

But then we get the opposite side of the coin. What's the point in ending it? Looking more objectively at my current situation, it seems the anthropic principle would apply, and that I'm "me" and in my current situation simply due to that being how I currently observe it. And with consciousness simply being a product of the mind, and each consciousness ultimately being similar (if not the same), that implies that I'd simply be stuck in the same situation albeit with different memories, personality, etc.

So then what is the solution? The future is as pointless as the present. And dying is as pointless and futile as living. The only possible thing to do would be to indulge in as much pleasure as possible, but even that gets old after a while. And TBH, this world isn't all that great. Isn't that the whole reason people write stories, make movies, create video games, etc? People are doing everything in their power to leave and create their own world.

Everything points to that. We have the internet which is sort of an alternate communication world. We have the oculus rift and other ventures into VR. We have movies, games, etc which are all advancing trying to get more immersive. We have 3D, binaural audio, 4k res, google glass, etc.

Hell, even science as a field is trying to escape. With developing ways of going to the moon and mars, and adventuring into space. Figuring out faster ways of travel, controlling sensory inputs, etc.

Lucid Dreaming and recreational drugs fall into this too.

So really, it all just looks like to me that people are trying to distract themselves from the truth that there's no point to any of this and none of us are in a position to be able to stop this pointless shit.

And the saddest part is that if you look deep enough, you eventually come across string theory and modern ideas that there might be multiple universes. There's the many-worlds-interpretation of string theory which says there might be tons of different outcomes to each event (all of which I supposedly experience) and that leads into trillions of pointless worlds.

And that's my problem. I can't figure out what to do. As of right now, I've just kind of stayed on the path my parents laid out for me (grow up, college, find work, etc). But really, that doesn't seem all that exciting. All my classmates seem to be following a similar route without question.

And to top it all off, nearly everyone I meet is like a robot. They listen to the same music, watch the same tv, talk about the same shit, do the same things every day, eat the same foods, tell the same jokes, etc. And then when I tell them their stuff is shit and that it's only "good" because everyone is listening to it, they just leave and do their own sheepish robotic shit.

It's like I'm the only person who can see how fucking pointless this all is, and all anyone can think about is "do the same daily routine, chase money, and pay attention to 'now' ".

I'm sick of it, and know that I'm stuck with this shit forever. Help?

I really needed this. I'm doing Dialectical Behavior Therapy and part of it is about mindfulness, focusing on the present moment, whatever feelings there are, and accepting it. It's hard, but little reminders like this are wonderful.

You might enjoy this talk by Alan Watts on nothingness. Being fully in the present moment is something I always know I'm supposed to be but it's something I'm always able to forget. I spend way too much time daydreaming and thinking of the future instead of being fully present. It's an amazing calm and peacefulness when I'm able to achieve it. Most people live in an almost constant state of unease, this can be alleviated with presence.

I know that others on Hubski have negative views of Eckhart Tolle, but I would absolutely endorse reading The Power of Now. -lil, you should chef is out.