Is a meaningful existence possible?
I'm definitely not depressed. I have no desire for any kind of self harm. This argument I'm about to make is not a function of feelings, but of logic. I'd also like to be wrong. Trying to avoid a TLDR here. But, long story short, I've been interested in metaphysics and the meaning of things ever since I was a kid. This is the conclusion I've seemed to have drawn with regards to my own existence.
Of course, trying to operationalize individual existence is a bit of a mire. Does it involve your memories? Your personality? Simply your self-awareness and sentience? We don't just exist in a vacuum, but relationally. Where does the self end and the other begin? You can define it many ways, but virtually every definition has some form of continuity of the self. So a christian might live on in "heaven" with all their dead family and friends. A buddhist might live on in a relatively more abstract way dictated by karma. However, you define it, the point is that I'm trying to contrast existence (in some form or another) versus simply existing no more.
You're born, you live, you die. You don't really know where you came from, and you don't really know where you're going. Sure, everyone has ideas, but nobody really has the "answer". However, I don't think that matters much either because every possibility falls into one of two categories.
Nothing. This is all you get folks. You come from nothing and you return to nothing when life is over. So it goes. This can be a bit problematic as you entire existence is a drop in the bucket in a larger existence that (in all probability) will also eventually cease. Mankind will probably eventually destroy itself, or the sun will implode and we'll probably haven't licked space travel, or eventually the universe succumbs to heat death and there's nowhere to hide from that one. Pick your poison.
Something. You get heaven. Or hell. Or reincarnation. Or something else entirely. Whatever. In some way, shape or form, you get to continue to exist. Congratulations. Problem is you now have what I've called the near-infinite prison dilemma. Imagine yourself immortal but stuck in an empty 8x8 cell. You'll eventually go stir-crazy. Let's change that cell to a 5000 sqft facility with a variety of things to do, entertainment and whatnot. You'll still go crazy, it'll just take longer. You can expand it further to almost infinite options, but the problem is no matter how big the "outside" is, you're still trapped with "you" and that will eventually drive you nuts. You'll probably be wishing for oblivion at that point.
In any event, the conclusion I've drawn largely based on this is that, on a long enough timeline, your actions have absolute no consequence to both yourself and the world around you. The end result is the same. As such, if an act has no real effect, and if all roads lead to the same destination, that logically undermines any motivation to do anything. Nothing is ultimately worth the effort because any particular action and even no action all have the same ultimate effect.
Like I said earlier, I want to be wrong. I still likely have a lot of years to live. The problem with my logic is that, while it is seemingly sound to me, it is also quite boring. Additionally, this leaves me with the feeling that everything I am doing is just a waste of time. And that bothers me, a lot. I'm fine with the ultimate nothing/something dichotomy. Whichever way that goes is simply what it is. However, the idea that nothing can be meaningful because of it really bothers me. Which is why I want to be wrong. Can someone break my logic?
Of course, trying to operationalize individual existence is a bit of a mire. Does it involve your memories? Your personality? Simply your self-awareness and sentience? We don't just exist in a vacuum, but relationally. Where does the self end and the other begin? You can define it many ways, but virtually every definition has some form of continuity of the self. So a christian might live on in "heaven" with all their dead family and friends. A buddhist might live on in a relatively more abstract way dictated by karma. However, you define it, the point is that I'm trying to contrast existence (in some form or another) versus simply existing no more.
You're born, you live, you die. You don't really know where you came from, and you don't really know where you're going. Sure, everyone has ideas, but nobody really has the "answer". However, I don't think that matters much either because every possibility falls into one of two categories.
Nothing. This is all you get folks. You come from nothing and you return to nothing when life is over. So it goes. This can be a bit problematic as you entire existence is a drop in the bucket in a larger existence that (in all probability) will also eventually cease. Mankind will probably eventually destroy itself, or the sun will implode and we'll probably haven't licked space travel, or eventually the universe succumbs to heat death and there's nowhere to hide from that one. Pick your poison.
Something. You get heaven. Or hell. Or reincarnation. Or something else entirely. Whatever. In some way, shape or form, you get to continue to exist. Congratulations. Problem is you now have what I've called the near-infinite prison dilemma. Imagine yourself immortal but stuck in an empty 8x8 cell. You'll eventually go stir-crazy. Let's change that cell to a 5000 sqft facility with a variety of things to do, entertainment and whatnot. You'll still go crazy, it'll just take longer. You can expand it further to almost infinite options, but the problem is no matter how big the "outside" is, you're still trapped with "you" and that will eventually drive you nuts. You'll probably be wishing for oblivion at that point.
In any event, the conclusion I've drawn largely based on this is that, on a long enough timeline, your actions have absolute no consequence to both yourself and the world around you. The end result is the same. As such, if an act has no real effect, and if all roads lead to the same destination, that logically undermines any motivation to do anything. Nothing is ultimately worth the effort because any particular action and even no action all have the same ultimate effect.
Like I said earlier, I want to be wrong. I still likely have a lot of years to live. The problem with my logic is that, while it is seemingly sound to me, it is also quite boring. Additionally, this leaves me with the feeling that everything I am doing is just a waste of time. And that bothers me, a lot. I'm fine with the ultimate nothing/something dichotomy. Whichever way that goes is simply what it is. However, the idea that nothing can be meaningful because of it really bothers me. Which is why I want to be wrong. Can someone break my logic?
Comments (43)
I don't quite see how that follows. For yourself, that may be true. But actions could still have consequences, and those consequences could be permanent.
Quoting runbounder
The question is, can "meaning" or the absence of it really be established by logic? What conditions do you think are required for actions, or life in general, to have meaning?
Quoting runbounder
That's good. What's your secret?
First, there is no 'nothing' because every way it is defined, it is always related to 'something'. Sometimes the 'nothing' is the source, cause of 'something'; other times it contains potential, capacity, etc for 'something'; and, lastly, it is also considered as the end of 'something'. Therefore, it is simpler to just call it 'something' since it is the undeniable common factor. ('Something' is what is known about 'nothing'.)
About being trapped in the infinite prison, I think you've already found the answer = Going Crazy!!!
It seems crazy :wink: but one of the fundamental defining factors of craziness/madness is a certain degree of lowering/lessening of inhibitions. How trapped can anyone be without inhibitions? That's the freedom we instinctively strive to seek from within.
Long story short, the many paths and ideas to enlightenment and freedom are just ways to go crazy consciously, deliberately and definitively. It's quite the trip! :wink:
I suppose I am coming from a somewhat selfish perspective here. But, I'm also not just concerned about myself. Instead, I'm thinking of all of our selves. In other words, one possible answer is that my individual self does not have any meaning, so why not live a selfless existence? Well, if my self doesn't have meaning, than neither does anyone else's, so that would be a pointless venture.
Whether or not consequences can be permanent is up for debate, but even if they are, I will never have to face them since ultimately I'm destined for oblivion or insanity either way.
That's a good question, and my answer is sorta I don't know. I seem to have trouble operationalizing meaning in a meaningful way. The eye cannot see itself, I guess. I actually don't think pure logic is possible for a human as our entire existence is so subjective. However, logic tends to be the most compelling approach for me, even if it is partially subjective.
I don't think any of us come into the world with any kind of tools for finding or even defining the real meaning of it all, and there are no apparent answers while you are here. So what even passes muster for meaning is anyone's guess. That's kind of a drag, if you ask me.
Without any explicit direction, my sense is that the observable is all we get. This would mean that it all ends with heat death anyway. What a bummer.
I think it's the notion that this scenario is a problem and I need to solve it keeps me from getting depressed. I know that I'm just human and plenty fallible. I think I would be depressed if I felt like I was the center of (my own/the) universe. Even though this is my perspective, I am aware I could easily be wrong, and there's likely someone out there who is smarter and wiser than me that can explain how I am wrong.
So, I guess, in essence, I have hope.
The fault in your logic is that you didn't show why there can only be meaning if actions have impactfull consequences eternally, or on at least on some very long timescales.
If I have a headache, it seems meaningfull to me to try to reduce the pain i feel, even if the pain would go away without intervention eventually or even if i'm going to die ultimately anyway.
Why can't things be meaningfull if they are impermanent or temporal?
I guess what I'm wondering is how can things be meaningful if all things are impermanent or temporal. I think an "easy answer" is to just always live in the moment, but there's an element of this that feels like one is putting on blinders to the bigger picture. To be aware of this, but ignore it, leads me to think that doing anything in the present moment is disingenuous. Or, something might be meaningful limited to the scope of the moment, but if you're aware that the moment won't last and we will soon/eventually be in a state where that meaning becomes irrelevant regardless, then was there any point to creating that meaning to begin with?
A think a better metaphor than the headache example is building a sand castle. You put all that time and effort building a thing that eventually just becomes a part of the beach like it never was there. The only real value of it was the entertainment of the process and product while it existed.
That being said, it almost seems that the logical course of action is to optimize for impermanence. That is, not try to create anything meaningful or lasting, but instead try to be a meaningless as possible. I'm not exactly sure what that would look like, but I can see how being unmotivated for action could be a part of it. Or, maybe some kind of solopsistic hedonism? I don't know...
Stop complaining about the temporary nature of life as if it were a bad thing!
Why not something in between the fleeting moment and eternity? That seems to be the timescale that is relevant for us human beings anyway. There's no need to go to the extremes I don't think.
We have a capacity for language, which allows us to abstract from mere experience of moments and to think ahead in time. And this is where meaning comes in, we like some things more than others, and can figure out how to get more of what we like in the future... Living in the moment is disingenuous because you are giving up on a part that is essentially human. But this part can also be taken to far to eternity and beyond, which philosophers are prone to do. I'd say the space in between is where it's at.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but impermanence makes many (perhaps all) of the constructions of meaning actually meaningless. Knowing that would make me think that anything "meaningful" I would attempt would actually just be a waste of time.
I don't think adjusting the timescale changes the situation, and it almost seems arbitrary and not really meaningful to do so. I'm trying to consider all possibilities, not just limit myself to those that are comfortable. I'm not looking for a timescale in which to narrow my focus, I'm saying that, considering all timescales, this is what existence looks like to me.
Seneca had a friend named Marcia who lost a young son and became overwhelmed with melancholy; she wished not to live anymore. Seneca came to her aid by taking her on a brief tour of the troubled Earth before she was born, with its beauty and horror, and asked her to weight up whether she would want to step into such a life.
I'm going to take his argument one step further. Suppose you did actually have that choice, but I add the condition that once you step into it, there will be no end to it. You will live forever! Now would you choose to be born?
Having an impact that is beyond our individual selves gives us meaning, unless you think our families and societies are irrelevant.
Sure, it's transient - the human race will eventually disappear. Contrast this with a scenario of an eternal afterlife: is there anything we can do on earth (to give us meaning) that will have a long term effect on that eternal state of affairs?
I don't know what's arbitrary about the timescales, you only live like a 100 years or so. It almost seems like the type of being you are shouldn't matter is what you are saying?
You are quoting the wrong person.
Narrowly viewing Seneca's philosophy and advice as simply "living in the moment," is disingenuous. How should it matter if your plans and hopes for the future are satisfied or ends suddenly today by an untimely death?
You seem to be reflecting on the difficulties of your consciousness.
I would suggest you will not find solutions by fixating on its detail.
For instance - meaning. Meaning is a human social construct, likely developed some ways along the road of our evolution. It dose not exist in nature. What use for meaning dose a bird have?
Imagine you lived on a deserted island and you knew you could never be rescued, what use would you have for meaning? I think to continue life would be meaningful and not much more beyond that.
Of course, in another sense, you are already living on a deserted island with no hope of rescue.
Buddhism is the only complete philosophy of consciousness. They have been dwelling on this stuff for 5000 years .There is a secular variety.
Mine is...so obviously it is at least "possible."
Perhaps you are defining "meaningful" too harshly.
If one defines a "meaningful" life as a satisfying one...
...BINGO.
I honestly don't know. I would have to exist to make the choice whether or not I want to exist. I also don't see how living forever would solve anything.
On a long enough time frame, sure.
I wonder about this. If meaning is created by humankind, what put within humankind the desire to have meaning. In an otherwise cold, dead, universe, it has no value or purpose. In fact, if anything, it's detrimental to us being a symbiotic part of the natural world. Yet we seek it. I have no idea why.
I do tend to lean towards buddhist teachings. They tackle this subject much better than other faiths. Not to mention, my main spiritual mentor is a buddhist. I haven't come across any readings/teachings that cover this exact topic, though.
Consider the alternative of an eternal afterlife. How can anything you do in THIS brief life have a meaningful impact on that which exists eternally?
Theoretically, your actions in this life set the stage for the next one, but that's not the point of this inquiry. Even if there is an afterlife, you're kinda doomed, trapped with "yourself" for eternity. I think we've strayed far from the original discussion.
Afterlife or not, what's really the value of doing anything in the grand scheme of things?
The culture you grew up in.
Not a dead / live or otherwise universe - a nothing universe - very nice place to be in.
Quoting runbounder
The issue of consciousness is what Buddha tackled
But culture itself is a mere subset of the human experience, not something that transcends it. It seems odd to defer to something less than ourselves.
The idea that âmeaningâ is individual is a misunderstanding. My individual self has negligible meaning on its own, in isolation. All meaning is derived specifically from relations - thatâs where the term itself comes from: âmeanâ. The more that one relates to the world, the more meaning is derived from their existence. The more we relate to each other as humans, the more that humanity means something. And the more we try to isolate an individual sense of meaning, the less meaning we appear to have.
It appears as if the sandcastle was never there only from your perspective, because to you, every grain of sand looks the same. But your building that sandcastle has moved many grains of sand to new locations, and in contact with water molecules and other grains of sand they may never have had contact with without your interaction. The entertainment of the process and product while it existed was its value to you, but to each grain of sand in that castle, their whole world was changed forever.
I just wanted to agree with that last point...and add: I also don't see how "living forever" has the attraction it has for those who suppose it will happen."
The notion of eternal life is the second biggest turnoff of religion; the notion that the "eternal life" will be lived in the presence of a god is the biggest.
Think of the most know-it-all person you've ever encountered and multiply it by a thousand...and then imagine being confined to a room with that person for a full day. Then think about what the word "eternity" means.
My reaction to this is, "Yep, you got it". People tend to try to kick this feeling by distracting with novel experiences, but it just becomes chasing a high of sorts. Everything eventually becomes routine. The best you can do is sustain a low level tolerance of time and actions. Survival, comfort/maintenance and entertainment-to-avoid boredom are the three basic ways we waste time. All of this takes place in a physical world in a social context. I think of something like fretting over which shoe size really fits best. It is not hunting to survive, it is not boredom really.. Just silly tedious maintenance of something that is contingently due to Western civilization's quirk that we have various size shoes which, if one is enculturated to wearing shoes, one gets used to wanting them to fit right.. But here we are, complexities of inanities, of things. Don't let the complexity of these venues confuse you as to what we are doing- survival,comfort/maintenance, entertainment-to-avoid-boredom. Don't forget contingent suffering. We often suffer from things outside of our own restless nature. We never seek out disease, illness, and disasters, but those like to also make themselves known. There's also shame, embarrassment, low-level discomforts of all sorts to deal with.
The main advice here would be acceptance. The other is rebellion. I prefer rebellion.
How exactly are you rebelling?
Pissing off the acceptance folks by outwardly pointing out stuff (complaining) and antinatalism :wink: .
Everybody complains. Not nearly as much as they should then :joke:.
Quoting Noah Te Stroete
Then we are in two different worlds. You are in reflection hindsight mode (or you are in a good mood right NOW), I believe I am in the one closer to reality for everyday living. I give specific examples, and give reasons. Even if we disagree, you can't say I'm just throwing up statements without reasons or explanation. If anything people are tired of my explanations and reasons.
I can pretty much guarantee you that if someone were to put a gun to your head or threaten you or your family with something serious that meaning you've been looking for would be back in an instant. Similarly, if you were to catch a friend or a sibling about to jump off a bridge would you be thinking "oh well in the long run 1,000 years from now...."
I feel like this "meaning" question often pops back into life when we're either depressed or bored. A new parent doesn't find themselves asking this. Meaning is found in the here and now. If you want to lie back and take this 100,000 foot view of the super big picture of life and existence feel free to do so but I don't know why anyone needs to accept that view as the most true one as opposed to the here-and-now picture.
True. Ask me how Iâm doing in ten minutes. Itâs likely to change, especially if I turn on cable news. That said, I think most people value life, and even when life sucks, hope keeps them going. Thinking positively such as listing things and people that you are grateful for can bring you out of a depressed mood.
Actually, thatâs my homework assignment for you. I want a list of things and people you are grateful for. I guarantee that when the negative thoughts creep up, if you make that an exercise to list what you are grateful for, then you will immediately stop feeling as low.
I was thinking about this and I do notice this general attitude among a lot of philosophically-minded people. The attitude I'm referring to is one that tends to de-value or maybe denigrate that which is considered tedious (like buying shoes) and on the other hand places the emphasis/the value on "the big picture."
I'm not looking to start an argument here, but I think the biggest change I've had since I finished my philosophy degree is that the focus has shifted away from "the big picture" and into a more detail-oriented perspective. I remember back to when I was picking out running shoes or choosing boots during basic training and those decisions - if not chosen wisely - could have disastrous consequences. A runner who picks the wrong size shoe could find himself in serious foot pain half way through a race. Even if you're out with friends and your shoes are the wrong size that could suck. Don't even get me started about military footwear. I understand that if it's just casual use the stakes aren't that high though.
I just liked your example with the shoes here because shoes are actually extremely important in certain domains, but in the world of philosophy there seem to be bigger matters to be dealt with.
And in between that time I give you the list of things I am grateful for, the list for things I am not grow longer...
This is a slight misinterpretation of what I was getting at. It is exactly those maintenance/comfort things that DO indeed take up most of our intention. I was not making a value statement of it, but rather make an observation (survival, comfort, entertainment are our three main drives in my idea about our everyday affairs). But, with this comes a lot of low-level tedium/discomfort/anxiety. You mentioned an example here actually:
Quoting BitconnectCarlos
I thought you were making a value judgment because you referred to picking out shoes (or fretting over shoe size) as "silly tedious maintenance" and then you just regarded it as a quirk of western civilization that we have different shoe sizes....In any case, if you just want to say comfort, survival and entertainment are main drives I'll agree with that.
I do believe though that shoe shopping can be meaningful, and I think you would definitely agree if you've had to run in uncomfortable shoes.
Yes, shoes are an annoying but important thing to pick out, hence I used it as an example. I mentioned Western civilization because this might not matter to someone from a culture with no shoes, like a tribal one perhaps. They have other issues to deal with.
Living a meaningful life is therefore identical to feeling like your life is meaningful. Feeling meaningless about the prospect of finite life or about the prospect of infinite life is either way a function of the mind. If the mind can be made to accept finite life, or to accept an infinity of existing, then either or both can be meaningful. If a mind just feels meaningless, then no facts about life can be meaningful to them either way. The key is in first making life feel meaningful, and then you will find things to pin that meaningfulness on, whether life is finite or infinite.
You say that because you are in depression. By this I donât mean to say that you have a mental illness, that there is something wrong in your brain, even though there is a correlation between the state of depression and brain activity, but there is some underlying cause you havenât identified yet that makes you look at things that way.
A great mistake people make is to think that they are depressed because life is meaningless, while the reality is they see life as meaningless because they are depressed. When you feel the love and beauty in the universe you see precisely the value and the point of existence, when you donât you see no point and no amount of logic can make you see the point. Words can only be used as a tool to help you get out of that hole.
You arenât depressed because there is some chemical imbalance in your brain, rather the chemical imbalance is a manifestation of depression, it isnât the cause. So whatâs the cause? A baby isnât born depressed. Itâs the negative experiences in life that can lead to depression. That can make one lose hope, lose faith in love, in happiness, in light. You have let yourself become overwhelmed by darkness, you have let the suffering you have experienced separate you from the light.
Think about what your dreams were when you were a child, what you dreamed to do. Those dreams had meaning to you, you were connected to them. Something has separated you from them, something that happened to you, some false beliefs have taken hold of you, some darkness, depression, or however you want to call it.
Existence isnât a prison even if it is eternal, but you feel like you are in a prison, why? What is it in your life that makes you feel imprisoned? Identify that and that will help you find a way out of the darkness.
I think its not meaning that returns to you in that instant. We cling on to our lives simply beacuse we are too scared of death. We simply lack the means to accept death even when the alternative is meaningless existence. This makes sense because we are after all organisms whose primary function is to ensure continuation of our species. However, when we are not threatened by immient death, we can afford to look at things from a logical standpoint. We can afford to see life for what it is and even accept its meaninglessness. Even when we do accept the lack of purpose, we refuse to accept death.We are coded to avoid death.
Hence, any meaning that you cling on to in face of death is simply conjured up so as to motivate a fight against death. It can not be considered true meaning or purpose.
I feel that this is the reason we are even having such a discussion. It is apparent that no objective meaning exists. The universe would not change by the slightest bit if we didn't exist. Even our existence was simply a matter of chance and the world could have been vastly differently had the past been even a slight bit different.
However, that leaves us with the alternative of accepting death. But that too is not possible. Hence, since existence is mandatory, we either live in blissful ignorance or in a distraught state looking for meaning of any sort by trying to extarct it from our surroundings and circumstances. We talk about love and beauty, we talk about success, money, fame and our families, just about anything so we can justify existence. Such things cannot obviously be true the objective reason humans exist simply because they vary from person to person and are choosen just so we can exist in peace.
I personally think that we should look for meaning around us because even if artifically conjured, it helps us survive, which is our only true purpose.
I'm not saying this is or isn't an issue, but many people at some point just choose to stop being themselves and just be somebody else. I would say that in the long run, those who are kind to others and (and) also keep their relatively innocent personality are better off. I feel the longer a person lives, the more likely they'll stray off the "optimal" path. I say just enjoy life if life will allow it.
The problem with this discussion is that "meaning" is kind of a vague term and what could count as "meaning" for me might not count for you. Just look at how the term is used in the English language. It's very often used when we're teaching the language: "casa means house" or "gracias means thank you" - in other words, there's this sort of correspondence: A means B, C means D, etc.
Or we might also use it like: "that facial expression means...." in other words, we're still trying to draw that direct correspondence. We'd be making an inference as opposed to conveying a information in the form of a direct relationship as we were above with the language example.
The problem with asking "what is the meaning of life?" is that there just isn't this kind of correspondence. There's nothing to point to. It's an ambiguity in the language.
You could take it to mean: "What is man's highest purpose" or "What explicit purpose has God (if he exists) has assigned man?" or "What is humanity's ultimate end?"
I feel a certain feeling when I view a beautiful landscape and I'll describe the experience as "meaningful." I've heard many people describe LSD or magic mushroom trips as incredibly meaningful experiences. Who are we to tell them that they can't use that descriptor or that this descriptor isn't really what meaning is all about? What are you pointing to?
Indeed, though usually the underlying question is âwhat is the purpose of my life?â, or âwhat is the purpose of humanity?â
At that point we have to notice that purpose stems from a desire, there is no purpose without a desire, the desire is what creates the purpose. So when one wonders âwhat is the purpose of my life?â, one is really asking âwhat is it that I desire to achieve with my life?â.
People who find their life purposeless have become disconnected from their desires, from their driving force, thatâs what I call depression. These people have got lost in the darkness and they need to find their way back to the light. The desperate existential cry âwhatâs the point of all this??â is really asking âwhere have my desires gone??â.
People arenât depressed because life is purposeless, they find life purposeless because they are depressed, it took me a long time to realize this. And part of the reason they are stuck in existential despair is that they firmly believe their life is inherently purposeless, that it really is an objective state of affairs, they fail to see the influence of their state of mind, the influence of how they feel on how they see the world. And of course when the depressive worldview stems from how we feel and weâre stuck in negative feelings, then we are unable to see that the underlying cause is how we feel and not how the world is.
And then the big question is how to get out of the depressed state? How to reconnect to our desires when we have lost them? Plenty of things can help, but the solution varies from individual to individual, it depends on the life they have had up to now, on what they have experienced that has led them to get stuck in the darkness. The materialistic view of seeing depression as being caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain is flawed, depression has a noticeable influence on brain activity but thatâs a consequence, a manifestation, itâs not the cause. Many people have escaped the depressed state without any medication and without changing their diet, they have escaped depression by having experiences that made them find their way back to the light, reconnect to their desires.
Changing oneâs diet can help. Ingesting some medication or psychedelic substance can help. Changing oneâs environment can help. Reflecting on oneâs past experiences can help. Being shown love, being listened to, being understood can help. Reconnecting with nature, spending time with animals or plants can help. Realizing that oneâs life isnât inherently purposeless can help. Speaking of all this can help. So many things can help, the right combination will depend on the individual. And at some point the individual leaves the depressed state, leaves the darkness and comes to see the light again, and realizes that they werenât depressed because life is purposeless, but that they found life purposeless because they were depressed.
Youâre worthwhile and you deserve to be loved, donât let anyone take that away from you.