2 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: /r/philosophy Open Discussion Thread | January 27, 2020
i’ve thought of it similarly. though in an optimistic light it’s the thing that makes us introspect. if there was no anxiety or fear there wouldn’t be motivation to grow. if those feelings are prevalent when talking to a girl at a bar or speaking in public or thinking of death it’s like a signal that you should push yourself and grow and without growth there doesn’t seem to be a real purpose
Comment by Darkmatter0051 at 30/01/2020 at 18:10 UTC*
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
As humans we have fetish for reason and meaning in things. We are constantly trying not to kill ourselves by creating a sense of meaningfulness or values in things, keeping ourself deluded. At least majority of people, but if you have already embraced the meaninglessness and not having freedom of choice, and have been able to embrace it and keep on living, hence have become a nihilistic. But on this context of anxiety, I think there will be optimism when even though one have the acknowledgement of their lack of control, he/she still have some hope for things to turn out, if not as same as they’ve wanted it to be but at least very close to the ideal one, which gives a sense of meaning in doing those activities. Even though there is anxiety, there is hope, which is like a fuel for one to keep on living and doing things. On the other spectrum, one might have realized how helpless creatures we are and we are always on mercy of the arbitrary nature of nature, but has no hope as one can’t control anything in life, things that happen are random and are result of causal effect, hence becomes a pessimist. The things themselves aren’t the source of anxiety, fear, hope, or anything(at least not as a whole but partly is, like truth which is a partly human construct but derived from things of reality), its the way we perceive it to fuel our emotional needs to keep on living, I think.