The more I learn about misfortune, the less I see the point of life.

[Lloyd]

Just more evidence that leading a hedonistic lifestyle is ultimately fruitless. Get right with god and start a family. Humanity was not an accident. Consciousness is a fundamental part of the universe. The fundamental building blocks of the universe arent matter, but information.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

For instance, students sit in class for hours with the faith that it will be useful for their future.
People across the world use dollar because they trust that its current value.
Employees work in a job with the expectation that they will be paid.
Hard worker saves money because they believe it will retain its value in the future.
Readers invest themselves in a story believing that there will be enjoyable pay-offs.
Lovers marry each other, believing this will bring happiness.
People work hard today, believing that tomorrow will come.
Pedestrian cross the road believing that no truck is going to run them over.

I noticed all of these examples are examples of humans trying to navigate not just the world, but the human world. All of these expectations, therefore, are not that invalid.
They are expectations of humans to other humans.
What I was talking about about, was the op treating the world like it's somehow expected to care.
Expecting that a random unfortunate accident carries within it something valuable, expecting life to have some kind of inherent purpose.

 

[owotrucked]

Two things I absolutely don’t want to happen to me: be sentenced to lifetime imprisonment, even though you’re completely innocent, and be dragged by some random terrorist and get beheaded for no reason. If I did get falsely accused and sentenced to lifetime jail, and I just want to become a successful author, and that dream is destroyed by injustice—I may not be able to handle it. Especially when everyone else forgets about me—my friends, family, everyone. There’s no point in living with such misfortune. I’d just commit suicide at that point.

Of course, there’s going to be a twinge of hope that you might get absolved.

Someday.​

I think you must come to terms with the possibility of dying tomorrow to reevaluate your wants.

A mirage may be fake, but whoever lay their eyes upon it will have hope.

Think about 'Being a successful author tomorrow' as your mirage. It is your light, your hope.

This is a prerequisite to enjoy 'Being an aspiring author today'.

You need to start focusing in the process itself. Because as demoralizing as it sounds, you will never reach your mirage: as soon as you touch it, your greed will lure you further away.

The arbitrary definition of being successful will constantly shift. Let's say you have 20 readers, you'd think 'damn I want to get past 100.' What will be the next milestone? 1000 readers? After that, 2000?

It's the same for money. Your bank account will never be full enough. Yeah 1 million? That's nothing compared to the neighbor.

If you find absolutely no enjoyment in day by day steps, how the hell can you even have faith that you'll reach the destination in the first place?

That's why happiness lies in the acceptance of your own bottomless greed. Our hopes turn us into Sisyphus, and that realization allows you to roll your boulder in an enjoyable way.

Is hedonistic life is an answer? Yes, but you'll be disappointed that it numbs you from both the pain and pleasure of rolling your stone. It's a cheating shortcut to the destination where you were aiming: the other side of the mirage; a desolate lifeless place of contentment behind the cardboard theatrical decor. That isn't the stage where you were meant to act your role, but sometimes, actors need to take a break too.

Ultimately you must find the meaning of your life. And you will not obtain it from asking the world what does it expect from you. But by answering to the world, here's what you'll expect from me.

You can read Viktor Frankl's Man's search for meaning if it can help you.
Concentration camp survivors have been left deeply scarred, with their life meaninglessly disrupted. Some committed suicide after gaining their freedom, perhaps because of how meaninglessly they suffered and nothing could redeem it.
The author is a survivor, who lived through that hell and still somehow held on hope. Considering he overcame the very same kind of ordeal you are talking about, maybe you can learn a thing or two from his book.

I'd say good for you for bringing out these fundamental concerns and beliefs to your conscious mind. Once you've sharpened an answer to clear away your doubts, you'll be able to struggle even harder than before.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Of course, I wouldn’t be saying this if I were poor. If I were poor, I’d only worry about food and water​

You wouldn't be saying this if you were actually doing something, like anything other than nothing.

 

[ElijahRyne]

This has been on my mind lately. Whenever I see people die from accidents, people who just want to achieve their dreams, it came to me the question of “Then what’s the point of life if you’re just going to die like that, regardless of how ambitious you are?” Of course, this may seem like the typical cynical question like “What’s the point of life if we’re going to die anyway”—they may be similar, but the former is driven by exasperation rather than nihilism.

I’m exasperated because, for instance, I worked my ass off to save one million dollars, then at the end of the day, someone will steal it, and it’s not because of my stupidity or carelessness, but simply because of my misfortune. Then what’s the point of working your ass off? All those efforts became all for naught. And this isn’t something that makes you wiser or smarter or stronger, it just literally wastes your money. And time.

I’m exasperated (once again) that there’s actually an unnecessary failure that doesn’t make you wiser or smarter or even stronger—that it only wastes your time and energy. They say failure is key to success—but actually, it’s not anymore at this point, unless that failure is really necessary that can make you grow as a person. If it’s unnecessary, then it doesn’t do anything for you.

(And they say that there’s no such thing as failure—well, until exams and quizzes came. Sure, you can grow if you fail in life, but if you fail in grades, that failure is absolute.)

I’m also starting to believe that working hard doesn’t necessarily make you successful. All advices are not guaranteed. When I had this revelation, I became somewhat tired. A bit hopeless—as much as I hate to admit it. I’m not anxious or depressed—just annoyed. You can’t help but be annoyed at the fact that sometimes extremely lazy people live longer than extremely ambitious people—kind of like bad people live longer than good people, but that’s a shallow analogy. And those extremely lazy people will think like “I may not have ambitions, but at least I’m alive!”

And speaking of good people, I think going to heaven earlier is just a big cope. Not that I’m disrespecting religion or whatever, but I’m starting to think that it’s just a way for us to feel better about misfortune. That God has chosen us to be unlucky for some greater purpose. The uncomfortable truth is that the universe doesn’t actually care whether you’re dead or not.

Of course, I wouldn’t be saying this if I were poor. If I were poor, I’d only worry about food and water—not the truth about the existence of life or whatever. I told this to my friend, and he said that “I should live in the now, and not worry about the past and future”—sure, that’s sound advice, but I just can’t help overthink about this stuff.

I’m just exasperated.

All the things I learned started to become false, making me have my own judgments about life. Indeed, the world is not fixed—and that’ll surely annoy math lovers. One last quote that I want to drop in here: “You have your way. I have my way. And for the right and correct way, it does not exist,” quoth Friedrich Nietzsche. But another one of my friends disagree with the last sentence since she pointed out that “why do laws and the Ten Commandments exist if the right and correct way doesn’t exist?”

Well.

That’s for you to find out.

P.S. Life is pointless. But that’s okay.

Another P.S. I need to learn Stoicism to cope with this stuff.​

When the world collapses around you, and your life feels as if it has lost all meaning, find out why.
Ask yourself, and others questions. A good place to start is to see if you are the only person who feels the same. If not why, and so too if so. What truly has changed for you? Are you exasperated at the change, or is it the lack of it?
Is it only misfortune that break your world view? Maybe it is suffering that does it? Perhaps death?
You are exhausted by failure, no? Then there has to be more to why. What made you feel that way?

Also, there is no such thing as living in the now. At least in the common understanding of it. Remember your past, acknowledge your feelings in the moment, and then go on.

P.S. If stoicism doesn’t work, try philosophical daoism.

 

[KiraMinoru]

This has been on my mind lately. Whenever I see people die from accidents, people who just want to achieve their dreams, it came to me the question of “Then what’s the point of life if you’re just going to die like that, regardless of how ambitious you are?” Of course, this may seem like the typical cynical question like “What’s the point of life if we’re going to die anyway”—they may be similar, but the former is driven by exasperation rather than nihilism.

I’m exasperated because, for instance, I worked my ass off to save one million dollars, then at the end of the day, someone will steal it, and it’s not because of my stupidity or carelessness, but simply because of my misfortune. Then what’s the point of working your ass off? All those efforts became all for naught. And this isn’t something that makes you wiser or smarter or stronger, it just literally wastes your money. And time.

I’m exasperated (once again) that there’s actually an unnecessary failure that doesn’t make you wiser or smarter or even stronger—that it only wastes your time and energy. They say failure is key to success—but actually, it’s not anymore at this point, unless that failure is really necessary that can make you grow as a person. If it’s unnecessary, then it doesn’t do anything for you.

(And they say that there’s no such thing as failure—well, until exams and quizzes came. Sure, you can grow if you fail in life, but if you fail in grades, that failure is absolute.)

I’m also starting to believe that working hard doesn’t necessarily make you successful. All advices are not guaranteed. When I had this revelation, I became somewhat tired. A bit hopeless—as much as I hate to admit it. I’m not anxious or depressed—just annoyed. You can’t help but be annoyed at the fact that sometimes extremely lazy people live longer than extremely ambitious people—kind of like bad people live longer than good people, but that’s a shallow analogy. And those extremely lazy people will think like “I may not have ambitions, but at least I’m alive!”

And speaking of good people, I think going to heaven earlier is just a big cope. Not that I’m disrespecting religion or whatever, but I’m starting to think that it’s just a way for us to feel better about misfortune. That God has chosen us to be unlucky for some greater purpose. The uncomfortable truth is that the universe doesn’t actually care whether you’re dead or not.

Of course, I wouldn’t be saying this if I were poor. If I were poor, I’d only worry about food and water—not the truth about the existence of life or whatever. I told this to my friend, and he said that “I should live in the now, and not worry about the past and future”—sure, that’s sound advice, but I just can’t help overthink about this stuff.

I’m just exasperated.

All the things I learned started to become false, making me have my own judgments about life. Indeed, the world is not fixed—and that’ll surely annoy math lovers. One last quote that I want to drop in here: “You have your way. I have my way. And for the right and correct way, it does not exist,” quoth Friedrich Nietzsche. But another one of my friends disagree with the last sentence since she pointed out that “why do laws and the Ten Commandments exist if the right and correct way doesn’t exist?”

Well.

That’s for you to find out.

P.S. Life is pointless. But that’s okay.

Another P.S. I need to learn Stoicism to cope with this stuff.​

Misfortune exists so we can truly appreciate the fortunate times in life. If nobody ever experienced any misfortune, we’d become indifferent to the things that make us happy. Enjoyment is a relative measure. If you have nothing negative in your life you won’t understand what was so great about those positive times you lived through or will live through in the future. Essentially you are allowed to experience gratitude for those small little fortunes you experience along your bumpy road through life because you know the sadness that comes with those unfortunate events.

The worst thing in life is when you can’t feel anything towards it. When you become indifferent and numb to everything around you. If you live a life without any form of misfortune befalling upon you, you aren’t truly living life, you’re living in an isolated bubble.

 

[SternenklarenRitter]

Whenever I see people die from accidents, people who just want to achieve their dreams, it came to me the question of “Then what’s the point of life if you’re just going to die like that, regardless of how ambitious you are?”

Consider yourself lucky. That is still a relatively normal and healthy reaction. When I see or hear about someone suffering or dying from accident I have a much more visceral reaction. My blood pressure surges, I start shaking, I smolder with jealousy, and it takes a great deal of effort and concentration to break free of obsessive, intrusive thoughts like "How dare you! That was supposed to be me! Why isn't it my turn yet!? I hate you for being first!" that try to choke and smother my consciousness away. But patience is a virtue. My time will come eventually. I can entertain myself well enough until then so there is no reason to rush. It's much easier to calm myself down than it used to be.

why do laws and the Ten Commandments exist if the right and correct way doesn’t exist?

There is not a perfect way to do things, but there is always a better way. How grand to always have room for improvement? A noble goal indeed when pursuing it will never stop at perfection.

Lovers marry each other, believing this will bring happiness.

-Pfft- As if marriage has ever been anything but an economic proposition. Lovers marry each other to protect each other from financial ruin and/or childcare custody battles with distant relatives in the face of accident or illness.

For instance, students sit in class for hours with the faith that it will be useful for their future.

Being a student is my purpose in life. There is no future after college. College is LIFE!! I am STUDENT!! At best, college can contribute to my 'future' by helping me earn an MRS to my side, (which will be a responsible economic decision financially and personally beneficial to both parties).

Pedestrian cross the road believing that no truck is going to run them over.

Every time I cross the road, I think to myself "lot's of heavy masses zoomin' by at lethal velocities here. Will they hit me or will they not? I'm reluctant to look both ways since I'd rather not see it coming."