I absolutely understand this, I've been wondering the same thing lately and it's terrifying me. However, I've concluded that death itself isn't frightening (it's actually as peaceful as you can get, living is harder), it is all the anticipation beforehand. Most people worry about HOW they die rather than the fact that they are going to. While I'm not sure about the soul, I know that we are energy, and energy is neither created nor destroyed, it just is and will always be. So I suppose in that sense everything is immortal. We are made up of things that existed billions of years ago, and we will make up things for billions of years to come.
Also, think of the other half of this, the fact that you're alive is incredible. You get to have a life. Think of how many fertile people there were on this earth the day you were born (millions perhaps billions). On average, each of those fertile people who are female had about 1-2 million eggs at birth, and are left with about 300,000-450,00 by the time they hit puberty, of those, only 300-400 get ovulated, that's already 999,600-1,999,700 people that won't have the opportunity to experience consciousness! Per female!! Now let's look at the males. Throughout a male's lifetime he'll ejaculate approximately 7500 times. The amount of sperm in one ejaculation ranges from 40,000,000-1,200,000,000. ONE of these sperm gets to fertilize the egg. In order for you to exist, the right sperm has to fertilize the right egg, imagine all of the possible combinations. Also, just think about the fact that your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and all of the people in your familial chain also had to win the lottery of life in order to eventually produce you. What were your chances of you being born? You do the math.
What I'm trying to say is that YOU ARE A FRIGGIN MIRACLE!!!!! You get to experience consciousness, LIVE IT UP DUDE!!!!
Personally, I don't believe that "being a miracle" eases the situation in any way. I could turn the argument around quite easily... being alive and conscious is an exceptional misfortune.
And who knows, if we do believe in souls, we could say that any sperm can get any soul anyway.
I don't talk about souls that often because there are so many different ways to define "soul" and I couldn't tell you definitively which definition is accurate. However, I define a soul as energy, which is why I said that everything is immortal in that respect (so yes, you're right, a sperm could have a soul using this definition).
For me, consciousness is a privilege unless your life is nothing but suffering, then perhaps it is more desirable to be dead (or lack consciousness). I find the misfortune comes from being too aware of our own mortality. While I believe everyone's birth is a highly improbable and extraordinary event (e.i. a miracle), that doesn't make death any less terrifying and mysterious. Since I've been afforded the opportunity to experience life, something that so many have not, I'm going to take this opportunity and make the best of it.
However, if you find your life misfortunate (which I sincerely hope you don't), my goal isn't to change your mind, it's just to give you another perspective. I find that I get too much into my own head and sometimes it's helpful to hear other opinions and perspectives.
Is it normal for an existential crisis to give me such an anguish?
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I absolutely understand this, I've been wondering the same thing lately and it's terrifying me. However, I've concluded that death itself isn't frightening (it's actually as peaceful as you can get, living is harder), it is all the anticipation beforehand. Most people worry about HOW they die rather than the fact that they are going to. While I'm not sure about the soul, I know that we are energy, and energy is neither created nor destroyed, it just is and will always be. So I suppose in that sense everything is immortal. We are made up of things that existed billions of years ago, and we will make up things for billions of years to come.
Also, think of the other half of this, the fact that you're alive is incredible. You get to have a life. Think of how many fertile people there were on this earth the day you were born (millions perhaps billions). On average, each of those fertile people who are female had about 1-2 million eggs at birth, and are left with about 300,000-450,00 by the time they hit puberty, of those, only 300-400 get ovulated, that's already 999,600-1,999,700 people that won't have the opportunity to experience consciousness! Per female!! Now let's look at the males. Throughout a male's lifetime he'll ejaculate approximately 7500 times. The amount of sperm in one ejaculation ranges from 40,000,000-1,200,000,000. ONE of these sperm gets to fertilize the egg. In order for you to exist, the right sperm has to fertilize the right egg, imagine all of the possible combinations. Also, just think about the fact that your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and all of the people in your familial chain also had to win the lottery of life in order to eventually produce you. What were your chances of you being born? You do the math.
What I'm trying to say is that YOU ARE A FRIGGIN MIRACLE!!!!! You get to experience consciousness, LIVE IT UP DUDE!!!!
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tittle
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ViolenceAgainstTheState
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7500 in a lifetime? Pfft..that's my week
I like that.
I thought more ejaculation but eh
Personally, I don't believe that "being a miracle" eases the situation in any way. I could turn the argument around quite easily... being alive and conscious is an exceptional misfortune.
And who knows, if we do believe in souls, we could say that any sperm can get any soul anyway.
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college
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I don't talk about souls that often because there are so many different ways to define "soul" and I couldn't tell you definitively which definition is accurate. However, I define a soul as energy, which is why I said that everything is immortal in that respect (so yes, you're right, a sperm could have a soul using this definition).
For me, consciousness is a privilege unless your life is nothing but suffering, then perhaps it is more desirable to be dead (or lack consciousness). I find the misfortune comes from being too aware of our own mortality. While I believe everyone's birth is a highly improbable and extraordinary event (e.i. a miracle), that doesn't make death any less terrifying and mysterious. Since I've been afforded the opportunity to experience life, something that so many have not, I'm going to take this opportunity and make the best of it.
However, if you find your life misfortunate (which I sincerely hope you don't), my goal isn't to change your mind, it's just to give you another perspective. I find that I get too much into my own head and sometimes it's helpful to hear other opinions and perspectives.