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Guest
Guest
Many NEETs belittle themselves with words like "loser" and "worthless". A few years ago, this was true of me as well. That changed after I realized three things.
First, terms like "loser" and "worthless" are social terms; they only make sense within the system of values and expectations I've happened to find myself in. If I'm worthless, all that means is society has failed to extract more resources from me than it has given me. If I'm a loser, all that means is society disapproves of me. Why should I value the worth of my own existence by anyone's standards but my own? This is especially true of a society I don't approve of and one which I believe has treated me poorly, mainly for being ugly and neuroatypical.
Second, I have no free will. I did not choose to be born; I did not choose my genes; I did not choose my birthplace, parents, school, socioeconomic status, and so on. Even if you don't go the full mile in rejecting free will, you'll probably agree with that much. Had I been born to different parents with different genes and so on, there's a big chance I wouldn't be a "loser". Further, I have no power over what I desire, over what I think, over what my body is doing. All of these things result from processes over which I have no control. If free will isn't real, then neither is personal/moral responsibility, and if I am not responsible for being a loser, then I should not feel shame for being one.
Third, even if I accept that the two points above are false, i.e., I accept that my situation is both bad and my fault, feeling shame does not aid whatsoever in remedying it. Shame is unnecessary and a cause of suffering.
So, funnily enough, two pessimistic ideas most normies would find depressing- that there is no free will and no objective value- have actually helped me cope and lead to a reduction in my suffering.
First, terms like "loser" and "worthless" are social terms; they only make sense within the system of values and expectations I've happened to find myself in. If I'm worthless, all that means is society has failed to extract more resources from me than it has given me. If I'm a loser, all that means is society disapproves of me. Why should I value the worth of my own existence by anyone's standards but my own? This is especially true of a society I don't approve of and one which I believe has treated me poorly, mainly for being ugly and neuroatypical.
Second, I have no free will. I did not choose to be born; I did not choose my genes; I did not choose my birthplace, parents, school, socioeconomic status, and so on. Even if you don't go the full mile in rejecting free will, you'll probably agree with that much. Had I been born to different parents with different genes and so on, there's a big chance I wouldn't be a "loser". Further, I have no power over what I desire, over what I think, over what my body is doing. All of these things result from processes over which I have no control. If free will isn't real, then neither is personal/moral responsibility, and if I am not responsible for being a loser, then I should not feel shame for being one.
Third, even if I accept that the two points above are false, i.e., I accept that my situation is both bad and my fault, feeling shame does not aid whatsoever in remedying it. Shame is unnecessary and a cause of suffering.
So, funnily enough, two pessimistic ideas most normies would find depressing- that there is no free will and no objective value- have actually helped me cope and lead to a reduction in my suffering.