Existence??

Question

yesterday something unusual happened to me. in the middle of the night, i suddenly woke up and felt something. it is difficult to describe but it was like being reborn and realizing your existence. i somehow felt the shock and fear of existence. than i remembered everything i wrote and thought about existence and how right they are. to exist is difficult - to accept that you exist without knowing what is beyond is more difficult - what so you think about it? how do you stand the unbearable pressure of the unknown?

Answer 1

Cool. I've experienced something similar to that a few times throughout my life. You describe it well. It is scary & shocking. I call it "existence amnesia." It's like for a second you forgot you exist & then you remember & it freaks you right out. Mine usually happen in front of the mirror. It's like suddenly coming to life & realizing, this is me, I'm in this skin. An eerie feeling. A friend of mine suggested we may have had an out of body experience & when you return to your body it's a bit unnerving! Most people look at me like I have two heads when I describe the experience but my nephew got all wide-eyed & nodded in recognition when I mentioned it to him. He told me he had the same thing happen to him. It seems to happen to highly sensitive, intelligent people. Whatever it is, I don't think it's a bad thing. Perhaps we're just more in tune with our minds & bodies than some people are. It may happen to everyone & they just don't notice it or think about it.

Existence is difficult but also wonderful. We have to accept that the unknown is part of existence & just embrace it. Sometimes it brings magical prospects. What fun would life be if we always knew what to expect?

By the way, really wicked avatar photo!

Answer 2

I have struggled with the same feelings - and like you usually at night. Some nights the pressure was so much I would cry myself to sleep. I know exactly where you are coming from.

This has eased over time because I rarely stopped myself from thinking about it. I found that the reason I was actually thinking about it so much was that I was trying to form a sort of 'resolution' to the situation in my mind. Something to set my mind at ease about the reality of it all.

What I have found helps to ease the 'unbearable pressure of the unknown' as you called it, is to ponder mysteries of the cosmos. For example, no we don't know what happens after we die, but the possibilities are endless. At worst, we pass into unconsciousness and don't even know it. What happens to our bodies in the worst possible case is that it decomposes and returns to the earth. It provides nutrients and is recycled into something beautiful.

Considering that is the very worst possible case scenario, everything following that is pretty exciting (except the idea of Hell which I just consider to be the fantastic and ridiculous claims of a church that wanted to own people's hearts and minds for it's own profit).

If you procreate and have children, they carry on your life in their memories and in their genes. You will carry on through your children and their children. So even if mortality means our consciousness comes to and end, we actually maintain mortality through procreation. That's quite amazing really.

So worst case scenarios behind us, if there is something 'spiritual' or 'unseen' that exists and if we pass into those realms upon death, the adventure continues!

Life is full of unexplained mysteries and there is a possibility that my life will come to an end and my consciousness will die with my body, it is not something to fear. There is also the possibility that my consciousness will carry on - and that idea is quite exciting.

I try to concentrat though on filling my life with happiness in the time that I have and giving the best to the ones I love is what makes it all worthwhile.

I certainly do not want to waste any time wishing for something that may not be real or true. My time will be filled with love, happiness and building a future for my children where they have the opportunities to succeed and make their lives count too!

I hope this helps a little.

All the best!

Answer 3

But its not unknown to you ..its just forgotten..You have lived many times and will live many more times.I am not religious but i know for a fact I remember between lives..I am not a fanatic or anything.I just can remember.. it was peaceful between them..a little confusing..but peaceful...When i think about dying I still fear it..and am working on it but deep down inside I know its ok..and its concious that is preserved after death nothing more nothing less..some remember at an early age for a few years their previous lives but I don't but they soon forget them.I think that deja vu must be that feeling of for a split moment of time we are in a place or meet someone we once knew.Its all revelant..

Answer 4

sounds like you had an existential moment. a moment where the categories of the world no longer apply...so you only experience the hing in itself so to speak and not identify what it is. if you were able to identify the object you were experiencing at the moment...you might have been doing something else.

when you meditate or do phenomonology, you can have these experiences too.

sounds like you might of also just had an epiphany and realized the bigger picture which is pretty sublime experience and can cause fear and trembling.

Answer 5

The known is convincing enough. I mean I have a decent attention span, but for unknown unknowns... I'm not going to trip.

Answer 6

for me it's so utterly amazing that its positive emotions that come out. its so insane that im even here, that i can look at my hand, that trees grow, its all just so beautifull and astounding.

Answer 7

you are very lucky as god is approaching you to preach the truth in future. so be prepared for that and relax, as you are becoming more and more god loving.