Have you ever questioned existence and obsessed over it?

Question

I know that this question has been asked in some form or another several times, but it is the one question I've wanted to ask and get answers too for a long time now.
Ever since I first questioned existence, not a day has passed that I haven't thought about it. The problem is that I think about it almost all the time even if only in the back of my mind. I obsess over it sometimes, and I've even panicked thinking about it before.
I've thought about what does it mean to exist anyway? What would be if we weren't...being?
Then I have those thoughts that I am ashamed of because they seem so selfish. Am I the only one who exists or who can see this? Am I the only thinking being here and everything was built as an illusion or movie for me?

I try to reason it, but I can't seem to settle the thoughts. If anyone has any answers, I'd greatly appreciate them. Thanks.

Answer 1

___The short answer is that the affirmations of existence are beyond access by intelligible thought. It is of the nature of intelligibility, that it cannot grasp such questions.
___But there are indications. The world can disable your capacity to doubt it. Have a friend whack you in the head with a 2x4, and you won't be able to doubt the existence of the external world. That disabling will have been accomplished by the world. The world wins. There are more routine impairments that demonstrate the same thing less dramatically: fever, extreme pain, fatigue--these impair cognition and the abiltiy to doubt. Have your friend hit your big toe with a hammer, and see if you can doubt existence then. And the world wins again.
___Intelligible thinking is an acquired skill, and in its acquisition, it leaves behind the primitive experiential connectedness of the sentient organism in the sensory causal nexus that is an aspect of the world. That state of connectedness precludes doubts about existence, but in order to gain any effectuality in our cognition, we have to engage in skills that "separate" us from the world, or in which we distinguish the world and its objects from our "selves".
___The question regarding doubting the world's existence is a badly-formed question. Ponder this notion for a while. We can combine concepts whether ot not they go together appropriately. Badly-formed questions are intellectual black holes. Face the fact that whatever time you spend doubting existence is wasted time. Even though the question feels important, it is merely an insoluble tease, given the limits of human cognition. So toss the damned thing away and live your life.

Answer 2

The best advice that can be given from one ex-obsessor to another is to just STOP.

The basic reason why is because if we do exist, then we should relish in our existence and enjoy our lives; but if we don't not exist, then we should continue going along with the universe we dwell in and enjoy this dream which we are present in.

And here's the comprehensive reason why:
=================
(1)It is a given that the universe is present in our current state of observation regardless of if it exists on an actual plane.

(2)It is a given that the universe was created by some force that may or may not have will behind it. Maybe it was due to a supreme creator or maybe it was just the sheer natural course of events.

(3)It is a given that as humans, we perceive and behave in this universe regardless of if we are present within the realm of existence.

So, we cannot distinguish the difference between our own hallucinations and that which is real (subjective idealism, Descartes) within this universe because the creating force only provided us with certain forms of observation. What this means is that the creating force of our universe has effectively made it impossible to depict if our universe actually exists or not.

Now to address the issue of free will and why we should not bother searching for actual existence or not by considering both sides. Assuming we have free will, we should not seek to figure this out because we already have it and we would only we wasting our time finding something we already have. Assuming we do not have free will, we should not search to find free will because no matter how much we go to believe we have free will, we will not and will only be lying to ourselves, depreciating the dignity of our consciousness.

But, if we come to a point where we realize everyone has the POTENTIAL of free will, then we should also not investigate the matter because all of our efforts, that are invested in such investigation, will only be wasted.

Answer 3

Dude this thing has always got me also. Don't worry dude. Even though it is hard to tell we are not living in "The Matrix". It nearly impossible to answer that question but to just not worry about it. To you we are confirming your existence even though you aren't sure that we are real and we are just some illusion. If you think then you exist. Everything that does have a brain exist. If not here then in some alternate reality or plain. Paranoid people like us are just afraid to lose everything that is familiar to us. Just don't worry about it. Over time it wont become such a big deal because if you pass out of reality you can just remember the happy times in this one and be back here in this reality. Yes I know. I sound cooky but I kinda know what you are going through.

Answer 4

Totally.

If you trace existence back to the source what you find at the root is simply consciousness or awareness. The ability to sense experience. Ultimately your existence is based upon your experience, so it doesn't matter what it is you're experiencing; a dream, a fantasy, an idea, an event, or some other phenomena it's all real as ultimately your experience is real. It simply is.

What shapes our experience is what we identify as self and other. From the dissection of conscious experience we create duality and from this dissection we create self and other. I/we am/are a {species} {sex} {age} {race} {social status} {name} {group} having an experience of these identities. This is what we call subjectivity and it gives us a kind of filter in which to perceive reality. In these "reality filters" an object such as a woman to me becomes nice, soft, warm, beautiful, attractive, etc. All of which are completely subjective even the phenomenon of woman as it's all based off of me being a man who likes women.

Don't want to make this any longer but if you want more then write me [e-mail]

Answer 5

I think everyone questions their own existence at one point or another. its a question of philosophy. Its hard not to obsess over it too. really i dont have any answers for you if only to say that its not unusual to obsess over the question of life. people have been pondering it since the begining of time and theres no way way to sovle it. so obsess to your heart's content, it wont do any harm or good. and its pretty safe to say that ur not the only one thinking about this also, i myself have tried to figure it out, to no avail. so...uh....in conclusion, theres probably no way to easily settle your thoughts, maybe your should get them on paper and set them aside or you could research some philosophy and answer the quesitons everyone's been asking! ;)

Answer 6

you just described what i go through everyday
i mean
at least once a day theres this moment where everything seems just surreal
like its not happening
like everything is fake and were just some expiremet that aliens or something are doing to see who is stupid enough to believe in every word authorities tell us

Answer 7

Everything does exist.

If it is actually physical, then it exists.
If it is illusion, then that illusion exists.
If it is imagination, then that imagination exists.

You cannot escape the fact that everything is real, you only don't know what "real" really means.
.

Answer 8

don know
forget bout the Matrix movie
see philosophy
blah blah how can a fish know what dry means ...blah blah
u r really asking what is my purpose
it's simple
walk a straight path n be the one

Answer 9

yes i have actually have and i feal very weird about it do u feel the same way