{"id":23656,"date":"2015-03-13T11:58:29","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T15:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=23656"},"modified":"2015-03-13T11:58:29","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T15:58:29","slug":"the-meaning-of-life-and-other-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2015\/03\/13\/the-meaning-of-life-and-other-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"The meaning of life (and other concerns)"},"content":{"rendered":"Warning: this post may contain material that makes you question a lot of things. Proceed with caution.<\/em>\r\n\r\nI\u2019m in the library,\u00a0writing a paper on health and social policy (you know, a typical Tuesday night activity). While performing an expert analysis on the state of health care, I start to ask questions. Why is the social structure set up this way? How did millions of years of evolution lead us to this point?<\/em>\r\n\r\n
\"Picture<\/a>
Filed under: questions that arise when you're stuck inside studying on a sunny day \ud83d\ude41<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nA steep downward spiral later, I hit the emotional wall that is the demise of human productivity: apathy<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nAnd what may have caused this apathy, you wonder?\r\n\r\nQuestioning the very foundations of life \u2013 value, meaning and purpose<\/strong>, also known as existentialism<\/a>.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn various Internet subcultures<\/a>, the idea of the \u2018quarter life crisis,\u2019 or the \u2018existential crisis\u2019 has become fairly common. A twenty-something wasting their life away on Netflix, caused by an utter lack of purpose, is an instantly recognizable and relatable illusion.\r\n\r\n
\"Meme<\/a>
All too familiar. Source: http:\/\/wanna-joke.com\/evening-jokes-20-pics-22\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nPersonally, I think just being a student makes me vulnerable to the creeping embrace of existentialism. I have to make important decisions that will seemingly impact me for years to come, and that\u2019s a lot of pressure. This is the general \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing with my life\u201d kind of problem. A minor lack of motivation, purpose and meaning spirals into more intense thoughts. We are conscious beings who have the freedom to do what we want, and to make meaning of this life that we\u2019re living. The part that baffles me is the utter absurdity<\/em> of it all.\r\n\r\nIt becomes difficult to focus on school, when you\u2019re questioning the very meaning of your existence. We\u2019ve been searching for the meaning of life for millennia. Ancient philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle have questioned the universe and it\u2019s existence.\r\n\r\nSpoiler alert: we haven\u2019t found it<\/strong>, which is what I remind myself when I start getting existential. They weren\u2019t the first, nor will they be the last to ask these questions. I\u2019ll avoid preaching about finding your love and\u00a0inspiration (I do that enough<\/a>).\r\n\r\nBut where does this leave me? What is<\/em> the meaning of life at U of T? (Get it? Like the name of the blog? No?) Have I resumed fetal position and accepted that life is meaningless?\r\n\r\n
\"Picture<\/a>
Not quite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nI realize that in university, and in my program especially, we\u2019re taught to question and analyze why things are they way they are. It\u2019s inevitable that some of that thinking leaks into everyday life (those sneaky profs!) So, after a long discussion with my friends about motivation and purpose, I return to my essay with a strangely renewed interest in what I\u2019m passionate about.\r\n\r\nDisclaimer: Although existential thoughts might be manageable for some people, I don\u2019t want to invalidate what anyone else has experienced. So, if you have persistent feelings like this, don\u2019t hesitate to talk to someone or to connect yourself with resources on campus like Peers are Here<\/a>, Mindful Moments<\/a>, Health and Wellness\u00a0and more<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n\r\nLet me know about how you deal with this down in the comments, or on Twitter at @Api_UofT!","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nWarning: this post may contain material that makes you question a lot of things. Proceed with caution. I\u2019m in the library,\u00a0writing a paper on health and social policy (you know, a typical Tuesday night activity). While performing an expert analysis…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “The meaning of life (and other concerns)”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “The meaning of life (and other concerns)”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7204,62,1,67],"tags":[78,12313,13570,11087,9307,220,1439,138,9432,13569,286,948,25506,696,1804],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23656"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23656"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23682,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23656\/revisions\/23682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}