Is Fear the Strongest Force in the Universe?

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I've been contemplating the philosophy of suicide a lot lately (and have had some suicidal thoughts as well), and when I was thinking about it, I arrived at a conclusion that the Absurd (or absurdity of life) is the strongest force in the universe, for even Death itself is but one aspect of the Absurd. But then I thought "Well, if the Absurd is so powerful, wouldn't everyone who's aware of it commit suicide, knowing that life is meaningless?" and so I arrived at another conclusion - that Fear is the most powerful force in the universe; for it is Fear that prevents those of us aware of the Absurd from committing suicide. Of course, as I write this, I am thinking about how I'm only 22 years old and have PLENTY of time still to commit suicide, and even if I don't commit suicide, I'll still die of some other cause eventually. So, perhaps, the Absurd is still more powerful. What do you guys think about this subject? Do you think that if we alleviated our fears about suicide, more of us would actually commit it? In trying to come up with a good reason not to commit suicide, I've discovered that fear is the only reason for me, but fear of suicide seems irrational to me, therefore I shouldn't fear it, and I should commit suicide*. Can someone help me reconcile this conundrum I'm in?





*Five good reasons I should probably commit suicide:
1) Life is absurd - I'll die anyways, someday, somehow
2) My girlfriend dumped and it's really tearing me apart, because it seemed like it was for a b.s. reason
3) I can't continue college right now (after I had JUST started to really enjoy it) because of tuition debt
4) I'm 22 years old, but still living with my mother, and tensions are beginning to get high here (I don't like seeing her suffer because of me)
5) I just got laid off from a pretty good job that I was just starting to enjoy, for absolutely no good, legitimate reason whatsoever, except that I suspect the company was just trying to increase profit by cutting me

Yes.

However, most suicides are because of depression, not based on reason.

Depression causes the mind to dwell on negative thoughts of sadness and hopelessness.

Can you not think of many positive things that could happen for you?

I don't think your mother is suffering because of you. She will certainly suffer more if you decided to end your life, and would never recover from the guilt. So there is a good reason not to.

I'm sorry you lost your job: I have also lost more than one job I was enjoying but now after losing my last one in April I have a better paid one with shorter working hours and a chance to make good. Life may be absurd at times, but it is a cycle or wheel which turns and can supply all manner of surprises.

Sorry too about tuition debt. I couldn't afford college or university most of my life but managed to get onto a series of disabled learnerships (physical and other disabilities and my diagnosis qualified me) several years back which were not only free but we were paid a monthly stipend to attend: received the certificates of competence. Are there similar programmes in your country, or chances of a bursary maybe?

You could find a more compatible girlfriend who is less fickle but be contented until she arrives: as I said, life is full of surprises and she may be around a yet unexplored corner...

Well there are many other reasons aside from fear holding me back from suicide currently. To me it doesn't matter if existence really is meaningless objectively...I mean if that is so, then wouldn't committing suicide be pointless and meaningless as well? Also from my understanding its unpleasant, there are more pleasant ways to spend the meaningless existence.

There is also the phenomenon of people killing themselves because of fear, they fear something worse will happen to them if they don't commit suicide. Like when they first brodcasted War of The Worlds on the radio and people thought it was real and a few killed themselves because they were afraid of the terrible aliens would do to them.

Also I am 26 and I still live with my mom

College/education can be put on hold till a later time just because you're unable to do it right now doesn't mean you can never return to it and complete your education.

And your ex girlfriend isn't worth the amount of effort it would take to off yourself from the sound of it.

I can certainly concede that that is how it begins, but at some point, people start to weigh reasons to commit suicide with the reasons to live, and they begin to take a philosophical stance on it. I feel like I'm at that point now, but I do wonder if I would be feeling and thinking this way without feeling the guilt/shame/self-pity first...



That's just it - because I'm not prescient, and I have a rather limited "pragmatic imagination" as I call it (versus a creative one), I can't think of anything positive that could potentially happen to me. And, if I were to extend things into a five-dimensional universe (or even six-dimensional, or x-dimensional really), then everything good or bad that could possibly happen to me is all happening simultaneously - yet it still does nothing whatsoever for my limited four-dimensional consciousness that perceives the physical universe in three dimensions. I don't know what's going to happen to me or what could happen to me - and that is part of the reason that life is so absurd. I could take a causal approach to understanding the universe and what good things may be in store for me - I've experienced my ups and downs before, so the future shouldn't really hold anything different for me. Each time I experienced a down, I became hopeless, just as I am now, but then something good came along to alleviate that feeling of hopelessness, so logically the same should happen as this "down" period subsides. I just don't know the nature of the next good, "up" period, you know? So, in brief, no, I can't think of anything positive that could happen for me - but, I suppose, they'll still be there. If I commit suicide, I probably won't find out. And, who knows? Perhaps committing suicide is actually different than dying naturally - somehow, I just get the feeling that because of its nihilistic nature, suicide literally leads to "nothingness," a cessation of all consciousness. Whereas dying naturally will lead to transcendence - expanding one's consciousness to an even higher level. Who knows?

There was a study done that suicidal thoughts are 10x more likely in Asperger people.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2014/10/13 ... 76016.html

Quoted: "“The rigid thinking style and lack of imagination (i.e. not being able to see any other way out) that is typical of Asperger’s syndrome might respond well to psychological interventions.”

So, there is some speculation that ASD "rigid thinking"/ "black-white thinking" may trap ASD people into seeing suicide as the only option, and psychological intervention is needed to help these people see alternate choices.

So, if you are really considering suicide, then at least see a doctor and get other perspectives.

It isn't fear that "holds me back" from suicide.

It's knowing that suicide is stupid and solves nothing. The only exception being those who are terminally ill and who wish to end their lives in a somewhat dignified and painless way.

Suicide is unethical because you don't own your life. It belongs to God

The electromagnetic force has been proven to be the strongest force in the universe.

Love is the strongest force.

Well, if we're talking about those kinds of forces, then wouldn't it be strong nuclear forces?

You're assuming I'm an aspie though, which I thought I was for the past fifteen years, but answer me this: from your experience, are many aspies psychotic? Do they think the world and everyone in society is out to get them? Are they socially competent, yet simply lack the confidence and self-esteem to go up to a member of the opposite sex and just have nice, casual small talk, and see where it leads them? Are they impulsive in any way? Do they hate others SO MUCH sometimes, that they actually have horrific thoughts, like going up to a random person and decapitating them with a kitchen meat knife? Do they have exceptionally good verbal skills, even better than most NTs? Because THAT'S the one that really bugs me about my PDD-NOS diagnosis (I wasn't even given a formal autism diagnosis, that's how unsure I am about it). What I think I could be is a depressed and anxious sociopath with some psychotic delusions, if you want to get really technical about it.

Meh. I thought so too, but honestly, nowadays, I think it only ought to be the strongest force.

In response to my earlier reply about how I might be a "depressed and anxious sociopath with some psychotic delusions," I'm beginning to think that me being an aspie actually isn't as far-fetched as I thought it was. But, speaking hypothetically here, just as aspies are high-functioning members of the autistic community, so too might I be a high-functioning member of the aspie community. I'm neither a typical autist nor a typical aspie, but rather someone very closely resembling a neurotypical (as far as autism goes - I'm not so sure about other conditions). As for the hateful thoughts and psychotic delusions, those aren't limited exclusively to sociopaths and schizophrenics, I suppose. And a lot of aspies are actually very verbally inclined from what I've read (I feel like I'm a good balance of both verbal and visual, leaning a little more towards verbal). Anyways, I'm probably part of the top ninetieth percentile of autists as far as social and cognitive functioning goes, both for classic autists and aspies. So maybe it's pointless for me to dwell on suicide so much - I've just forgotten my function and my form, and my purpose in life (which reminds me of Stephen King's recurring phrase in The Dark Tower, "You have forgotten the face of your father" - I think I know now what he meant by that). I'm pretty depressed because my girlfriend left me, but perhaps I don't need those kinds of carnal pleasures to truly enjoy life; perhaps I need to commit to more academic pursuits a little more seriously than I have in the past, and abstain a bit more from the earthly pleasures of life. I understand that it doesn't have to be one or the other, but I just feel like for me it might make things a bit easier to make a choice now of which type of life I would really like to lead.

No, because its effective range is less than a femtometer. EM has an effective range of infinity.

By the way, "Fear" and "Love" are not a forces. They are bio-chemically induced feelings and mental states. Only this, and nothing more.

Okay, I get it, you're a scientist, not a philosopher.