What Makes Life Worthwhile?

0:00 - Introduction
2:03 - The perspectival nature of the question and its possible answers
4:29 - Answer #1: Pleasure & happiness
5:25 - Problem: Times when suffering makes life worthwhile
7:33 - Problem: The interdependency of pain and pleasure
9:57 - Answer #2: Aesthetics & wisdom
13:26 - Answer #3: Sociality... giving & receiving
16:52 - Answer #4: The adventure of transcendence
18:06 - Danger, fear and the prospect of annihilation
20:42 - Transcendence requires no special occasion
24:04 - The necessity of cultivating a strategic sense for danger
25:32 - Practicing self-awareness
29:53 - Summary & conclusion
Here's a link to my earlier video on anti-natalism and efilism, which has to do with the question of what makes life NOT worthwhile:
• Anti-natalism & Efilis...

[@harmanveerrandhawa841]

Deeply appreciated Eric, your videos have truly broadened my perceptions and my understanding of the self and world, even more so than any university textbook or lecture. You’ve made a large impact on my life, and I am forever grateful for that. Sincerely, Harmanveer

[@ericdodson2644]

Hey... and I deeply appreciate your providing me with a great topic! It's great to encounter people like you on the road of life. Gratitude. Eric D.

[@SuperASHUTOSH777]

Aa... Fellow Indian

[@cosmiclifeist4875]

@@SuperASHUTOSH777 🇮🇳

[@raymond-z]

I really appreciate your uploads, I was afraid that you would never come back to youtube but I'm happy that you're still making videos :D

[@tablesization]

You nailed it.. “To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women” For Aristotle: “virtue ethics”. 🤣🤣 That was funny. I miss you sir.

[@ericdodson2644]

Holy crap! Is this the same Tim Ables I knew back in the day? If so... dude... it's great to encounter you again. Anyhow, thanks for liking my cheesy Arnold impression! I hope you're well, wherever in this world you might be. I'm personally still in Carrollton, although retired now (thanks in part to COVID). Eric D.

[@omarmath8573]

thank you Eric, you are a great teacher and thinker , i am a muslim officially but years after studying philosophy i became agnostic. phillosophy in our Arab countries like Egypt is very dangerous and we are suffering from a frozen mentality every day , your videos and the like represent breathing fresh air at night.

[@willd6215]

Just to clarify, agnostic is not a label on its own. You have to add either theist or atheist after. For example 'agnostic atheist'.

[@m.rebman7221]

@@willd6215 are you sure? The whole point of being agnostic is being, well, UN-sure. An atheist or theist is, on the contrary, a believer - that is, someone committed to a doctrine. This chap has become uncommitted, and hence cannot be considered a theist OR atheist. Check the Greek etymology of the term “gnosis”.

[@willd6215]

@@m.rebman7221I'm going with the most common and widely accepted understanding of these terms. Agnostic is about knowledge. So you can be a gnostic theist (you know there is a God and therefore you believe in God), you can be an agnostic Theist (you don't know if there is a God but believe there is one), a gnostic Atheist (claim to know there is no God), or agnostic Theist (don't know if there is a God or not but not a believer)

[@Ken-ip6bg]

@@willd6215 I have never seen a spectrum of belief/unbelief spelled out in these terms, and I really don't think you can claim that these are the most common or widely accepted way of conceiving of it. Agnostic is commonly used to refer to your final category: a person who is uncertain whether there is a god or not and acts in life as though there is no god.

[@willd6215]

@@Ken-ip6bg and they would also be an atheist so they would be agnostic atheist, someone who doesn't know if a God exists and doesn't believe in one either

[@kevinhornbuckle]

Yesterday I saw the effulgent brilliance of the universe. I was driving sixteen tons of re-bar down the Oregon coast through a heavy rainstorm. The waves crashing on the rocks below the cliffs were the essence of violence. Then right at a hair pin turn at the top of a three-hundred foot cliff, the sky opened up and the sun shone through in a way that absolutely represented eternity. You could be taken in an instant, or go on to live another day, enjoying the feeling of not having killed anyone.

[@AnotherDante]

This dude wearing a Nightwish shirt. Based.

[@randolphsettles8592]

We are little but dopamine chasers, more through the anticipation of an action or event than experiencing either itself. I unfortunately concluded this at an early age. Take away dopamine and we'll just sit slumped in a chair staring at, and feeling, nothing. It's the key chemical to life. It has to constantly be created, appeased, engaged, then cycled over and over. It's an exhausting endeavor, but necessary to keep you moving forward in time.

[@FinalFantasy8911debater]

That's objective proof that life is absurd. That's what you all need to understand. If chasing god's will is nonsensical, how much MORE nonsensical is chasing a dopamine high? There's nowhere to go in the universe, that and other facts prescribe that life ought to go extinct.

[@FinalFantasy8911debater]

Life isn't necessary, it doesn't need to happen, but also because its absurd and causes a horrendous amount of wasted torture, it ought NOT happen.

[@SenidOptimises]

Ohh another banger! Thank you for the upload, professor!

[@JanuelWithGlasses]

Dude I just watched some of your stuff yesterday!! God is good 🤲

[@sajadtorkamani9399]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Appreciate it )

[@mattelgin]

Thanks Eric, good hearing your voice. I had a few out loud laughs. I also thought (somewhat morbidly) of my grandmother in her process of passing some years ago, her labored breathing, not really conscious, and how simple connection to her breath must've been everything, or the feeling of someone holding her hand, or her family singing to her ... as much as she loved cookies and alcohol and sex and whatever else that moved her in her younger years, in the last moments of her life I imagine the simplest experiences were that grain of sand, and profoundly meaningful. Contemplating what my last moments may be if I am afforded this type of passing puts me in connection with what is worthwhile. Anyway, your video gives me energy to send love notes to family, walk the dog and find joy in her sniffing pee on the bushes, and feel good in my soreness after a workout. Wishing you well out there, I'm glad you are around.

[@userMB1]

Great video! One of the things that makes life worthwhile for me is seeking knowledge. Sovrates said himself "an unexamined life is not worth living". I used to feel bad about being a bookworm but it seems that i was missing living outside going to clubs and concerts or something but luckily i find likeminded people and grew confidence in who i am.

[@jbug1979]

really appreciate your videos, eric. the last 2.5 years in my life have been spent working for a crazy company. it negatively affected every aspect of my life and i didn't even realize it. i recently left the company and found a new job at a normal company. now i no longer have the thoughts you referred to at the beginning of this video. and i find myself appreciating so many things that i had been missing for the past few years. your videos are one of those things :-) nice arnold impression BTW

[@talhabedir3812]

thank you for removing a portion of self-inflicted, unnecessary pain man...

[@haikubandit2607]

Seems my "wisdom peaks" Arrive like vivid dreams which I soon then forget *nice to see you, friend Always enjoy your teachings Hope you have been well

[@GeorgeDonaldMiller]

You've done it again! Really appreciate your synthesis. I used your videos here to inform my research while working on my masters in transformational leadership and coaching.

[@redsparks2025]

Transcendence can both elate the self into a cosmic oneness and at the same time humble the self into a drop of water in the middle of a cosmic ocean. Both at once, together. Something I have experienced whilst observing motes of dust dancing in sun beams; focusing on just one mote. However the danger of the former - if taken to the extreme - is that it may inflate the ego towards narcissism. The danger of the later - if taken to the extreme - is that it may deflate the ego towards nihilism. This is why using psychedelics to expand one's consciousness by those that don't know what they are doing can end badly. This is why expand one's consciousness through mindfulness meditation without the moral teachings that Buddhism adds can lead to wrong view. The state of transcendence is a state of balancing on the point of a needle. And one cannot stay in that state forever. That is why learning to let go is also important and I believe a pre-requisite. Breath in then breath out letting go of that breath.

[@k.q.594]

This is the exact video I needed at this point in my life

[@andrewlamb4857]

I have enjoyed your videos immensely. As a professor, I am studying your habitus. I appreciate your candor.😊

[@tehczmych]

Thank you so much. I'm happy you are back.

[@eamonnobriain8383]

Happy to see you posting again. One of those interesting videos at just the right time again...!

[@mamadi123]

I’m very glad you’re fine and have uploaded another video.

[@docjohnson2717]

Thank you yet again!!.....Your insightful observations are relevant on so many levels...thank you for sharing your own travels to the brink.

[@ivankaramazov707]

Could you make a separate video on self awareness and how to cultivate it, what are the challenges? Is self awareness and Greek aphorism "know thyself" same? I have heard that one of the life's fundamental duty is to know about oneself. What does is it mean to know about oneself, what steps and attitudes one must adopt to move forward on this.

[@nicknorizadeh4336]

I think facing up to suffering in a courageous way is what cultivates self knowledge/ self awareness. What are your thoughts about this?

[@ivankaramazov707]

@@nicknorizadeh4336 The two phenomena that I have experienced which helped me on this are 1) doing things that came from my interests and desires, this pushed me towards understanding myself and in a attitude of seeking to understand the world in hopes to achieve some result. 2) Falling in love, I became bit more courageous, I was looking and facing my flaws and I am slowly Changing my ways.

[@Madasin_Paine]

Timely. Useful. Thank you.

[@nicoledodson3390]

Great video, Babe! 💕

[@dougpalmer4633]

You are the most honest and motivational person on KZbin. Thank you for these wonderful, wisdom filled videos. I'm glad I stumbled upon them. I watch them daily. I wish you were around back at IU in 1990.

[@benjamindover4337]

Food for thought indeed.

[@user-nf4qd8wr1u]

Thanks for your great videos

[@dlloydy5356]

Love your view of transcendence

[@Bobotv1000]

Eric, I was just thinking about writing you an E-Mail for a very personal problem, and was then wondering about how you yourself are doing, because you hadn't uploaded anything for a while. I hope he's doing fine I thought And now you uploaded!!! I'm so happy that you're doing well.

[@dlloydy5356]

Fantastic summary

[@joseandrada264]

Very interesting, thanks

[@AlastorTheNPDemon]

I asked myself how I wanted to die, and my answer was "with a smile on my face".

[@user-ql1uh8ph8m]

Thank you

[@janpi314]

thank you

[@jrnpaulsen9926]

If not only a brilliant man, you also seem to be incredibly wise. The way you are able to convey such concise and valuable information that effectively is both impressive and inspiring. Thank you. I do actually want to ask you a bunch of questions, but I'll have to endure the struggle of picking just one: Do you ever feel the need to lean on some kind of hope in life, or have you managed to just accept life exactly as it is? I'm well aware of the potentiality for nuances in relation to that question, so I would appreciate it if you could elaborate as deeply (and personally) as you're comfortable with.

[@novamd4611]

Can you start a Podcast? I enjoy your content and I genuinely appreciate your insights! Also I feel like you would reach a lot more people on TikTok! Maybe start a TikTok account too.. just a suggestion. Thanks again for the awesomeness! Godspeed

[@leahcotton5315]

Hi Eric, I adore your channel. I was wondering if you could do something on feminism or feminist philosophy? That would be really meaningful to me, since so many of the philosophers and thought leaders of the past and present are/were men. I would like to hear about some female thinkers you admire too. Thank you for this channel. Edit: grammar

[@unusualpond]

Hey Dr D. Love your work! Just wondering… Have you ever looked into the teachings of J Krishnamurti? Lots of amazing content here on KZbin. A lot of his stuff maps really well over the existentialist and psychological content that you explain so beautifully, but he touches on ideas on self-awareness, life, death, love, relationship and meditation in ways that I’ve never heard anyone else describe - at least not in one oeuvre. Like the best parts of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Rollo May, and Buddhism all rolled into one. I think you’d get a kick out of it. Let me know if you have thoughts on it. Would love to see you do a video on his work. Best regards!

[@nicknorizadeh4336]

Answer #5 The poetry of Robert Frost

[@dixztube]

i cause my own issues sad to say lol but this seems really interesting ill have to watch it all

[@somethingyousaid5059]

Going all the way back to some kind of a beginning of human sentience, billions of human beings have already lived lives that were not worth living. This world is in denial about the fact that procreation forces suffering.

[@buzzynut]

Save America is a call to adventure