Existential Depression

I am also on board this ship.
Especially this:

 

I feel this fairly often, but I try to counter by reasoning that, while yes, life has no intrinsic meaning, that is actually a good thing, because it leaves us the power to define the meaning of our lives as we see fit. A blank slate.
 
Of course this doesn't solve the problem of what meaning to assign to our lives or how to make that fulfilling, but its a start.

 

If your life is meaningless in your success then why be afraid of failure or messing up. There is no weight on your shoulders holding you down

 

Do something about it, or give up. Stop whining.

 

I think this happens because a lot of the content somebody can fill their life with could have little true meaning, or plays to the meaning of somebody else's reality, making someone feel insignificant. so the circumstances are anything, but happier people tend to not let their stress responses attach to things that aren't immediately vital to well-being, whereas depressed people kind of go into a forced meditation about their hopes not being met for whatever situation. 
 
I've got like manic episodes, it's a weird twisted logic where one's perceptions just don't let positive energy in. because why? it's a fucked up world out there, why should you go around appreciating everything like a moron when your emotional faculty tells you something different?

 

I wasn't raised with any kind of spiritual or religious background, so I never felt it was necessary to have any kind of meaning other than the meaning I assigned to what I experienced. I've never been depressed. It might be hard to acclimate yourself to a new look on life, but stop thinking like you're missing the meaning of life, and more like you've discovered that you have the freedom to pick, change, throw away, and regain any meaning you want, any time you want!

 

Where do the lines of Existential Depression, and psychological depression converge? When does it stop becoming merely a thought, and starts to express itself in ones behavior?

 

I went through some serious depression when I was going through an existential crisis in college. It fucked with my grades and motivation. Don't feel alone on this, it seems to be a pretty common thing with people who consider things more than others tend to. There's no bandaid for it, you gotta ride it out - it's all attitude. You'll get to the point that, yes everything is fucking shitty but there's nothing you can do about it and just go for the ride (Practically Buddhism, in my opinion). So just hang in there, any of you dealing with it. It's actually a very enlightening experience if you ride it out.
 
Some people end up submitting to religion to fix that feeling, which I don't blame them... random tidbit.

 

 
It has to be, we're purpose driven beings. Just by our nature, in my opinion. We're rewarded chemically by eating/shitting/pissing all the basic things. They're all drives. Once you come to the conclusion that all these drives are 'meaningless' it's tough to deal with. I actually think humans are probably not designed to come to that conclusion - which is why it's so uncomfortable. But that may open a can of worms with some people. We're not designed to handle a number of things, really - just to rant. I feel like that's a reason why quantum mechanics is so fucked up to us because our brain doesn't really manage things on a quantum scale (that we realize, at least). Consider what it was like before the universe existed. You can't (I don't believe you can). Our brain is not equipped with the ability to meaningfully conclude anything about 'before the universe/before time', in my opinion.
 
But who knows, obviously their are very successful quantum scientists so perhaps it really comes down to adaptability. /end rant

 

 
Actually I do. Nihilism has plagued me for years. What I said is ultimately the answer, even if gruffly said.
 
There is no cure for existential angst except for self-determination.

 

My remedy for existential depression is Martin Heidegger's Being and Time. I haven't felt like reading Time and Being yet, but I think i'll check it out soon enough.
 
For a little bit of a teaser, he basically outlines Authentic Dasein (or person), Inauthentic Dasein, how Dasein falls into inauthenticity, how how dasein recognizes it, ect, ect, and that is his 'objective' meaning of life - essentially for Dasein to be Dasein. It's definitely a great book, but a little dificult to read, cop some lectures from Hubert Dreyfus as you read. Just google the name along with Heidegger, and you'll get podcast recordings of his Heidegger class at Berkeley.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Being-Time-Martin-Heidegger/dp/0061575593

Also, blazing helps.

 

Live in the moment.

 

 
Yeah I think so - I meant to be curt, not rude - it's a simple solution that can be very problematic to achieve.
 
Find something you want to achieve, and don't let what you cannot achieve get in the way. That's my path to self-determination, and it works for me.