friends help: Hello, I am a 21 year old male that for the past five years has been constantly battling with anxiety and depression. - Help.com

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I guess just practice listening to people. When you really listen to what other people say, you can see where they are coming from. Doesn’t mean that you’ll be grateful though. I’m not sure how somebody with your beliefs would manage to be grateful in life without anybody to be grateful towards (i.e., God). Atheism’s natural conclusion is Fatalism and a kind of “Carpe Diem” belief. But the Carpe Diem belief is not the belief system of happy people. It’s the belief system of very unhappy people.

christopher-rourk wrote:
I think my atheist outlook was embedded in me when I was young. My family have a scientific background and I’ve always been interested in science from an early age. It is not that I want to disprove religion in anyway, after all, faith is important. My outlook has been shaped upon what has been proved fact, meaning I could repeat a task myself and receive a similar outcome. I can however understand where you’re coming from.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Just curious, but how exactly do you manage to deal with things that clearly go against science in terms of repeatability? Like, for example, you can’t go back in time and repeat the Spanish Civil War. So do you just choose not to believe that it is real, and happened?

A lot of people think that science is the only way to truth (which is called Scientism). But there are a lot of things that science has absolutely no way to figure out. For example, if I decide to bake Eggplant Lasagna tonight, science can figure out HOW I made it. But it can never figure out WHY I baked Eggplant Lasagna unless I choose to reveal my reason. Even with the most powerful futuristic brain scans imaginable, it would not be possible.

This is because information carries a semiotic dimension; it carries a meaning. It is not possible to discover information based on the atoms in my brain, just like it is not possible to discover what the information written on a Menu by breaking it down to the physics and chemistry of the paper and ink. You can figure out what the menu is, but you cannot deduce what’s for supper.

Just something I’ve always curiously wanted to ask a non-believer. If you don’t have an answer, that’s fine. Just ignore it.

become a councilor at a suicide prevention center crisis line.
You’ll get out of yourself quickly.
ok ok.. that seems excessive, but it is a very real option.

also you will learn that long time anxiety and depression may be a chemical problem (in your brain) and you may learn the different ways to manage this.

you are 21. this is a young age. Learn to manage these issues now. each day you will be rewarded for the effort.

Normally friends help one stay motivated and empathy comes from trying to think as other people do. And over time, you get used to trying to think as other people do.
It’s also a feeling, and therefore sometimes something that people who value reason and intellect more highly than they should have a tendnency to suppress.

christopher-rourk wrote:
Through science though, I want to help people increase their quality of life, surely in both science and religion this is ethically and morally right?

Indeed, quality of life is important.