Nothing Matters and That's Okay

My videos can be a lil sad sometimes, but it's sometimes important to put everything into perspective and really reflect on the nature of everything. In this special lil meditation on existential nihilism and Terror Management Theory, I try my darned hardest to answer a really easy question: Why do anything?

I know this is some pretty intense and heavy subject matter, but I really hope you watching this will come away from this feeling energized and motivated rather than bummed and stuff. Everything kinda does suck for everyone, especially right now. But that's kinda more the reason to continue tricking yourself that it doesn't.

All we have is our perception of the world and our day to day experiences. Why throw that away, ya know?

The brilliant song at the end is "Nothingness Vs. The Optimistic Spirit" by St. Terrible, my favorite artist in the northwest United States. Check it out on Spotify and stuff if you can.

By the way! I kinda tasked myself with a challenge for this video: I wanted movement in EVERY SINGLE SECOND of this project. No still stick dudes running through lines like a Powerpoint. I'm kinda experimenting to make my videos a lil more visually interesting. If you thought this was a neat lil thingiemabobber, please let me know. I'm very self conscious and nervous about trying new things.

BY THE WAY SOME DISCLAIMERS!

This video is kinda approaching this topic from a secular perspective. If you're like "but the Bible says sdfjkahfkjdhaskfdh" we're not gonna get anywhere. We're on two very different planes of information to compare and contrast. I talk about religion stuff more in-depth in my other video, "My Thoughts on Religion."

"But Nate, we don't completely know if-" Listen dude, you're free to think whatever you'd like. That's cool. I'm not here to change minds or anything, I'm just here to think out loud and draw silly stick people and whatever. But when you assert some level of uncertainty on the very fabrics of reality, our understanding of the laws of nature, and so on so forth... You're kinda going toe-to-toe with brilliant scientists who have dedicated their lives to understanding, testing, and experimenting with this stuff. The scientific method is never 100% certain on anything, but it's often 99.9% sure about most of the stuff it asserts. Just because you don't completely understand how something works doesn't mean it's untrue. It's your responsibility to educate yourself.

"But Nate, the meaning of life is a test! We're put here to make our own decisions, to be good people! Choosing between good and evil, free will, so on so forth!" This is not a very well thought-out assertion like... at all dawg. It basically comes down to this: If God is omnipotent, he's in control of whether or not injustice is a necessary foil to extract obligatory meaning out of anything. He also knows the outcome of all moral situations he throws his creations into. Either god is bound to pre-existing ideals or he's evil. But again, this video is also kinda assuming we're on a secular basis of understanding with each other. I'm just throwing this disclaimer in here since I know there are gonna be hundreds of 14 year olds trying to argue this in the comments, and it's gonna blow up my phone for months on end after I've posted this video.

Wow you actually read all this? I'm impressed. You get a banana Laffy Taffy for your efforts.

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it's bad for your health.

[NateIsLame]

The song at the end is "Nothingness Vs. The Optimistic Spirit" by St. Terrible!

[pughotel]

“Do you think God stays in heaven, cause he too, fears what he’s created?” -Spykids 2

[myafloreszz]

This kinda comforted me in a way I can’t explain

[syntacticcave]

Never stress about anything in life because nothing lasts so nothing really matters.

[strwbrry_x]

This was kinda a relief for me. If nothing matters than that means that all my struggles and everything bad in the world doesn't matter. We're all gonna die at some point and most of us will not be remembered so why worry about bad decisions, the past or any of that stuff.

[jasono]

"Nothing matter" - NateIsLame 2020

[daadirroorow]

It's already 2 years and I rewatch this everytime when life doesn't feel right...

[paraparaptwentytwo]

"when your on that hospital bed surrounded by your loved ones fading into the nothingness I hope it's not filled with regret and hopelessness. I hope you accept it as a welcome break after yelling into the void"

That hit hard. I've been thinking about how I'm gonna be the people you see die in tv shows. How I'm going to be an old guy not knowing when my last day is, but knowing my death day is near and it scared me to my core, but this helped me realize maybe it's not such a bad thing. I realized that it's a break that I'll get no matter what, but I still hope to earn.

[james_winstone]

"Death smiles at as all, all a man can do is smile back"
Marcus Aurelius

[elbeano]

"There's one thing to know about this earth
We're put here just to make more dirt and that's okay" - Spy Kids Thumb Person

[itsyaboi]

I’m glad that I finally found someone who talks about this type of stuff with honesty. Thank you.

[kenpaul]

I came to the point where I discover nothing matters. Whatever I do, whatever I think, nothing matters it will all be gone after my last breath. And it's been going for years. For the last seven years Ive had this thought of suicidal, as I felt nothing matters. I continue going thru this life finding it purpose. I've watched several videos liked this but nothing makes me feel what I felt from watching yours. Sad, self-pity and then smiling on the end.
I felt like your thoughts are completely the same what had been playing on my mind but not the ending part. And so, I came to the conclusion that I must agree with you, just enjoy the fleeting moment of our little lives while we can.

[nicogalati]

Whenever I see a kid in public I sometimes think of the day the will realize their inevitability. I realized this a very young age. Around about 9-10. I think how they had no choice in coming into this world, and even if they look happy now, where will they be in 20 years? Life’s unfair, and those 5 year olds could die tomorrow. Then I remember that there’s nothing I can change about it, so there’s no reason to dwell on it.

[Alto-hfrd]

Although I know it's unlikely that you'll see this comment, seeing as this video is 3 years old, I still want to thank you. Thank you for making this video. Thank you for being honest, for not mincing words or using euphemisms to make this all seem more palatable than it actually is. Thank you for giving me a new perspective on life, the universe, and the end of everything.

[luctator]

All I can say about this is: Thank you. I’m starting to have an existential crisis similar to the one you mentioned in your video about religion where I have become scared of death and the nothingness that follows it. This video helped me understand that it’s ok, I’m not gonna be here forever so I might as well make this life a good one. Thank you so much and stay safe out there

[jhw]

i respect this so much, as a christian myself i really respect other’s opinions and ideas of “after life” if i’m honest i don’t even know how to feel about the “after life” to be honest i believe it will be forever bliss in a bench looking out into the white void and not thinking, talking, or doing anything. i’m just happy i can hear other’s opinions on it before i go because it might be what i think or what you think i don’t know and it’s great that we can live in peace between our thoughts and opinions so thank you for this

[josephjoestar]

so this is basically a long way of saying YOLO

[mccarney]

Dude this video is beautiful. I’m a Christian and I don’t see myself ever being otherwise, but I feel that this is such a universal outlook on life. No matter what religion/atheist beliefs you subscribe to there’s nothing you can do about your eventual death except make your life as fulfilling as it possibly can through any number of goals you have for yourself in your own life. I personally feel that God is real and that I have worked on a solid connection with him in my own life, and hope to make it stronger as I go on. I have other goals as well for myself, but I still have this hope that an afterlife is waiting for me. There are just too many people I want to feel the presence of and speak with again. Too many people I miss or have never even met that I want to see and I hope heaven is for real. In the meantime, however, I’ll try my best to spend my time doing things I enjoy, and more importantly giving and receiving love from people around me in all different forms. At some point in this video though I will say I was like this is WAY too dark but I’m so happy I stuck around because by the end something was wonderfully heartwarming about this video. Thank you Nate I subbed

[kavetta]

i’ve been in and out of an existential crisis for a few years now and your videos always help me stay grounded, thanks man

[XmegaDominus]

and THIS is why i'm starting my business creating heart-shaped rice cakes that taste like bubble gum instead of going to college, TAKE THAT MOM