Does questioning reality lead you to madness? | Donald Hoffman and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Donald Hoffman is a cognitive scientist at UC Irvine and author of The Case Against Reality.

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[canadianwatchmonkey]

I’ve never questioned reality up until the last few years. It seems that nothing is right any longer, everything we know seems some how tilted and off center

[HolloVVpoint]

Ever since childhood I’ve always had to catch my self when thinking about reality, because not only does it get confusing but can easily slip into nihilism and madness. It’s easy to see how if you’re smart like these guys you can easily slip into insanity. Almost who ever created us doesn’t want us to think about it.

[scruffydelilah]

When dealing with this, I came to the conclusion that I just want to make people around me happy, feeling loved and laughing hysterically. That’s the impact I want to make. That’s my purpose.

[back-engineered]

My existential crisis started when I was 10. It hit me like a freight train. I was laying in bed and I suddenly jumped up in a panic and balled my eyes out to my parents, unable to explain what I was experiencing. My parents didn't understand what was wrong with me. I went through many years of therapy and every shrink I saw was just as oblivious as my parents were. I truly thought I was the only person in the world who was actually aware of their own existence. It was an extremely lonely, depressing and terrifying experience. I finally discovered philosophy in my early 20s and went down a massive rabit hole until my late 20s. This existential crisis has completely consumed and controlled my life. I have pondered and solved some of the most complex questions a person could ask and what I've come to realize is that no matter how big or how deep the question is, once you solve it, a bigger and much deeper question arises. I'm 31 now. I've concluded that there's no longer any point in pondering these extremely complex questions. After 21 years of pure internal torture, I now finally feel great relief knowing that I no longer have the capacity to solve these questions. I know enough. Now, I'm focused on just enjoying life and working on my hobbies. The trauma still lingers, but it's getting better with time. For anyone going through the same, I promise it gets better. Just relax and know you're not alone.

[excalibur]

I've always felt like something 'isn't quite right' with the world. It's difficult to articulate and it makes you feel very isolated when everyone you attempt to engage about this subject just looks at you blankly.

[Schnippen_Schnappen]

I was really into this inter-dimensional stuff, aliens, reality, simulation, psychedelics, etc. reading and watching stuff like that every day until i got a panic attack. It was too much! Ignorance really is bliss lol

[mikerotonda]

The deeper you dive into finding the knowledge of our reality, the father you move away from it.. That's been my experience at least

[ridarza]

everyone’s comments in here r so beautiful. the fact that there’s so many likeminded individuals who had js the same thoughts as idid. love to all of us awakening and questioning reality. we’re all helping &assisting the world, universe, to awaken to its truest essence

[TheDlockett]

One thing that broke my mind as a kid is that we all have different brains to see each other and experience the same moments but in completely different ways and the fact that I can NEVER see from their literal POV is crazyyy how there’s literally billions of brains and thoughts along with their vision and life experiences.

[takeuchi]

That bit towards the end where they talk about the conundrum of having to deal with the transcendent while still being attached to the local is so relatable, it feels like you're crazy to think of these things but then you realize that they're not false. So cool that someone else talks about it and so many of us can relate.

[UNLLCD]

I'd say there's trauma behind questioning reality. When I was in elementary and middle school, my subconscious mind was trying to understand space and time. I would have night terrors about the sun consuming us, or I'd be trapped in an infinite void after watching everything in reality disappear (besides me and white light). I would be awake enough to know I'm awake, but not enough to control my body. My dreams would overlay reality, and I couldn't distinguish the difference until my mom would make me look at myself in the mirror and splash my face with water to bring me back to "reality."
It was like walking sleep paralysis.
I believe these moments were the catalyst to me thinking about the nature of the universe so often as a teenager. Doing so led to a lot of uncertainty and depression. Now: I'm 23, I don't fear death, I'm comfortable with uncertainty, and I'm happy about life.

[IncoGnito-jidu]

Have you ever felt like after a certain point of reality-pondering, its as if something understands your intrusion, and things start not being so random? Like actively being mocked? By not so random randomness?

[mr.a]

Questioning reality actually puts me at peace, knowing that reality is so fragile and personal to each individual made me let go of so many things I stressed over. Reality is what you make it, enjoy it until we continue our journey on the other side

[ThaTurdBurglar]

As maddening as "true" reality seems, it gives me tremendous hope and joy knowing that all who have come before, and will come, seem to pass through this place and journey on to the next.. no one is alone in that

[yaboyjuice]

Ive had a couple of episodes of high anxiety on this thinking process. Ive come to the realization that we as human beings are so bent on finding reasons for everything like existence. Ive just come to my own conclusion, that not everything needs to have an answer, and that our current existence on this world should be spent in celebration, rather than chaotic curiosity of infinite questions. We don’t need an answer for everything.

[foundprospect]

I experienced severe existential ocd with panic disorder 6 months ago, and it sent me spiralling into major depression. I didn’t want to die because I was so scared of what happened afterwards but I didn’t want to live either, more of like a “I wish I’d never been born”. I struggled to explain or comprehend things about existence but then I changed my thinking. I started focusing on how I FELT rather than what I THOUGHT. Not everything can be put into words and I imagine that if there is something after we die it’s not likely something that could even begin to be expressed in this life. But what I do know is that I have people I love, hobbies I love, and just appreciating the things around me such as nature and interesting natural phenomenon. I think that there’s nothing wrong with being a “physicalist” when we are literally in a physical world. Yes it’s good to tend to our “spirit” and make sure we try to heal our mind, but at the end of the day life is a physical experience and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying it that way :)

[doc]

I'm 56 now, and when I can just look, listen and feel without thoughts this is the only time I can feel real bliss, peace and contentment. and it is so true, that you have to make a conscious effort to do this, if not then we are trapped in the story and game of life which sadly for me at least is mostly depressing.

[ChristAliveForevermore]

This man was so focused on math that he didn't have his first existential crisis until 30.

[Harry-jzdn]

Over ten years ago i took a very serious psychotic break, it took years to get over and i still have mental issues to this day. Before i snapped, i had been OVER meditating. I was really good at it and loved the detachment from self. I could do it for hours at a time, nightly... Sometimes twice daily. But then...

I became completely detached from daily life, from relationships, material things, my job, etc. i was hyper vigilant. I was noticing patterns in mundane things. Was obsessed with numbers and arithmetic. Some of it was nonsense, but didnt seem that way at the time. Other parts tho just pushed me further into madness.

As this video title asks, I was constantly looking for the meaning of reality... Compulsively. Id be convinced one day it was a simulation due to the way i noticed my physical and environments AND the way i observed how everyone went about life (literally like The Sims). The next day tho id believe in a more spiritual answer.

Sadly, i was very easily swayed by conspiracies lime illuminati, satanists, aliens and went down a paranoid rabbit hole which was terrifying.

All that aside tho, the only thing to tbis day that i still can't get my head around where my dreams. I had a dream journal and youd be shocked how often id write down dreams that played out flawlessly the next day. Not mundane things, but scenes in new movies id never watched. Celebrity deaths. Paris terrorist attacks. Interactions with people, strangers in the ecact random places id dreamt. Things that COULD NOT be coincidence and to all those psychologists wholl reply with a, "its just...", im sorry, but youd be basing it on reading this comment and just making assumptions.

[loki]

I used to be heavily into spirituality, but events led me away from it. A month or so after I stepped away from it, I had a night where it was like my consciousness was expanded. it's a strange feeling I can't describe. I was in my front room and put some meditation music on for some reason and asked myself, "Who am I without all I consume?" I kept asking it over and over until it felt like my consciousness was leaving my flesh, and in my mind saw some strange things. The thing that stopped me was when I had to let go of everyone and everything, my family, my friends, everything. It reminded me of when I did dmt and almost had an ego death, but this was different in ways I cant describe. Before I could get any further, my ego shut everything down, basically. Suddenly, it was like I was in a dream. I looked down, and I was standing on an ocean, and in the distance was a beach with a jungle behind it. When I realized I was on water, I fell under and it was like a current dragged my to the shore. There I saw a man who looked old, but he felt more like a man but I cant describe it. He said "You were really onto something there, I really thought you were about to do it". I dont know why, but I said "I dont want to die, Im not ready, " and he replied back by saying, "Yeah, no one is ever ready." I asked one more thing, where would I have gone if I had continued? And he replied, "Over the horizon." After he said that, it was like my body jumped up, and everything was just silent, more than silent. Everything felt very real, but my consciousness no longer felt expanded. I remember it very vividly, and I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I didn't stop myself.