This whole energy thing intrigues me... I suggest you to elaborate as well.

I've recently started to look at solypsism as a kind of metrology investigation. If we want to measure something, we use a pattern and we compare what we want to measure to it. The result will be a number times the value of the pattern. For example: a rock weighing 3 kg is just 3 times the value of the current accepted pattern of 1 kg from the international bureau of standards (which will be soon changed). Some other object could weight less than a kg as well. When it comes to reality we don't have a pattern that will confirm how real something is or is not because if it existed it would still be part of the world whose reality we question and therefore, not a pattern, since we are not sure about its value of reality. We don't really know anything outside of us and we can't be sure everything around us is also result of a very vivid imagination. My conclusion: solipsism does not need to be refuted, it has to be neglected. Even if this is some kind of dream produced by me, I can still enjoy it and most of the time I will not even care.

There's no cage! — Frank Apisa

I second this, there's no cage. It's only about exploring your potential, finding out what things you like etc.

For the same reason that you can divide 8 apples among two people but not 8 pears by 2 peaches? — Frank Apisa

Thanks for answering.
My issue is that mathematical division seems to be limited by its concepts, by the things that are to be divided and not only by mathematical rules. Dividing apples among people makes sense because people can actually do stuff with apples but peaches can't.

It is no coincidence that dividing the voltage difference in a circuit over the resistance of a resistor in that circuit produces a unit of current - this is because the resistor impedes the flow of current across it relative to the voltage which facilitates the flow of current. So you can think of V = IR as R = V/I; the scaling of a potential difference to the current flow. — fdrake

Thanks a lot for your isnightful answer. I'm still going through it. I imagine Georg Simon Ohm in his lab making measurements, when he increased voltage current increased proportionally but what determined the slope of this function, if he increased voltage linearly of course, was resistance. Do you think the same scheme could be applied to more concrete concepts? like saying: the amount of apples per person increases if more apples are to be given.

At age 22, I gave up dating and spent my time studying what relationship was about and what I needed to be doing to equip myself. — Old Brian

Hi, Old Brian. Firstly, thanks for your answer. How exactly did you find out how to equip yourself? Did you read any specific books? Did you talk to certain people?

I see nature and how wild animals live and I'm disgusted, I'm not sure how to change it. — FreeEnergy

Why would you feel disgusted about that? Is it because of what humans have done to them? Otherwise, they don't care about their own way of living and will care much less if we do or not. I have no concerns on the way they behave, I do worry about the impact of our selfish actions on them but even now there are people trying to fix that, which by the way, gives a lot of meaning to their lives.

but no narrative can convince me anymore. — FreeEnergy

That's obviously not true. Hence why you're here.

Hi there. I've been through something similar. Last year I realized life was meaningless. I also began to question my spiritual beliefs which felt like a kick in the balls. I felt existential truth would swallow me from above and I had nothing else to hold on to the ground. Embracing the void, as Camus put it, was something very hard for me to perform, I mean, that's the last thing one would embrace. However, I would not end my own life, I would just remain hopeless. That hopelesness started to decline when I talked to my mom about that. She burst into tears when she find out how I felt about that and she told me it was not a good idea to feel that way if I would eventually be forced to feel even worse (i.e. when somebody close to me died). Of course I told her that an existential crisis was still something hard to go through and that as long as I did not know how feeling worse was then I would not feel any better, I know that doesn't make any sense. Nevertheless, I took her words as a mantra and started to take any "bad" things that happened to me as meaningless. It became clear to me that problems were not worth my stress or anxiety.
Time went by and I felt some consolation: it was clear that regardless of my spiritual beliefs, regardless of the lack of meaning and the absurdity of it all, my family and friends remained as a constant. I remembered how fortunate I was to have the life I now have. I thought that if life is absurd then we can feel as victims because we were brought into it or we can just laugh at its absurdity, in fact, we frequently laugh at what is absurd. Why not laugh at life once in a while? I do.
I of course condemn people's evil acting but rather than focusing on it I focus on doing good. Goodness is from my point of view the closest thing to divinity we will ever manage to be.
Finally, I stay as close as I can to my passions. I love philosophy, so I try to frequently read about it. I love physics, so I read a lot about it. I love music, so I try to practice playing piano or whatever; you get my point. Passions fuel my will to live in a way I can't explain.
I sincerely hope you will get out of your crisis soon. Just hang in there.

Interesting experience you had. Do you feel your potential has decreased somehow since the incident? Have you looked up Fermi's paradox?

Yes, he was... Sigh

I've had sex very few times in my life and I can say they have been expensive in some ways, for example: I worry a lot about STDs, also, I worry a lot about pregnancy. Not to mention the fact that the woman I have sex with and I are almost never in sync with each other: we are almost never equally horny, we are rarely horny at the same time; sometimes I really want to have sex and she has stuff to do like taking care of her brother's baby; sometimes she has to go very far to work and I'm not able to see her. All these things frustrate me and I cannot complain at all. So at the end of the day much of what I've taken out of sex has been frustration and anxiety. It may be because I'm a beginner but still I have asked myself if it's even worth it. I hope that when your first time arrives you don't get the same things out of sex as I did. However, you are very likely to do so and if you feel depressed I don't recommend adding anxiety and frustration to that. The problems will outweigh the pleasure that comes with sex the first times, I guess that will change over time, right now I could not tell. If I were you I would work on my depression before anything and I think you should ask for help. Here in Mexico we have public hospitals and people with economic difficulties can access Quality healthcare and that includes both psychiatric and psychological treatments. You may search for something similar where you live. I mean, I never had depression but therapy has been really helpful to me nevertheless.

@praxis
What do you do to remove yourself from the equation?

I've been through that same situation before. It was an engineering test and I had a book to study from but I wanted more exercises so I looked up on Google and I found an exercise to work on. When I saw the test I realized it was exactly the same exercise I had found on Google. I had a high grade on that test and I just realized I had studied very well because I had looked elsewhere other than the book. Certainly, I was a little bit disappointed with my teacher because he had no imagination but that was completely his problem.

Ok, just for the record, Wallows, my intention was to quote the whole text you wrote at the beginning, not just the 8k. Sorry about that, I'm such a noob in here.

8k — Wallows

Hope I quoted you correctly.
I'm sorry I'm at the beginning of this but I'm not sure what you're envious about exactly. Is it the fact that women in porn seem to be having fun in porn videos? Cause I don't think they are. I don't think there's anything wrong with them, they consider themselves good at something and somebody is willing to pay them for that which is even better for them. Sure, they expose themselves; at the end of the day they are just exhibitioners but I don't see anything wrong about that either, I mean, we all expose ourselves to some extent: even being in this forum and posting information about us has some risks attached.

Please excuse the fact that I'm not quoting your exact words as it must be done. I'm still figuring out how to handle this forum out of a pc. Thanks for tour patience and also thanks again for your answers.

Thank you for your answer.
well, maybe understanding my frustration won't be any helpful here so I that issue can remain on hold.
I have certainly thought that having bigger problems could change my perspective but if that were true we would end up destroying ourselves and our families just to see the bigger picture. I think most of us would rather keep having the good things in life despite our problems. In that case I would like to know how to focus more in what I have now such as my family and friends and not what I lack. I mean, thinking about lacking something such as romantic love is even pointless at this moment but I still can't quit the delusion...

Why am I being pessimistic about problems and life? I do not expect perfection in any sense. Can you please tell me what your view is? I'm open to changing the way I think.

Thanks for answering,
I guess this is just some kind of cultural difference: where I live we do not consider single somebody who has a girlfriend or boyfriend.
Usually some people argue that lack of experience because of a short age leads to misunderstand problems that could be neglected by grown ups and that was the point of my quotes there. However, that does not help me feel any better.

Thanks for your answer.
I agree that I should become friends with women first instead of falling in love with them right away. I just don't know where the limits are so I'm not perceived as a shoulder to cry on. I don't even know if I should make phone calls or send text messages instead which by the way are rarely answered.