After Life - An Answer to Nihilism 

What were your thoughts on Ricky Gervais' After Life? Let me know below!

Ricky Gervais just tweeted this! And I'm glad he did! It's an extraordinary analysis!!

"Happiness is amazing. It's so amazing that it doesn't matter if it's yours or not." All I can do is smile :)

"I would rather live missing him than for him to live missing me, that is how much I love him" "A society grows great when an old man plants trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in" The best lines in the whole season.

The local free newspaper is indeed a nice metaphor for life. It has its banal stories of day-to-day people, just trying to be special.

'Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.' Thirteen years already. I wanted to build some great memorial so no one could forget her. A better person than me. I decided to become her memorial and try to reflect the qualities that made her beautiful.

He's is like me for 17 years. now 3 years in recovery. not easy losing someone. RIP Melissa

I agree with the story for except one key detail. The pursuit of happiness. I think people aim for the wrong thing since the problem about happiness is that it’s a fleeting emotion. It’s what makes it valuable and the pursuit of constantly feeling it will only make you feel despair when you’re not at the zenith of satisfaction. Instead you should find something that gives you meaning, that makes life feel full. I’m not saying you shouldn’t accept happiness, but instead you should cherish it when it comes your way.

When I watched a documentary about Vincent Van Gogh, it amazed me how much he loved the natural world. The sun in the sky, the stars twinkling in the sky, the wheat swaying in the wind. He loved it so much, he tried to conveyed all that love in his paintings. Maybe happiness is fleeting but when you notice the small things like how the light plays on tree leaves on a windy day, you get to experience the small wonders that exists on this beautiful little planet. I read somewhere that Art is a way of observing, maybe take up art classes or start drawing, painting to observe the small things. That’s how you develop an appreciation for the small things. This is a bit in line with Mindfullness.

“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Something in my chest just expanded. You've done it again. I can't wait for the next one.

„Happiness is so amazing, it doesnt matter if its yours or not“

Best one yet. Feeling disillusioned with life, losing the meaning you assigned to it. Those moments are difficult to overcome. Then you realize that the meaning was assigned by you for you, and you have to find it once again.

Just watching this video for the second time. I love it.

I struggled with ideas like these for years, and for anyone who feels the same I would point you towards Alan Watts and the idea that life can be experiential, rather than existential. That in a way, we're all connected. Even as our consciousness ends, even as the heat death of the universe occurs, we were given a brief moment to experience a life filled with awe, wonder, and curiosities despite the astronomical improbabilities of such an event. Death doesn't have to carry the weighted fear of the unknown, because you've already experienced it but in reverse. Billions of years passed by, and you woke up having never gone to sleep. Life will happen whether you make it or not. But our ability to be aware of the world gives us the chance to listen to music, to dance, to play, none of which are done for the end result. We can live to experience life. "Dance to dance", as Alan Watts puts it.

There's a certain feeling of awe I get every time I watch your videos. They make me a better person. Thank you!

Every single video you put out. So good. Your's is the only channel I will purposefully delay watching a video until I have time to devote my undivided attention. Well done.

"The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That's the deal." - C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed Thank you for a most timely video, and the sweetly painful tears it brought to my eyes. P. S. I haven't even seen After Life, and that didn't matter.

I just want to mention one of my favorite quotes. It's from a japanese manga, called "Vagabond". The protagonist had stated to a buddhist monk that life has no value. So, the monk while remembering that statement thought to himself: "And life has no value. Truly right, it has no value. If you think only of yourself, it has no value..."

I had a similar revelation in 11th grade, when I was at my first peak of depression. I decided, I would live for no other reason than to see what this story would bring.

Once you have given up on existentialism, and grown out of nihilism, all that is left is to embrace the absurdity..

“Happiness is the greatest hiding place for despair.” ― Søren Kierkegaard

In the end, you dont look for happiness in life, you look for meaning. Thank you for this video!!

i was depressed for a long time, and for a long time I despised things that reminded me that I once enjoyed life. Comedy was what I enjoyed most but I grew to despise it. And because of that, I despised comedians. I watched this video. Then I watched After Life. Now, I understand what C.S. Lewis wrote about and why Ricky Gervais isn't a terrible person and why I am wasting my time being unhappy about the people I can't play pranks on anymore because they aren't here anymore. I understand now why I should stop wishing there were no trees in this world while hiding in their shade and why I should start planting as many trees as I possibly can with the time I have left. Thank you, LSOO. Shine on my friend.

I take a practical approach to life and living. As far as I know, this is it -- it's the only chance at this I'll ever have. Why not ride it to the very end and see what happens?

Once you've entered the Valley of Nihilism, it's very very difficult to leave it.

What beauty you put out into the world. Every video of yours has me in tears, of joy, of sadness, of relief and gratitude that I am here now. Your way of presenting these concepts, and others, is so powerful, and I am so very glad that I have found your channel. Thank you for what you do. You inspire me to be a more thoughtful, considerate, and good human being. Thank you for these experiences you create.

Whenever I'm feeling especially depressed, I look at the images of Lyle Stevik. He was a man who committed suicide the week after 9/11 in a motel room in Washington state. He used a fake name, taken from a character in a book. He was discovered only hours after his death, his body was in a recognisable condition, hanging from the wardrobe; his belt used as a noose. He was identified 16 years after his death. There are many images of his room and his body. It gives me some degree of comfort to look at his face, to know that I, too, could escape if I needed to. It was the 10th anniversary of my friends suicide on Tuesday. I went to her grave, laid flowers, left a note. I don't believe in God or the afterlife but leaving the note made me feel better. There we no other flowers and no one else was there. Her facebook contained no messages of remembrance, the last being from 2014. Was I the only one of her friends to remember? I believe that people die twice, once when their heart stops beating and second, when someone utters or thinks their name for the last time. Until my dying breath, I will remember her name. I loved you Ruby, thank you for being my friend.

I’ve been putting off watching this because of my own suicide idealisation. But with this video, you have made me feel brave & open enough to watch it. Superb content and analysis as always x

The amount of emotions that just flew through me when i unexpected woke up to your newest upload. I'm gonna take the time to watch this film and report back, but thank you for your work with this channel.

this is indeed one of the most poignant, and thought-provoking existentialist TV programs I have watched in many years. Very much resonates with many of my own personal experiences in life. There is definitely a serious spiritual message in this series, which I think everybody should watch

"So much struggle for meaning, for purpose. And in the end, we find it only in each other. Our shared experience of the fantastic and the mundane. The simple human need to find a kindred. To connect. And to know in our hearts... that we are not alone." - Heroes

"For having consciousness in a universe without ultimate meaning really means having the freedom to create your own."

Hope this gets a lot of coverage now that Gervais shared it! This video and your channel deserves it!

crying at my desk at work isn't a fire-able offense right? - so apparently this needed a time stamp to appease some really cool guys - lunch breaks exist guys... lunch break... jesus christ

"Everyone finds their own reasons, however silly or small they might seem on the serface, to make their life worth living" - -LSOO 2019

I sat on this show for a while. I knew it would be good, but never felt in the right mood. Just watched it my wife yesterday and it really came at the perfect time for both of us. I'm going into rehab for 4 months in 2 days. We have a son. It will be the longest we've been apart in our entire relationship. It's been the hardest thing I've ever done. I don't necessarily expect anyone reading this to understand but if anyone does, I just want to offer a pearl of wisdom. Enjoy life. Accept pain. Don't be afraid. Share your passion. Keep going.

Ricky Gervais and CS Lewis talking on the same theme? That's like chalk and cheese having a civil conversation. Imagine that.

Thank you for this video. I am at a very low point in my life. Like Ricky’s character, considered and attempted that very final action on multiple occasions. Although I didn’t notice it at the time I watched, After Life has helped me tremendously with doing better, with slowly climbing out of that hole. In no way am I where I want to be but your video reminded me of this series and of how far I’ve already come. Thanks again, LSOO!

I just watched this again after a few months and I came away with new realizations...I love your work because every time I watch a previously watched episode I learn something new. Keep up the fantastic work !

the seemless transition into an ad at the end almost detracts from the gravity of this video

As we, Buddhist, say, we ought to have compassion for others all the more because, although they wish for happiness, they are ignorant of how to get it. It's another one of these beautiful (touching, meaningful) videos of yours, by the way.

Forgot how much I love your work. It's put together with such care that it is almost certain to bring me to tears. My favorite of yours is probably your analysis of the movie Sunlight. I've always been moved by how beautiful the cosmos are, and so it spoke to me in a special way. You deserve every ounce of support you get. Continue your work with similar passion.

Your channel is so therapeutic, i often play you videos just to listen to you talk, you have a way of analyzing movies that's so....alive, you break down a movie into its essence, its soul, i don't even know how to describe it, but i get a lot of healing from your work, keep it up.

very thought-provoking. Wonderful video :)

I stumbled on After-life on Netflix while searching for something to watch before going to bed. I had no idea what it was about. I gave it a try because I love Gervais savage sense of humor. I watched the show in one go and ended up sleeping late. I'm glad I watched it. I got way more than I expected from this show. Love it. Thanks for the analysis. You have put into words what it made me feel. Your work is very different than the usual essay. It made me feel just as much as the show did. This one, the one about the fall and the one about Blade Runner are my favorites. Keep it up with your great work and I wish you the best. Thanks.

I still come back to this video a few times a year. Your videos have been there for me for a long time now.

I paused and read all of ‘A Grief Observed’ (probably getting that wrong now), knowing I would relate. And holy fuck I have not stopped crying since I’d begun. I read that in like an hour, I was so impaled on our similar thoughts. Idk if I recommend it, but thanks for showing me this. Great video / channel. Subbed.

Thanks a bunch for this video man! It really helps me out. Been looking at life as something absurd and meaningless for a long time now after my divorce and having lost work. Didn't believe there was a single honest person anymore. Until I saw it wasn't about me but about love, friendship, respecting your won dignity and that of others that makes life give a meaning that's worth pursueing, regardless of grief and self pity.

I haven't seen it yet. But after this I will. Thank you for the clarity in your analysis . I can well identify with a man like Tony. Finding everything and almost everyone pointless and absurd. Burnt ad infinitum by so called friends in my well meant attempts to help them or at least give them some solace. It hurts. And as any human being, I dislike being hurt. I'm just so lucky that there are a hand full of good friends looking out for me. And wallowing in self-pity does really make you bone idle. Thanks again.

Another video of yours that makes me cry of joy. It reached my soul, it’s beautiful, thank you.

This is honestly one of favorite RU-vid videos. Thank you for this LikeStoriesOfOld!

After Life is one of the best things I've ever watched and this RU-vid posting has been a thought provoking and an interesting follow-up.

I'm at a loss for words how amazing this was set, well done sir.

The whole video was so BEAUTIFUL and so thought out, thanks a lot for making this.

Love your videos, between the music, your commentary and the stories you chose they always hit where it counts. Keep up the good work..

:)

You're probably not gonna read this and may not care enough so there's no reason for me to put much effort in trying to explain every single one of my thoughts on this. I respect your work a lot, I think I've only seen 3 videos of yours, but every one is a mental journey, so although I think your work is Amazing it's hard to watch heavy stuff all the time, so important and great content like yours I wait for when I'm ready. But about this video. I thank you from the deepest regions of my heart for it, even if it's just for a few sections of it. I've properly read little of actual philosophy books, so it was gold what you presented by Camus, in addition to CS Lewis. I cried buckets and felt strong love for pretty much every second of the first 3 sections. Ive been crippling suicidal for the last 8 years or so, and what these two authors put in words helps to relate and express my expressionless feelings and thoughts. That's where the crying comes from, the frustration with the absurd. And I couldn't thank you enough for presenting me that. Unfortunately, from my point of view, after about 11:00 you went further and further from tackling the absurd and the real dilemma of why not kill yourself. David Foster Wallace presented ways to live better, and I won't deny it, but these reasonings still put nothing onto explaining philosophically why not suicide. I felt this was more of something you mentioned in the beginning, leaps of faiths and especially, like Camus put it, "like the donkey, feed on the roses of illusion", what I call in my words "fooling yourself because life only can be lived if you distract yourself from crude reality in some degree". So I think you tried to lead this to end in a bright note, but I must put clearly (if you don't already know it yourself) that you didn't face the absurd, you found in David Foster Wallace's work a way to avoid tackling the issue of wether kill yourself or not, instead just trying to answer how to live a better life. Now I must say that I honestly can't expect for you to solve this dilemma, I'd guess no human could ever solve the question philosophically, I can't ask this from you. Besides, it's okay for you to try to end it in a positive message, only rare fuckers like me want to watch content that makes you want to die. And you have all the right to ignore the possibility of suicide. I just want you to make clear to yourself that you didn't solve the dilemma. I still genuinely like you a lot though, and I still loved the video overall. And all this said, I'm sorry for being a jerk, and being absurdly pretentious. I'm no one, just some fuck who started seeking for absolute truths and now I'm suffering for reaching too close to the sun and wanting to keep going. I can't and I don't want to be a dick to everyone about it. Although I kinda did here. Sorry. Have a nice one. Really sorry.

I just came across your channel. The way you look at things and present them is amazing. Your voice is very calming almost an entryway to allow anybody to come in.

Your videos are the type of things we need online. They are just perfect and always make me sentimental, my bro. They talk and discuss things that have tormented my soul one way or another. And you always end all your videos on the highest note, the better compliment, the better teaching that there is always some good to learn out of every subject. You explain what it is that can be learned from every topic to make us better individuals. You are mythological, brother. Keep at it. Wish you the best!

This video spoke to me, so effectively, I cried. I can't help but thank you for your incessant effort. Your work means the world to people

Keep up the good work, man! I love what you do!

your videos are just amazing and so well done. Thank you sincerely for this, this show resonated with me for a long time (and your video will too). This restored my faith in youtube.

Your content is REALLY good! I just started watching a few months ago and it's one of the best things here. Thanks for creating and sharing it with us here. (This one about After Life is excellent)

This is the best video you've made yet. Thank you so much for all of the content!

Those who do not see nor hear beauty should watch and listen for the art that this is - thanks again for yet another small candle in a terribly dark world :)

You have the perfect voice for such type of content! I'll say that your voice even makes everything so impactful and emotional, goes straight to the soul and heart.

Beautiful. I really enjoyed this show. Also I really appreciated the David Foster Wallace bit in your video. Thank you for this.

Thank you for this incredible life-affirming story and this hopefull tune at the end. I just recently realized a dramatic limiting believe (or two), and, consequently, I'm rethinking my career options entirely. I feel so lost.

I haven't seen it yet but here is something I wanna tell you, the way you've shown it, I think your words are going to remain with me for a while. Thank you (straight from my heart).

You are pure gold mate. You just bring up my feelings that are deep inside. Seriously the best channel I have seen.

4 years after this video was posted you’re making my cry on my lunch break lol. Amazing analysis

You are one of those " Good People " and I am grateful for what you have said through this essay. I needed this 🙏🙏

"It is hard work, and great art, to make life not so serious." -John Irving. (the hotel new hampshire)

This made me cry, like most of your fantastic videos. Thank you!

I had been feeling pretty militant recently, making effort to rewire myself to act, rather than react, to what is happening around me. Adulting with effort, just like everyone else. Watching this reminded me that we don't live as an abstract concept, we live for our loved ones, whoever it is we pick up into our crew on the way. I was focused on some particular part of my life, if not to say peripheral, and this video centered everything in my head. Thank you.

Woahhh never thought you’d do a video on a series that I watch, this is awesome

Dammit, you’re making me cry right in the cafeteria. 😥😭 Thank you.

I've just cried over this beautiful video. Thank you for such a moving story. I bless everything that moves me, because staying in a same spot is much much worse then the death. Aand btw ... this is the most original and most spontaneous commercial that I ever saw. This is what commercial should be all about.

Like Stories of Old, always find myself coming back to your channel at rough patches. Videos like this one are always wonderful little treasures. God Bless you.

"happiness is so amazing, it doesn't even matter if its yours"

This deeply reflects Rumi. He would say that the pain that we feel is the hole to our freedom. If we go into our pain, we see that we're not just going into our own pain, but everyone else's as well. Then, we find this interconnectedness that is filled with this painful love that everyone is trying to avoid through all the distractions in this world. In the words of Joesph Campbell, "Love is the burning point of life, and since all life is sorrowful, so is love. The stronger the love, the more the pain. Love itself is pain, you might say- the pain of being truly alive! But, love bears all things."

I normally really like your videos, which explains why I'm watching one that's a little older now to give me something more after your latest video. But this one touched home in a way I didn't expect. I think because I had gotten past that despair and meaninglessness that defined my life for so long after a series of devastating losses. At first I just started seeing life as a game for amusement because there wasn't any meaning to anything. I thought I had gotten past everything, but the recent realization that friends have given up on me, which caused me to choose to give up on them has been amplified by watching this. For a while, I've known that racing motorcycles was a way of running from having to confront uncomfortable things about my life. That working on the bikes, driving to the track were a means to waste time. That going too fast on the track took all of my concentration, so there was none left for anything I didn't want to deal with. That facade has just been torn down.

So much educative information to digest, so much inspiration to process. Somehow I do not want to see a next video from LSOO, and at the same time, I can't wait for the next. Thank you for these beautiful video essays.

After watching this, I'm more convinced that nihilism is just zen except with depression.

This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

I can't even begin to describe how much the videos you make have helped me through life. The last few months have been so difficult not just because of the pandemic. Every video I watch on this channel, gives me hope to make it through one more day, one more hour. Thank you. Thank you not from the consumer of your content to the creator of that content. Thank you as a person who has received hope from the words you have said. Thank you.

Your voice is so smooth ! There is an art and beauty in naration and your voice is a great reminder of that :) thank you

"when the shell of my heart breaks open tears will flow. And they will be called pearls of God"...thank you.

This was like looking into myself.

So glad I found this channel. What an emotionally engaging analysis! Love it

Dude. Your channel is absurdly amazing. Absolutely amazing. Keep up the work.

Beautiful, thoughtful work, as always. However, C.S. Lewis had much more to say about his own grief, and meaning in general. Seems a pity to include his questioning, but not the answers he ultimately found.

I hope this gets many thousands of views that it deserves, your channel is amazing! I hope you don't mind but I tweeted this to Ricky Gervais suggesting he watches it & he simply replied "Amazing" ☺️

Very moving and of the most inspirational a video could possibly be.

LSoO, Your “reviews, analyses, critiques, or commentaries”, however you call them (most likely not in English; though your English is excellent), are illuminating. That’s the only word I could find to express what happens to my thoughts and thinking on a subject when I listen to your YT videos. Brilliant is also a good description of your work, but illuminating, to me, implies shedding light on places that mere brilliance would cast further into shadow. I sincerely hope you get my meaning. The inclusion of relevant quotes from some of the greatest thinkers this species has produced helps me relate to different ideas that I’d perhaps once considered, but set aside. This is a kind reminder then to look again at all the possibilities; just because an idea was passed over earlier doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant now. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and those of others whom you have quoted, and even by way of discussion in the comments. There, in fact, the value of a particular video may grow as people provide their thoughts on the video, the reviewed item, or something that branched off from the main dialogue. This particular show, Afterlife, started as my life began to undergo changes due to loss. Your explication came to my attention today (2019/08/20) at a nexus in my life’s path when “stuck” seemed to be the word of the day, week, month... Something in this “unstuck” me, at least for a few moments do that maybe I can move on one way or another. Thank you most sincerely, John

I became an atheist after a long process of deconversion, but the thing that pushed me to get off the fence was not the sudden and tragic loss of my first wife, but discovering my second wife was pregnant. I had my eureka moment of disbelief at 8 months, and then 1 week after my baby girl was born, I faced The Absurd, and escaped nihilism with another eureka moment of realization that my role as a father, the roles of protector, teacher, comforter, provider, friend are the most beautiful meaning, in all its glory, that my life has ever had.

Your voice is pure ASMR and this is an incredible piece of work. Bravo.

I am 64 years old now...and in many ways, have had a wonderful life....filled with wonder, adventure, excitement, fun, laughter, sadness & loss....and until I saw this video...nothing made real sense. For the most recent 3 years I have been grieving the loss of a relationship I had hoped would lead to marriage....it was not meant to be....and made me question if my life was worth continuing. This video has brought everything into perspective and has made me finally realise that only through love & giving to and helping others do we achieve happiness & peace of mind. I wish you all, wherever you may be.......Happiness, Peace, Joy & Contentment.

This is so lovely thank you for making it, we shall continue helping each other, from a humble Mexican in Japan, I do always find meaning in giving my last bit of strength in helping others and I realized it comes back