Is it possible to truly wish you were never born?

Question

I have a hard time with this idea. I understand the wish to die, or stop existing, but when I get to the idea of wishing to have NEVER existed, it just feels like there is some kind of metaphysical impossibility in that notion. I mean, dying can be seen as improving one's condition by taking away suffering, but never having existed eliminates all conditions...can a person truly "desire" something as totally self-obliterating as never having existed? I can't put my finger on why this wish gives me a feeling of faulty logic. Anybody else get this feeling?

Answer 1

It would be impossible to wish it for the benefit of yourself because if you never existed you cannot benefit from anything.

However, a person could wish it for the benefit of others, thinking that they have caused someone so much pain that it would be better to have never existed in order to have never caused the pain.

Answer 2

I think a person can do that because sometimes people feel that all they've done is harm people and that people would be happier if they never would have existed so they wish that they never would have born. If people are depressed, they are and maybe what that means is hard to understand for someone who is not.

Answer 3

Sure.  Some people have really crappy lives that are dominated by misery.  Since they've never really enjoyed their lives, they probably think it has been a waste of time they would rather not have experienced at all.  I could understand why they'd wish to never have been.  

Answer 4

It is possible for someone to wish that, but not solely doable. A desire that intense to wish your were never born can be the cause of an unhappy life. A lot of people today think that wishing that they were never born could improve their life and everyone else's. But, if you never had a life, than it would just be improving the lives of others around you, or so you thought.

Many of us have thought about where we would go if we didn't exist. But, we wouldn't go anywhere because we do exist. So, it's not possible to not be born if that is what was meant to happen. If you were born, you weren't supposed to not be born, so it's impossible to not be born.

Not existing isn't possible, because everything we see around was planned to the last detail. Not being born would alter many people's live's not just you not existing.

Answer 5

Yes, you are right.  What this really means is a wish to be dead.  Painlessly.  Not just to the person dying, but also to others.

Think about it.  If you never existed, then your friends and relatives won't be sad when you die.  If you believe in an afterlife, never existing means that you won't have to deal with the possibility of h**l (or whatever).

So, I think there is a certain sense in it.

Answer 6

Yes it is faulty logic because it's impossible to experience nothing, therefore you not existing isn't possible.

Answer 7

Hmmm...Good question. I can never think of not existing in this world...Confusing!

Answer 8

To wish I was never born is the same thing as not wanting to be living my current life, and wanting to be living some other better life in its place. This is certainly possible.  

It is NOT possible to not want to be living a life without also wanting to live a different life in its place because as Dave W said, you can't "not exist." You, being experience itself, are eternal. If you're not living one life, you MUST be living some other life.

Answer 9

soo this life is really hard and sometimes things just suck for people more then others.i mean but wishing you never existed man thats taking it to far.i mean we all feel worthless sometimess.we just gotta remember to be strong

Answer 10

No i havent had any thought of that

Answer 11

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Answer 12

I used to be like you, now I am so old...  this world is for the stupid people, we just act quiet,  follow their rules.

Answer 13

I understand how you feel but you must remember that you are important in this life just like anyone else is. You are part of the divine tapestry of life and without your existence the tapestry would be incomplete.  

Answer 14

Try to remember your time in the womb. Then you grasp what it would be to never have existed.