The first time I did this that I can recall was when I was 7yrs old and looked into the mirror too long. I began to wonder if everything was real, if that was really me. I stared and thought for quite a while, while trying to see if I could trip up the “me” in my reflection by moving extra fast. A few years later on I’d stare out the car window and think about the different lives in each car, how they all must feel just as unique as I do and have whole families they’re heading towards that I’ll never know anything about. Middle school is when my philosophical thoughts really kicked into gear and I would spiral as I ruminated lol. This continued into highschool and toned down in college. I’m asking this because I’ve noticed that some men have brought up these questions later into adulthood as something they’re just now thinking about. This isn’t an attack, I’m sure that applies to some women too, I just need to ask them as well (I’ll do that after I post this.) Even in my philosophy courses we would study things I worried more about as a tween. Not to mention the many philosophers who didn’t view women as equals/ just as human as they were, being a huge part of the curriculum. How does that even happen? How can one question so much about life and still not come to that conclusion as a middle aged or old man? It’s dumbfounding. I recently read a whole comment section filled with fathers who didn’t realize that women were just as complex as men til they had daughters. Once, when I looked into psilocybin, a man told me about how he took shrooms and shared his experience thinking about where the burger patty really came from for the first time as evidence of his “ego death.” I wish that were a joke. Please don’t make me lose hope in humanity. Surely this is not normal. Am I just the odd one out for having thought about these things before adulthood? submitted by /u/grimreaped
Originally posted by u/grimreaped on r/AskMen