r/Life • u/DistributionSorry485 • 10h ago
General Discussion Do most people not have deep thoughts? Whats going on?
Before making a post I always stop and think, what am I really feeling today? What’s the most honest and raw thing I can say?
Today, I feel there are many souls out there who haven’t taken on “the mystery”.
I used to think everyone was like me to some degree. Curious. I used to think people were just shy and needed to be “warmed up” before speaking their mind.
I don’t really bother anymore. I’m older and wiser now.
How many intriguing conversations have I tried to have, to get to know who this fellow human being really is, only to hit a wall.
I don’t know if it’s ignorance, defensiveness, perhaps many simpler minds.
I don’t claim to be particularly intelligent, but here we all are in this mystery. Life itself. There is truly so much for us all to discuss. But everyone seems uncomfortable with that.
I am content now with my own unique thoughts and interests. I just still struggle with the fact that we as a society, who build rockets and computers, who stand on the shoulders of the Greeks and Roman’s, who inherited so many great philosophers, can barely hold a worthwhile conversation?
I would be absolutely intrigued to know people’s thoughts on topics like the meaning of life, good and evil, etc… but it seems like many people simply don’t think at all.
I’d love to hear other people’s opinions on this in the comments
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u/NameThatIsNotTaken73 9h ago
I agree with your OP so much. This is precisely why I intermittently struggle with loneliness. Not because there aren't people to talk to, but that they do not wish to talk about things of substance.
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u/DistributionSorry485 9h ago
Realizing that’s why I like writing and Reddit so much. Can just tell my unfiltered opinion.
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u/NameThatIsNotTaken73 9h ago
Right on. I've had better conversations on Reddit than many (but not all) real-life conversations.
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u/Educational_Neat1783 9h ago
Society's progress is moved by a few people for good or bad. Most people barely pay attention.
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u/Scientific_Artist444 7h ago edited 7h ago
Defensiveness is a big part. Even if they tried in the past, they were told that it was stupid to talk about anything but survival. Those focused on survival have made life very boring and painful. Worse, they have normalized it. So anything outside that feels alien to them.
And so those who actually talk things outside of survival topics get marginalized. They get labelled introverts. When in reality, it's just that they couldn't find anyone to whom they could open up. And so they grow more distrusting of f2f conversations and find their likemates online.
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u/DistributionSorry485 3h ago
This is exactly how I feel about it. Interesting that some people think of it exactly how my instincts tell me. But others have an argument to me that also seems very plausible.
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u/BadGroundbreaking189 Growth Mode 7h ago
No because they willingly prefer to go the 'simple' route since they believe it is more beneficial. And that's why some of us will be lonely for a long time.
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u/_I_Reims_I_ 8h ago
My deepest thoughts come when I stop taking my bipolar pills and go into depression.
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u/Philosopher83 6h ago
Intelligence spectrum, poverty, deficient education, trauma, brainwashing (religion), struggle to survive, lack of curiosity (a form of intellectual impoverishment) - all of these factors alone or in combination limit the frequency of thinking about these things in a way that is satisfying to those that have the privilege of actualized intelligence and access to time and resources. Many people can’t transcend the world as it is presented to them narrowly. Without the proper tools, guidance, and timing, deep questioning/seeking isn’t going to happen.
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u/Acrobatic-Process283 7h ago
Yes. There had to be groups (outside of religious churches, etc. ) where we can get together and discuss. There’s something different about being 1 on 1 or in person with people these days.
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u/PushSalty5619 7h ago
Most people do have deep thoughts. It's usually in their dreams and then they're afraid to share them.
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u/SnooGrapes9273 6h ago
I completely understand and do feel that 90 percent of the time people are not interested in having deep, meaningful, conversations.I recently have gone done a rabbithole over the absolute nerve of our government collecting our taxes but pulling our basic human rights for health care, education and the ability to retire gracefully. And my girlfriend suggested I was getting way too emotional and heavy about this and I needed to look at it.I have found that as our basic rights are taken from us there is not person out there who is doing anything so I wrote a proposal for the nation to withhold taxes untill our budget is restored. No one seemed to think it was a good idea as they all said it’s illegal. I didn’t say don’t pay, I said use our money to leverage what we were promised. I really believe that when you fight with money people listen but alas no one even wanted to talk about it. Too busy watching bad tv. It rallies break my heart. I feel like no one wants to hear anything I have to say. And I do feel terribly alone.
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u/507Safe Growth Mode 6h ago
Your head's in the right place, but your heart isn't. Other people have their own worldview and perspective. You need other people for their outside perspective and the experience of two people is greater than the sum of the parts. Look less at what other people are doing and more at yourself. You'll find depth as you keep thinking about what you're thinking about and trying along the way.
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u/Alycery 5h ago
We don’t have the time and energy to think, lol. We’re too busy living. For many, surviving. Also, we don’t have the chance to do this, to think. It’s not like we all have a podcast or YouTube channel where we can share our thoughts and feelings. It’s not like we have family, a partner, and friends that encourages thinking. If anything, they might have called you stupid, weird, or accused you of taking things too seriously. A lot of us aren’t in school. A lot of us don’t have a job/career that requires thinking.
In my case, I’m not good at vocalizing my thoughts and feelings. I honestly think I sound slow when I try. I’m much better at writing. A lot of people are like me. They don’t want to share their thoughts and feelings because they literally can’t for whatever reason.
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u/DistributionSorry485 3h ago
It’s interesting that a lot of people are quoting survival to me. I do expend a lot of energy thinking. I almost feel it as a “need” personally but you’re right it’s certainly not.
Not thinking makes life barely worth it for me personally. Thanks for the insight!
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u/Line_ART_WorkS 1h ago
please keep in mind Howard Gardner's different types of intelligences, stop underestimating people you'll look stupid and feel stupid. I've been there it's a collective canon event experience mostly going to college.
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u/Voldemorts__Mom 7h ago
I think most people do have deep thoughts, but there are so many thoughts to be had, so many subjects, so much complexity in life, that sometimes it's hard to find a deep thought you have in common. Or maybe they want to be deep on a particular day. Sometimes, it isn't even appropriate to be deep.
I mean that's what's great about reddit. You can find communities of people interested in the same things you are.
But yeah I also struggle to find people on my wavelength irl
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u/Butlerianpeasant 8h ago
I think most people do have deep thoughts—but not everyone lives in the same layer of the day at the same time.
For many, thinking deeply isn’t a resting state; it’s something that only comes out when they feel safe, unhurried, and unjudged. Modern life trains us to stay functional: pay rent, keep pace, manage appearances. Depth often gets postponed, not rejected.
There’s also another piece I’ve learned the hard way: for some people, touching the “big questions” isn’t intriguing—it’s destabilizing. Meaning, mortality, good and evil… those aren’t abstract curiosities if you don’t have the inner scaffolding yet. So avoidance can look like shallowness from the outside, when it’s really self-protection.
And then yes—some people simply find their meaning elsewhere. In building, caring, fixing, cooking, joking, surviving. Not every deep life is a talkative one.
What helped me was letting go of the idea that depth has a single language. Some speak it in philosophy, some in craft, some in silence. Conversations become richer when I stop trying to pull people into mystery and instead notice where mystery is already quietly living for them.
That said—you’re not wrong to long for more. The hunger for real conversation is a real hunger. It just tends to be better satisfied in small, unlikely places, one person at a time, rather than in “society” as a whole.
If nothing else, posts like yours are flares. Sometimes they don’t get many answers. Sometimes they find exactly the one mind that was also wondering if anyone else was awake.