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Why does "hunger" feel better? Or does it feel better if being empty means not feeling? Do you prefer it because you know it is necessary for productivity? 

Hunger is preferred because hunger is feeling and movement. It's life. Empty is non-existence. As Ger said, it's like death. There is no feeling. It is a non-state. One cannot live in emptiness. Hunger is driving.

Like, if someone were to ask someone else if they would be okay with never having been born, the likely answer is "no". Even though they wouldn't know the difference, since they are answering the question as someone who has been born, they do know the difference. Poor example, I know. I struggle to articulate my thoughts and questions correctly, which is what ultimately results in responses being as much about my semantics as the subject matter.

Empty would be not being born.

"Hunger", as you describe it, sounds uncomfortable to me. Emptiness sounds pleasant, like stagnant water.

It sounds as if you are confusing empty with euphoria. Euphoria is pleasant and stagnant. It is a fleeting rush that can only be temporarily sustained. Again, hunger is drive. The desire to consume. It leads to euphoria with consumption.

If emptiness does not even feel like itself, then why does it often lead to hunger, and then back again?

Emptiness does feel like itself. It feels empty. It does not lead to hunger and hunger does not lead to empty. They feel independent.

It seems that at the very least, people feel a compulsion to feel. I see an awareness of emptiness as a feeling in itself. 

There is no real awareness in a state of empty except of empty, and that is hardly aware. You seem able to express a full range of emotion. For those that are limited, why do we not deserve to feel? Do we not deserve to be as alive as you or the next person? What is living and why does anyone else deserve that state any more than we do?

Maybe feeling empty and being empty are different then.

Feeling empty and being empty are not the same. Empty has no feeling. It is devoid of anything. There is no void. There is nothing. Feeling empty seems as if it is a blank sheet upon which nothing can ever be written. Even that is too much though. Being empty is a state where the paper cannot even exist.

Maybe feeling empty is not feeling, but being empty and aware of it feels hungry.

Hunger does not exist in empty. These are different states.

I'm not sure how to say what I'm trying to say, but if one isn't empty, I would think one would be less inclined to seek things from the outside to be filled with.

There is no drive with empty. There is nothing to fill. Nothing is all that exists and can exist. Empty is the embodiment of lack of drive. It is the opposite of hunger and feeling and life. It is not a "void". I don't know how to emphasize this more: there is literally nothing.

If one is always empty, then I imagine their hunger would be insatiable-

Hunger is a separate state. It is used to feed to other potential states. No other states are possible without it. It leads to consumption and consumption is euphoric.

-that is, if feeling empty and being empty are different things.

Yes, feeling empty and being empty are two very different things.

It feels like nothing. There's no real emotion. It doesn't feel like hunger. It's like being dead, you don't feel anything. 

Cricket stated: source post

Maybe feeling empty and being empty are different then.

Feeling empty and being empty are not the same. Empty has no feeling. It is devoid of anything. There is no void. There is nothing. Feeling empty seems as if it is a blank sheet upon which nothing can ever be written. Even that is too much though. Being empty is a state where the paper cannot even exist.

...

-that is, if feeling empty and being empty are different things.

Yes, feeling empty and being empty are two very different things.

From a layman's perspective "feeling empty" seems to me to include a feeling of "hunger". I get that technically "empty" would mean empty, i.e. the lack of something else, but I think it's usually used more to describe a sense of being unfulfilled.

Cricket stated: source post

 

 

I'm not replying to cricket just using her post as a template.

What does it feel like to feel empty?

It feels like you are bored inside and emotionally. It feels like nothing is going on so there is a lack of stimulation. I call it... Inner bore dome.

Does it mean lacking an integral sense of self or does it simply mean you are frequently underwhelmed by everyday experiences and cannot be easily amused or maintain a lasting state of amusement? 

Nah sometimes you just don't feel anything. I mean the way I see it emotions are just highlighters to highlight your thoughts. It is not necessary it is more of a motivator.

ANGER... Someone cheats you in gambling so you get angry. It motivates you to stand up for yourself. In your mind you already know this is not right and is taking away from you so it triggers chemicals 

HAPPINESS... Someone buys you ice cream so you get some joy. It motivates you to want to have ice cream bought for you again. In your mind you already know it is like a reward in chemicals and in your own thoughts.

It seems that for these types, they look to the outside for things to fill the void rather than within themselves. But the loneliness seems incurable as well. Why is that? What makes an island a paradise for one man and a place of imprisonment/exile site for another man?

It's not a void. It's a state of non-feeling. Boredom isn't even possible during those times. There's no loneliness, no desire for something else. There is literally nothing there. It's empty.

I don't really have a lot of ambition, and it's partly due to anxiety and partly because I am genuinely satisfied with simple comforts and my thoughts, but I've noticed that those who feel empty can be quite ambitious because they always want more. Filling the void is like tossing things into a black hole.

Ambitious and motivations can be pushed by emotions and not feeling empty. I know emptiness and numbness can be a sign of depression.

However, once they become existential the ambition seems to go out the door--yet they maintain the standard for life they had before.

Well that's good.  It should not be permanent. 

I see this with my brother. I think he was prone to being unsatisfied since childhood. He has battled addictions for over a decade, can't seem to hold a job for long, and has not truly invested in himself. He definitely has a nihilistic, hopeless attitude about his life...yet he still seeks prestige--spending money on designer clothes and upscale restaurants when he supposedly can barely pay rent. He works out, pursues relationships, and tries to keep his mind sharp. He looks up to our other brother, but whenever the means to achieve similar success is acquired, he throws it all away. 

Feeling empty could lead them to seek stimuli. It might be a desire to feel something. I still think it could be depression.

Presently, he is in a Christian halfway house type thing and claims to have been 'saved' to the point of having spoken in tongues. This gives him purpose, but why does he need it? Is finding a 'purpose' the only way to beat an addiction?

I know believing in god does not give me much of a purpose because god never really explained the purpose of my existence. I mean I guess it's kind of like I was born to praise him or something. I just like feeling like there is something/someone greater out there that can create more stimulis. I use to think the idea of god was boring. I mean who wants to sign for all eternity for a god who does not even need praise. I mean no one needs praises really... So I just like that he is like smart and can create stuff and stimulis. I believe more of like an alien scientist type god. It also gives me hope of meeting aliens.

I'm rambling...I guess I'm wondering what it's like in the mind of a person who feels chronically empty. What does perpetual unfulfillment even mean? What would make you feel fulfilled? 

Empty is just nothingness. It is almost irritating. I know scientist made a room with like close to no sounds at all. It even blocks their own sounds. It was thought it would sooth people though it makes them very uncomfortable and even have breakdowns.

On a more broad note, what is everyone's philosophical view on life...

Life is the universe observing itself. I mean we are part of the universe. I believe in advances aliens that is almost a synonym to a god. 

...and what is your default internal state?

Well I think I am in a transition state because I am at a different point in life.

Pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed. The seven "deadly" sins. For me it's a everyday battle to satisfy myself. But in ever sin there is pleasure. "Deadly" because it's becomes a cycle. More pride, more greed, more lust. Things that were once satisfactory because old quickly. More, more, more. 

I'd say the loneliness would be because one is on the hunt for something but not really sure what. 

I just want to consume. Like a black hole.

People who are truly empty wouldn't even care to read this thread, Let alone be a member of this forum. That being said. Your interpretation of empty is just as good as anyone else's.

I definitely do not think I am confusing emptiness with euphoria, lol. Perhaps "euphoria" has a special meaning in psychology circles, but its general definition is "a feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness". That is not close to what I said. "Stagnant" is defined as "showing no activity; dull and sluggish".

To me, euphoria begins as an intense rush and then stagnates, but is pleasant until dissipation.

The reason I say it sounds pleasant is not because I am speaking as a person from the outside, looking in, being that I do not experience that insatiable hunger and do not want to. For me, the idea of nothingness is more appealing. 

Compared to empty, hunger is pleasant.

I might think differently of it if it were not so abstract to me, but it is, so I don't. 

We are not capable of empathizing with that with which we are not capable of feeling.

Anything stagnant is pleasant to me because I am not "hungry". That does not make it euphoria, but it is also not pain, and I find that notion to be pleasant. 

I've found  hunger, pain, and euphoria to be capable of existing simultaneously. 

Again, I see this as a subjective thing, which was the point of the thread.

Absolutely, you asked and I provided my subjective input.

It seems as though you feel personally attacked by me. I have not once said that you or people with a similar experience as you don't deserve to feel. I don't identify as highly emotional and certainly did not intend to come across as being on some sort of emotional soapbox.

It's not you. It may be a misdirected lashing out at a lifetime of being told there is something wrong that I don't experience the same internal states as others. I apologize.

And funnily enough, the way you describe emptiness has made me rethink some things. According to your definitions, it might be that I am the one usually feeling empty, or close to it, and thus lack drive/hunger. I assumed I felt the opposite of empty though because it can be easy for things that exist outside of myself to be suffocating. I figured it to be because there is no room left inside. 

This is helpful to me understanding where you are coming from. Thank you.

People who are consistently empty wouldn't bother with anything, would they? What would be the point? That sounds like either severe depression or the epitome of Zen Buddhism. I imagine it to be rare or the individuals to be catatonic.

She made the post, it seems, to inquire about some lines of conversation regarding the feeling empty that have occurred repeatedly in main chat. Perhaps you should partake sometime.

As for life. Life is a cycle.