The answer to life, death and everything...

She asked a philosopher to help her daughter.
She - The problem with my daughter is that she thinks that, because earth is just a spec of dust in the universe, life has no sense whatsoever. She can't see any point in being alive after finishing high school.  Considering that she is only 13 with this type of questions,  I think it will be hard to find a child/teen therapist prepared to handle that.
Philosopher - Why? It's not exactly an original doubt?

She - I know, I know, but no answer that I showed to her seems to make her budge from her dooming thoughts.

 Philosopher - Still... It seems that every teenager, specailly females, go through this phase. Don't you agree?

She - I told her that the Universe is a combination of infinitesimal parts and that each particle has its role in the whole scheme of things. I told har about the butterfly effect and that no matter how minuscule her impact in on the Unverse, that her impact on the ones that love her and the ones she loves is always huge.

Philosopher - Universe has nothing to do with it. The Universe itself has no meaning in existing and still it continues to exist despite the lack of meaning.

She - I've already lost a son to suicide. If I have to accept losing anther child to suicide I rather die sooner than later. 

Philosopher - I don't think that she necessarily looking for the meaning of life and I'm not sure if she will get to an extreme situation. Every one has this type of doubts during adolescence and almost all of them survive. And invariably, most of them don't pay attention to their mothers.

She - My daughter has this fixed idea of dying since she was 6. The death of her brother only deepened her depression.

Philosopher - Did she tried therapy already?

She - We tried that. She was doing well in the small village, but we had to cut it short when her brother died. After that we had tried 3 other therapists here and she didn't like any of them.

Philosopher - As I said, it looks like a trivial problem for any experienced therapist. It's worth a shot.

She - It has to do with control and power. Suddenly, if you forfeit living, happiness, you exercise a lot of control over people around you that are afraid of dying or of sadness. It makes you feel above the crowd.
Philosopher - This exactly why these people never kill themselves, they only threaten to do so. To keep this power.

She - Not really. Statiscs show that about 20% of them die by suicide. But when your child is among this 20% it ceases being an statistic and becomes your cruel reality.

Philosopher - I think we are talking about different things. Your son was very distinct than these people. There are mentally ill people and there are the attention seekers.

She - My son had a mental illness and so does my daughter.

Philosopher - One more reason to seek professional help. Anyway, this 'philosophical crisis' is not something that we can reason with. She is trying to "feel" something. Reasons are known to everyone for a long time...
She - Are sure about it? I'm not aware of any reason, that's why I'm asking you.

Philosopher - Do you really believe that any philosopher has ever answered the fundamental questions?
She - No, but I'm not knowledgeable about Philosophy...
Philosopher - Each one has his own reasons to keep oneself alive. I don't think there is such a thing as an universal, irrefutable answer. There is not much to learn if you are looking for a consensus. Philosophy is for the ones the like questions, not answers.

She - I just hope that all that 15 years from now the memories of these years just bring me a smile realizing how complex was her strategy to avoid chores and homework.

Philosopher - For some the meaning of life is to continuing asking questions and seeking answers. I don't think you will have to wait 15 years for things to change. And her attitude probably is not all about avoiding chores...

She - I agree, but 90% of the conflicts start around it. By the way, I told that to her already, that for me, seeking the answers is what gives me meaning. It didn''t work.

Philosopher - She is not seeking any meaning. She has already. It's more the power game, but this is psicoanalysis material, not Philosophy.

She - I know... Thanks for listening to me.

Philosopher - Thank you for calling me.