The point of feeling despair is not to just roll-over and die. That is not helpful. It doesn't aid the biological imperatives at the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy. It doesn't help you eat or mate. So what is the point? Why would we feel this?
Counterintuitively, without despair, we would never find motivation to find a greater purpose in life -- to extend ourselves beyond our own selfish wants and desires. How does that work?
One will not try to escape from prison unless one knows they are in prison. What is the prison we are talking about? Selfishness.
As long as we are focused on our own selfish needs, we will never amount to anything. Ultimately, despair has the potential to force us out of our shell. By slamming into the hopelessness of achieving happiness for oneself in the long run (because you will slowly or quickly lose everything until you die), one is forced to focus elsewhere -- on the helping others achieve their goals. One's own selfish goals are limited and ultimately doomed to fail, whereas others and their needs are practically limitless. Only by working for others do we achieve greatness. Despair shows us the door.
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