existential dread

[goldenecitrone]

I could maybe empathise with these threads a bit more in the midst of darkest, deepest winter. But in the middle of summer when life is buzzing all around? Nah, bollocks to it.

 

[butchersapron]

The only answer to existential angst is 'distract yourself with bullshit'. That's it. There will never be an answer to the human predicament. We are animals headed nowhere when we die, and we will never have justice, paradise, eternal life, or complete understanding of the universe.

All we can do is distract ourselves with bullshit until we die. That's it. Just distract yourself by playing with a bright red bouncy ball until you die.

This sucks.

No it doesn't. Not unless you're some theist answer demander.

 

[nosos]

The only answer to existential angst is 'distract yourself with bullshit'. That's it.

Why does things not being permament entail that they are 'bullshit' and 'meaningless'?

 

[nosos]

97% of people don't

I can confidently say it's not true that 97% of the world thinks they're going to have eternal life in the manner you wish you did.

 

[nosos]

Why are you posting these threads? Seriously?

 

[Zeppo]

drews - I think u said u were 22 years old. Well there are millions of 22 years old people putting their shoulder to the wheel. Pissed off with the world and trying to make their mark.

Not many want the human race to die. Drews get a grip - millions of people not in a developed industrial country like the UK are just getting by - lucky to see the end of a week of struggle.

Your moans about life are pathetic - get involved in any way u can. U may not change the world but it can be exciting to give it a try.

 

[nosos]

He's 22? Fuck me he's older than I am.

I thought he was 16.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I know buddhists don't, but still, you get me- over half the world is supposedly xian/muslim, so they do believe in afterlife.

Though to be honest most people just don't care.

So you in fact admit that your previous utterance was a bag of septic testicles, that active belief in an afterlife is, in fact, a "minority pursuit"?

Good.

 

[drews]

So you in fact admit that your previous utterance was a bag of septic testicles, that active belief in an afterlife is, in fact, a "minority pursuit"?

Good.

Most people don't care, but several billion people actually do. I'll call them the Spiritual Types, the type of people who need religion as a crutch because they yearn for JPELCU. What's the deal with this group? Maybe they're genetically predisposed towards religion; maybe they grew up religious like I did; maybe these people (I think) tend to be the more emotional, sentimental type of people (like me). Whatever the reason, most of those people- like 90%- are lucky enough to have religion or other supernatural bullshit to fall back on, and the other 7% are probably are agnostic so they can hang on to a shred of hope.

But I'm an unfortunate member of the Spiritual Types and an atheist. Most atheists are not Spir. Types, so they are okay without JPELCU. Not me. I'm a religious atheist, so to speak.

 

[ViolentPanda]

The only answer to existential angst is 'distract yourself with bullshit'. That's it.

I prefer the idea of raging "against the dying of the light", myself. It's far more interesting than being a wee scabby morose fuck.

There will never be an answer to the human predicament. We are animals headed nowhere when we die, and we will never have justice, paradise, eternal life, or complete understanding of the universe.

That's not a predicament, it's a condition of life, shared by every other known lifeform on our planet. It's not resolvable in the terms you'd like it to be resolved in because it isn't meant to be resolved. Perfection is an ideal, not an attainable state, and justice just isn't.

All we can do is distract ourselves with bullshit until we die. That's it. Just distract yourself by playing with a bright red bouncy ball until you die.

This sucks.

The only thing that sucks is your being such a miserable whining brattish shitsack that you give up without a fight when people who don't have a tenth or a hundredth of your advantages manage to make a difference, however small.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I prefer the idea of raging "against the dying of the light", myself..

It sounds good, but by that age, I don't know if I'll still feel much like raging. Maybe I'll be more mellow by then.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Raging against the dying of the light, sounds like it was written by a 35 year old.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Raging against the dying of the light, sounds like it was written by a 35 year old.

I haven't got a clue how old Dylan Thomas was when he wrote that line, but it sounds pretty much universally applicable to me.

 

[MightyAphrodite]

Raging against the dying of the light, sounds like it was written by a 35 year old.

why a 35 year old?


*paranoid*

 

[goldenecitrone]

Raging against the dying of the light, sounds like it was written by a 35 year old.

He was about that age, but he was talking about his father who was considerably older. As you say, maybe his old man couldn't really be arsed anymore.

 

[rhys gethin]

He was about that age, but he was talking about his father who was considerably older. As you say, maybe his old man couldn't really be arsed anymore.

And, of course, hadn't actually died. As so often, Thomas was more interested in writing a memorable poem than saying anything meaningful about what had actually happened - he kept the thing in a drawer till he could use it. Bit like saying 'Rage, rage against walls being upright!' or 'Rage, rage against not being ten feet tall!' isn't it? You die because the body stops working, and if you didn't we'd be starving, standing ten deep and crapping on one another's heads. And darkness comes because the planet turns as it goes round the sun. What is wrong with that? It is a piss-witted metaphor, in my opinion.

 

[drews]

The only thing that sucks is your being such a miserable whining brattish shitsack that you give up without a fight when people who don't have a tenth or a hundredth of your advantages manage to make a difference, however small.

How am i to 'fight' reality? I can't make JPELCU reality, so the fight is already over.

Unless by fight you mean 'fight your logic until it dies, then you'll be happy.' K, i'll see to that.

 

[butchersapron]

Here's how. Fuck your invented JPELCU . Start on something else. Invent something else safe in the knowledge that we're ll going to die and hat most people have walked that realistion and don't need youf bouncing ball of JPELCU to carry on.

 

[bluestreak]

And, of course, hadn't actually died. As so often, Thomas was more interested in writing a memorable poem than saying anything meaningful about what had actually happened - he kept the thing in a drawer till he could use it. Bit like saying 'Rage, rage against walls being upright!' or 'Rage, rage against not being ten feet tall!' isn't it? You die because the body stops working, and if you didn't we'd be starving, standing ten deep and crapping on one another's heads. And darkness comes because the planet turns as it goes round the sun. What is wrong with that? It is a piss-witted metaphor, in my opinion.

you go on my ignore list for that.

it's one of the greatest pomes ever writ.

 

[bluestreak]

Here's how. Fuck your invented JPELCU . Start on something else. Invent something else safe in the knowledge that we're ll going to die and hat most people have walked that realistion and don't need youf bouncing ball of JPELCU to carry on.

leave him mate, he ain't worth it.

life is pain, drews, kill yourself or get over it.

 

[8ball]

JPELCU is an anagram of JELCUP and CPULJE

 

[ViolentPanda]

How am i to 'fight' reality? I can't make JPELCU reality, so the fight is already over.

Unless by fight you mean 'fight your logic until it dies, then you'll be happy.' K, i'll see to that.

Let's unpack your little box of tricks, shall we?

Justice: A social construction entirely dependent on multiple factors. A definition of justice that has utility to all peoples at all times doesn't exist. The closest we can ever come to achieving it is in striving for it.

Paradise: An ideal that is another social construction, but one that is heavily culturally-loaded. It'd take you so long to quantify "paradise" that you'd actually need eternal life.

Eternal life: An impossibility, given the built-in senesence of human cells (except, of course, for cancer cells, but who wants to be a cancer?).

Complete understanding: Omniscience, another impossibility.

So you're whining because you can't achieve physical and intellectual possibilities, and because a couple of social constructions that you haven't even bothered to define your own views on appear to be out of your grasp?

Well poor little you, being in a good enough situation that you can waste your intellectual energy fulminating against such things.

It isn't about fighting your logic, it's about realising that as a human you are a creature mostly defined by your environment, and about achieving what you can within the boundaries of that environment, rather than spending your energies in futile rage or existential angst.

Unless, of course, you're the type of loser who derives pleasure from their own misery, in which case feel free to carry on punting your JPELCU around the net on different forums, boring new and interesting people every couple of days with your tedious angst.

 

[xenon]

Having never read Kierkegaard, I like the Douglas Adams take on that certain uneasy feeling experienced for no discernable reason. To paraphrase. Arthur Dent talks of always having a notion that something's not quite right in the universe, that he doesn't quite fit in, that he is somehow different. The character he's talking to, just says something like. Oh that. Perfectly normal paranoyer. Everyone in the universe gets that.

Until I know better. That'll do for me.

 

[xenon]

I want JPELCU. I don't have Justice or Paradise or Complete Understanding now, and I will never have them or eternal life.

Discontinue the human race.

Fuck off. For all it's faults, I'd rather have life than nothing. I don't want to give up this planet to the microbes just yet.

 

[xenon]

I haven't got a clue how old Dylan Thomas was when he wrote that line, but it sounds pretty much universally applicable to me.

First time I've seen that. I like it.

 

[heinous seamus]

1. Reading Satre and Kirkegaaaaaard when you're feeling depressed is NOT a good thing. Stick to happier, life afirmnig philosophers when you're down.

Who are the life-affirming philosophers please?

 

[max_freakout]

Who are the life-affirming philosophers please?

Ghandi for a start

 

[butchersapron]

Ustinov.

 

[merlin wood]

Albert Camus' The Rebel is good positive stuff.

 

[miss giggles]

Having never read Kierkegaard, I like the Douglas Adams take on that certain uneasy feeling experienced for no discernable reason. To paraphrase. Arthur Dent talks of always having a notion that something's not quite right in the universe, that he doesn't quite fit in, that he is somehow different. The character he's talking to, just says something like. Oh that. Perfectly normal paranoyer. Everyone in the universe gets that.

Until I know better. That'll do for me.

That's bloody brilliant. That'll do for me too.