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Why is society nowadays more likely to fall prey to living like there's no tomorrow?

AbbeyLee said:
Wow.. I'd never heard of him. The Problem With Being Born was published the year I was born. Coincidence? I think not! 😉
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People don't get him, he's seen as a bitter whiney, he's not (well, maybe sometimes). Once you read his best books you see what's going on with his thought. Those are the best.
I needed 16 years more to be alive since that book publication...:LOL:
I studied philosophy, I guess I should know about him (even if it's not even cited once in the degree...).
 
I've seen lately, mostly with teenagers and I think they're more or less aware of this own self'reflection because you cannot call it a "sexual epidemic" or something within this vein, at least I far cried from pink skies.. but I see a growth in "arthouse" cinematography but something snaps out of them fast, I DUNNO what but something drains their home river.
 
Neuroborean said:
People don't get him, he's seen as a bitter whiney, he's not (well, maybe sometimes). Once you read his best books you see what's going on with his thought. Those are the best.
I needed 16 years more to be alive since that book publication...:LOL:
I studied philosophy, I guess I should know about him (even if it's not even cited once in the degree...).
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I love that sort of person. It's like Bukowski.. They turn despair into poetry and it's more comforting to me than optimistic, non-whiney and bitter people.

I copied some of the quotes I really liked and regardless of his philosophical ideas (and I don't even know the context of this) he's a pleasure to read..

I hate wise men because they are lazy, cowardly, and prudent. To the philosophers' equanimity, which makes them indifferent to both pleasure and pain, I prefer devouring passions. The sage knows neither the tragedy of passion, nor the fear of death, nor risk and enthusiasm, nor barbaric, grotesque, or sublime heroism. He talks in proverbs and gives advice. He does not live, feel, desire, wait for anything. He levels down all the incongruities of life and then suffers the consequences.

So much more complex is the man who suffers from limitless anxiety. The wise man's life is empty and sterile, for it is free from contradiction and despair. An existence full of irreconcilable contradictions is so much richer and more creative. The wise man's resignation springs from inner void, not inner fire. I would rather die of fire than of the void.


--Emil Cioran, On the Heights of Despair
 
AbbeyLee said:
I love that sort of person. It's like Bukowski.. They turn despair into poetry and it's more comforting to me than optimistic, non-whiney and bitter people.

I copied some of the quotes I really liked and regardless of his philosophical ideas (and I don't even know the context of this) he's a pleasure to read..

I hate wise men because they are lazy, cowardly, and prudent. To the philosophers' equanimity, which makes them indifferent to both pleasure and pain, I prefer devouring passions. The sage knows neither the tragedy of passion, nor the fear of death, nor risk and enthusiasm, nor barbaric, grotesque, or sublime heroism. He talks in proverbs and gives advice. He does not live, feel, desire, wait for anything. He levels down all the incongruities of life and then suffers the consequences.

So much more complex is the man who suffers from limitless anxiety. The wise man's life is empty and sterile, for it is free from contradiction and despair. An existence full of irreconcilable contradictions is so much richer and more creative. The wise man's resignation springs from inner void, not inner fire. I would rather die of fire than of the void.


--Emil Cioran, On the Heights of Despair
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Did you ever tried to write anything just for the thrill?
 
AbbeyLee said:
Postmodern Nihilism

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Thank you for posting this, I came here to say pretty much the same thing.

The only thing is that I don't agree that post-modernism is totally to blame for nihilism. I think as our access to information about the world increases, we are naturally going to see that reality is subjective. Post-modernism is the only philosophy that has really tried to deeply tackle that, albeit in a very flawed way. You can study 100 cultures and their thousands of different values and beliefs. Add a lot of privilege to that, like a society with a relatively high standard of living, and people just don't know what to do with themselves. They don't know how to choose because everything seems like a subjectivity trap. This is not trivial, it is crushing. I know people who are in their 40's who have been paralyzed by this for more than a decade. They realize that nothing has inherent meaning, so what's the point of doing anything? How do you choose?

Traditional culture, even though it's very limited, made the choice for people... and there was no knowledge base with which to counter it. It left a lot of people hanging high and dry who couldn't conform, but on the whole you knew your role at birth. Post-modernism has obliterated that. It literally won't allow any structure, and yet that is, in of itself, a structure... one which is being forced on everybody. A structure rooted in high-faluten academia that is now being tested upon the population, just like how French Marxism got tested on the Cambodian people by Polpot.

Hedonism and selfishness are natural products of godlessness. If you can't or won't hand over these difficult questions to a higher power, then you will find yourself at other more tenuous altars of worship: human culture, addictions (from minor ones to really problematic ones), lovers, career, nationalism, fantasy worlds (books, movies, etc.)... anything to ease the pain.

I don't think going back to traditional culture is necessarily the answer. Post-modernism is right that there are an infinite number of ways of viewing the world. The thing is, we're still biological beings and that's going to determine a lot of our meaning automatically. Pretending that isn't real is a form of self-denial. On the other hand, humans have entered a time when we have to create our own meaning, which is difficult if subjectivity has paralyzed you. But you have to do it. And I believe that meaning comes from a spiritual core. There IS something about you that is pre-determined. It's not ALL subjective. In those pre-determinations, you can find what feels right (not just what "feels good"), what resonates, what rings true. Then live by that.

The problem is that post-modernism wants to erase people it doesn't agree with, so we are really dealing with neo-Marxist garbage in our society now, foisted by the rotten intellectuals.
 
As for me I tried once to write something similar and send it to a university in Cluj Napoca since their partners with China, Argentina and lastly Norway, but they rejected it because I said that I don't wanna make the public aware of and they classified as a dying view of human breed. It had 10 pages only all written in white so this way no matter conditions or whatever even burnt if u find all piece letter still have their shape
 
Foreigner said:
Thank you for posting this, I came here to say pretty much the same thing.

The only thing is that I don't agree that post-modernism is totally to blame for nihilism. I think as our access to information about the world increases, we are naturally going to see that reality is subjective. Post-modernism is the only philosophy that has really tried to deeply tackle that, albeit in a very flawed way. You can study 100 cultures and their thousands of different values and beliefs. Add a lot of privilege to that, like a society with a relatively high standard of living, and people just don't know what to do with themselves. They don't know how to choose because everything seems like a subjectivity trap. This is not trivial, it is crushing. I know people who are in their 40's who have been paralyzed by this for more than a decade. They realize that nothing has inherent meaning, so what's the point of doing anything? How do you choose?

Traditional culture, even though it's very limited, made the choice for people... and there was no knowledge base with which to counter it. It left a lot of people hanging high and dry who couldn't conform, but on the whole you knew your role at birth. Post-modernism has obliterated that. It literally won't allow any structure, and yet that is, in of itself, a structure... one which is being forced on everybody. A structure rooted in high-faluten academia that is now being tested upon the population, just like how French Marxism got tested on the Cambodian people by Polpot.

Hedonism and selfishness are natural products of godlessness. If you can't or won't hand over these difficult questions to a higher power, then you will find yourself at other more tenuous altars of worship: human culture, addictions (from minor ones to really problematic ones), lovers, career, nationalism, fantasy worlds (books, movies, etc.)... anything to ease the pain.

I don't think going back to traditional culture is necessarily the answer. Post-modernism is right that there are an infinite number of ways of viewing the world. The thing is, we're still biological beings and that's going to determine a lot of our meaning automatically. Pretending that isn't real is a form of self-denial. On the other hand, humans have entered a time when we have to create our own meaning, which is difficult if subjectivity has paralyzed you. But you have to do it. And I believe that meaning comes from a spiritual core. There IS something about you that is pre-determined. It's not ALL subjective. In those pre-determinations, you can find what feels right (not just what "feels good"), what resonates, what rings true. Then live by that.

The problem is that post-modernism wants to erase people it doesn't agree with, so we are really dealing with neo-Marxist garbage in our society now, foisted by the rotten intellectuals.
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Yeah Nihilism has been around a lot longer.

Something else that's relevant is Consumerism. This really kicked off in the 1950s-60s with marketing and the "American Dream". The whole concept of "happiness" being the primary goal in life is closely linked with advertising and marketing. That industry depends on people constantly feeling like they will be happy once they get x, y and z.

The cosmetic/beauty industry is an obvious example -- it gives people the message that if they look good they will attract the person of their dreams and live happily ever after.

Combine this with the belief that nothing means anything (except material things/money) and you've just got a population of producers and consumers. Like robots 😐 It's fucking depressing even without the realisation it's completely unsustainable.


Favourite movie for the last 20 years.. 😁

 
AbbeyLee said:
Yeah Nihilism has been around a lot longer.

Something else that's relevant is Consumerism. This really kicked off in the 1950s-60s with marketing and the "American Dream". The whole concept of "happiness" being the primary goal in life is closely linked with advertising and marketing. That industry depends on people constantly feeling like they will be happy once they get x, y and z.

The cosmetic/beauty industry is an obvious example -- it gives people the message that if they look good they will attract the person of their dreams and live happily ever after.

Combine this with the belief that nothing means anything (except material things/money) and you've just got a population of producers and consumers. Like robots 😐 It's fucking depressing even without the realisation it's completely unsustainable.


Favourite movie for the last 20 years.. 😁

Click to expand...


Yeah, corporate capitalism has really done a number too. They've created a closed system where the only thing that matters is money, so it's increasingly all that people think about. All creativity has been sucked out.

Humanity could live in a paradise but it'll never happen.
 
Foreigner said:
Yeah, corporate capitalism has really done a number too. They've created a closed system where the only thing that matters is money, so it's increasingly all that people think about. All creativity has been sucked out.

Humanity could live in a paradise but it'll never happen.
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LOL

 
When I get really nihilistic and depressed I like to listen to Terence McKenna. I'm not a nihilist at heart but I forget really easily

 
Point being I am bored by the energy the participants in this thread are crafting out. Before that, I wanna give a quick room to "A Glitch In Matrix, 2021" is a documentary it has almost 2hrs runish but you don't feel it because I didn't, is filmed in a way that is less likely to be stagnating unless you're a shapeless meme maker, similar to "A Darklish Scanner" perfect for a cold winter November morning provoking camera angles.
 
Wouldn't have anything to do with consumerism and being conditioned to the "world is going to end" due to global warming, climate change, empty dams etc... for the past few decades.
 
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