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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I stand up, I look out my window at the big city. I think 'how is any of this real, and why do I have to age and eventually die?'

I wake up in the morning in my weird little flat. I wonder to myself, 'so this is it, huh? I just do this until my body fails?'

I cook myself a meal. I find out how a museum works behind the scenes. I get a tour of an office. I see my friends go out. I book a movie ticket. I work out. I watch a comedian. I listen to a podcast. All of these things just make me ponder what the point of it all is. Am I doing it wrong? Am I doing it pretty well? Why should I accumulate all this knowledge if I'm just going to die? What's the point in watching my stupid obscure movies that I can't even talk to people about? Am I missing out on the human experience?

Realistically I'm a happy ape. All my needs are satisfied. But I am a sad human.

I think it's all linked to graduating. The pressures on to do well, the workload is racking up, and then once that's all done I just get thrown into the real world. That's it. Then it truly is just doing the same thing over and over. Then it really is a question of survival. Would it be better to just be a dumb neolithic huntsman who is grateful for his bed of fur in his cave? What the fuck did those guys even think of when they took psychedelics? Well, spirits, I know, but wow, the things in their head must've been so original. If I do them, most of my thoughts are just about the garbage I've watched, and my modern worries that are worrisome but relatively tame.

Is this just a normal thing to go through, and then you get on with it and accept that this is just how things are?

Maybe life is simply starting to get to me, and time will tell if I crack under pressure.

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

So I can really only answer in my own limited sense - I haven't read much philosophy, just dabbled and lived.

For my own encounter with those doldrums, what I encountered that resonated with me was essentially Nietzsche's own exploration of the loss of the justifications for passionate living that we are given by our environment, parents, religion, culture, etc - nihilism. It isn't a happy desert to wander through, but it's one that has potential. And then, of course, it's okay that whatever answers you find you may grow beyond and reveal to be another illusion. Nishitani's The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism was a good companion on that.

Also, The Illuminatus! Trilogy and Robert Anton Wilson's later books were a very important part of me acquiring a sense of humour about the collapse of my expectations.

Recently, reading Daoist philosophy, the notion of harmony with the vast systemic gyre of the universe and a similar dynamic ignorance of there being any particular, static, understanding seem to fit with this. But that's easy to say and hard to feel.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Damn, do these sentiments echo with me. The top few stages of the hierarchy of needs seem to keep being unmet no matter what I throw at them. On top of being extremely unfulfilled with my work and hobbies, I’m also thoroughly alienated from everyone around me due to a combination of early-life ostracisation and mild agoraphobia. I’m starting to feel I’m skilled enough to identify what’s wrong with me (and the world to some extent), but not enough to actually change things. kitty-cri

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Hahaha, well I can't help, but I wonder if you also feel the same as me that:

The more left wing I become, the more I feel alienated. The less I am able to enjoy the things that most people around me enjoy and talk about. And yet, I can't unlearn my leftism, nor can I stop myself become more and more left wing now that I have the left wing framework to analyse life with.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Yeah, most def. I find myself unable to consume most english-language content because of how deeply they are intertwined with the ideological underpinnings of Empire and capitalism. This, in turn, means that I have no capacity to contribute in conversations surrounding media consumption, alienating me even further

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

In case you've forgotten, here's how things work: I order the food, you cook the food, then the customer gets the food. We do that for 40 years, and then we die

https://youtu.be/2eXU2p982GQ?si=SoVcjOle7RZitITx

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

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this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023
119 points (100.0% liked)

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