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08-03-2013 Irina, let me just reiterate what I said the other day, I love your blog. I mean, what are the chances of finding a blog about the things I'm interested in, pessimism, philosophy, psychology and so forth all written with the underlining notion that life isn't worth living, that things are awful ? It's a breath of fresh air. People who have seen trough the curtain so to speak, who don't have optimistic views in place (coping mechanisms like you have said) are an infinitely small minority so it's really nice when you meet someone alike. This has quickly become my favorite blog. |
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08-03-2013
Yeah, and I'm surprised I have readers who appreciate pessimistic philosophy (realistic, but that's what it's commonly known by - 'pessimism') :) Chances of stumbling on like-minded people on the street - close to 0. Sure, you can find depressed whining people quite easily, those who are simply in conflict with themselves, unsatisfied with their own circumstance and their personal failures and shortcomings - plenty of that. But that's not philosophical pessimism, that's just a regular frustrated person who would be just fine had they have enough honey to lick. They don't have a fundamental problem with life as such, they just have a problem with their own. Thanks for stopping by)) |
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08-03-2013 We are just killing time before time kills us. How hard can it be? Just don't be too hard on yourself."The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." George Will As Schopenhauer, I find comfort in looking at the world as a penitentiary, a sort of a penal colony [Greek: ergastaerion]. If you accustom yourself to this view of life you will regulate your expectations accordingly, you will find that everything is as it should be, in a world where each of us pays the penalty of existence in his own peculiar way. And amongst the evils of a penal colony is the society of those who form it, as any pessimist can attest. [Schopenhauer: Studies in Pessimism] Tolstoy’s salvation came about when he hit upon a way to disown coherence and sidle up to religion. A titan of conceptual prestidigitation, he had rationalized his way into irrationality. Later, though, his mind went to work again, and he was once more in crisis. He remained preoccupied with life and death and meaning for the rest of his days and as an author preached a brand of positive thought —as in the bathetic “Death of Ivan Ilyich” (1886)— in an ongoing crusade against the bleakness that dogged him. [Thomas Ligotti: The Conspiracy Against The Human Race] |
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08-03-2013
We are just killing time before time kills us. How hard can it be? Just don't be too hard on yourself. Sounds funny.)) But we aren't just killing time, we're struggling to survive here, that is - to postpone the inevitable - overcoming all sorts of hurdles. Life can be very, very hard. I don't have any issue with me, I'm fine. Good quotes. I've read Ligotti. And yes, Tolstoy couldn't handle the bleak truth he once saw and even though he claimed in the beginning of his "Confession": "...that irrational knowledge is faith, that very thing which I could not but reject. It is God, One in Three; the creation in six days; the devils and angels, and all the rest that I cannot accept as long as I retain my reason." Well, if I ever turn back to faith - means I have lost my fucking mind. |
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08-03-2013 I know that life can be hard (who doesn't?), but what I mean is: it's not enough for existential angst to make it so. Well, at least in my case, and others. I know some people can be very sensitive to these existential questions, as it seemed to be the case with Tolstoy. |
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08-03-2013 I am definitely in the "weakness" category. I cling to life like a barnacle to a ship's hull. Pathetic. But at least I'm not as insane as most people. I'm only slightly insane.However I do have to point something out. You say that without desires we wouldn't do anything. I don't think that's true unless you define "desire" in a general way (i.e. anything that motivates us), but then it's a trivial point. |
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09-03-2013
Haha! One has to be slightly insane to be functional in this insane world. )) I knew I'd get objections to that! I meant all sorts of desires in a wider sense, as something you want which will also bring over a pleasurable feeling. If I feel like creating something and I'm frustrated if I can't find the time for it - what else is it if not a desire? A desire to learn, to discover, to create, to improve... all sorts of stuff. It's harder to call activism a desire, right? But then...the desire to feel useful, to be a part of something greater than yourself, to have a purpose in life, to feel significant... Not that it invalidates the actual steps people make in order to help improve things in some area, I'm just kind of digging to the core and still finding desires beyond virtually everything. We're programmed to seek pleasure, even if some people are mosachists they still are after pleasure, pain merely being a method of obtaining it. |
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08-03-2013 Irina,You most definitely do have readers who appreciate your philosophical pessimism. I don't write a response often, but I read with pleasure all the philosophy you write here. Please keep it up; I can't find any pessimists walking the streets either. |
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09-03-2013 Well then by definition there are "desires" behind every action, sure... |
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09-03-2013 Leo Tolstoy had 14 children, 4 of them while writing or after writing A Confession.I've given up trying to understand people, life, the universe and everything... I'm focusing on improving my biochemistry so that I can feel as good as possible most of the time. That implies a lot of 'only thinking nice thoughts' or 'not thinking at all, just breathing, feeling, experimenting, ...'. Our brain does have tremendous power over the body, we could as well take advantage of it. It doesn't imply not having 'desires', as long as they are 'calm desires', the kind that doesn't make you suffer. I think that this Buddhist idea has been misinterpreted... All this could sound selfish to some... but they should know that you are better able to help others when you're not feeling miserable, but strong and pointlessly content. In fact, there is a sensible point in being content in the middle of cruel chaos, and that is: rebellion. (We clearly weren't meant to be happy, therefore I'll try to be... no matter how many times I fail, I know I'm fighting on the right side of the battle ) |
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09-03-2013
4 of them while writing or after writing A Confession. Well, A Confession sort of ends on a religious note anyway so that wouldn't have stopped him. I don't want to attempt to psychoanalize Tolstoy in particular, I'm not an expert on either his writings or biography, but ... our psyche gives us the capacity to believe what we want to believe even in the face of the evidence to the contrary. A cognitive dissonance is usually resolved in favor of the preservation of a positive self-image. If you have 10 kinds and then realize you've created 10 people who will suffer and die for no good reason, you can either live with that terrible realization for the rest of your life or give up your conclusiuon that life is an evil and an absurdity. Zenner, I'm with you on trying to feel as good as possible notwithstanding the truth of the matter. The reason I don't allow myself to fall into a deep depression is simply that - I don't allow myself, and so far it has been working. I've told myself this a long time ago: as long as I (for whatever reason) decide to stick around and go on living, I will do whatever it takes to not be completely miserable, as long as I can resist it I will because it does no good to anybdy and hurts me even more. |
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09-03-2013 Great post Irina, linked to it on my blog chat. I will only add to it that it helps when one is personally frustrated for whatever reason and then that solidifies their ultimate conclusions. Its much easier to get to it that way rather than through a happy pappy live where one never had to suffer too much and suddenly the eureka realization that life is ultimate evil. |
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09-03-2013
Thanks. Yeah, sometimes it does. But oftentimes it doesn't and you see people who have seen/been through horrible things defending the beauty of life and whatnot. So, one has to suffer before they realize life is crap but it's not necessarily enough. |
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09-03-2013 I feel understood, that's a good feeling... Much obliged. |
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09-03-2013 I forgot to say that I understand you too... about perfectly.That said, I wish something really thrilling comes your way... anytime soon... and helps you keep up the attitude, hehe. |
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10-03-2013 Very true Irina. I personally cut off everyone who is like that from my life. I can't tolerate having this stupid chit-chat over and over again that puts a positive spin on life where there is none to be found. |
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06-05-2013 One of your most eloquent and powerful posts, Irina (helped in part by Tolstoy, of course ::wink.gif:: ). I share your thoughts completely. Really, I don't have much to add to it. Thank you for writing! Just knowing there are other people out there that think and feel like me is strenghtening. Maybe soon I'll start a blog myself. |
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06-05-2013
Thanks, Manuel, same here with knowing there are other people who share the perspective. Own blog sure helps let out the feelings that won't be appreciated by a lot or perhaps the majority of people surrounding you. And it may get you connected with those who think alike. That's the beauty of the internet. I imagine it was times tougher having unpopular beliefs back in the old times. |
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