/r9k1/ - ROBOT9000 (Feb. 2008 - Jan. 2011)

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Anonymous !xyWyVn95HA Tue 15 Jun 2010 12:22:00 No.9528618 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By:

any absurdists here? any of you miss the feeling of conviction or moral certainty?

i miss interpreting the world through a given value system. i was big on rationalism/empiricism and the will to power before i had an existential crisis. obviously i can't enjoy those anymore, since they are no better or worse than hedonism.

it's just all the small things i miss.. like pride in being an "intellectual". i don't think humans are supposed to live wthout some kind of conviction.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:12:00 No.9529050 Report

Quoted By:

I honestly don't know how I stopped getting that feeling of nothingness. It would come unannounced at the worst times, and would seem to prove something to me that I couldn't shake off. What's important to remember is that it's a chemical wave, as biological as a sneeze, and like a cold nihilism can pass. The frequency and severity of attacks probably relates to the underlying understanding you have of your life and the world. If you keep proving to yourself that it's a bummer, the full weight and implication behind that will strike out from time to time. Since I began affirming life it has happened much less, though it hasn't vanished. I can face it down better now.

Music is an excellent way to spend time.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:15:00 No.9529071 Report

Quoted By: >>9529098 >>9529172

>>9529048

There's a certain sort of freedom that comes with the annihilation of yourself, when you're able to finally get over the fact.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:20:00 No.9529098 Report

Quoted By: >>9529108 >>9529112

>>9529071
Annihilate the self?

Is this something only a hikikomori on welfare can accomplish?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:21:00 No.9529103 Report

Quoted By: >>9529172

What Nietzsche does is posit an individual who can hold two opposing worldviews in their head at the same time.

On the one hand every intelligent person comes to realize the futility in all things, in their era, in their nation, in their own life. That is an inevitable and scientifically unshakeable fact. I am an insignificant cog of history, the American empire, and a mentally ill person with very little going for me.

The other worldview is that of the ubermensch. The ubermensch leaves nihilism the way a gladiator leaves the arena; bloodsoaked and victorious. Let the irrational and boastful part of yourself have its way sometimes, when you know that it's right. Give in to the instinct that says you're superior, that says you deserve things, that you stand above. Take note of the ways you answer your self doubt, and treat it like a resolved question that is gradually healing you.

It's a difficult and contradictory relationship between seemingly incompatible ways of thought. There's a time for each, and definitely a wrong time for the ubermensch. You need to know in your gut that the time has come before you start to affirm yourself, or else you run the risk of becoming blinded by self love and ignorance, though it doesn't seem like you'd let that happen easily.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:22:00 No.9529108 Report

Quoted By:

>>9529098

No, but it helps.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:22:00 No.9529112 Report

Quoted By:

>>9529098
hikikomori = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_man

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:27:00 No.9529149 Report

Quoted By: >>9529170 >>9533045

>>9528986
Holy shit, I have never, ever been able to put into words why I felt that I could not function properly within normal human society until I read what you wrote. I over analyze almost everything I do, and while I knew that is what caused my problems, I never really figured knew why.

Thanks, maybe now I can fix it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:28:00 No.9529162 Report

Quoted By: >>9529186

ITT: faux-intellectualism

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:29:00 No.9529170 Report

Quoted By: >>9533045

>>9529149
Constant self vivisection is an ugly and painful thing to do, but it separates us from the herd. Going overboard with self analysis is an easy way to neuter yourself, but not doing it is an easy way to end up as an ignorant and deluded cog. Find a balance and always choose happiness.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:29:00 No.9529172 Report

Quoted By: >>9529231

>>9529103
this thread is full of excellent posts. you guys are really helping me "flip" my view of absurdism into something positive. i should reread nietzsche instead of trying to pull hm from memories i gained when i had a completely different mindset.

>>9529071
speaking of annihilating the self, one thing that i'm kind of curious about is schopenhauer and buddhism in general. asceticism seems like an opposite approach to absurdism than the typical one, ie. denying (certain parts of) life rather than embracing it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:31:00 No.9529186 Report

Quoted By: >>9535406

>>9529162
Feel free to join in by pointing out flaws in my argument.

If the sarcastic use of the prefix "faux" is all you have to contribute, don't.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:33:00 No.9529208 Report

Quoted By:

Schopenheur is a defeatist.

Buddhism is something I've avoided, because I worry that it could trigger a relapse into nihilism. It seems like a very comprehensive system for dealing with something I hope I've already resolved through Nietzsche.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:35:00 No.9529221 Report

Quoted By:

>>9528864
>but.. god, i would kill to be christian or something.

Yeah, I know how you feel. I would love to feel like there was some kind of meaning or overall order to LUE, but no matter what I read, how I pray, etc., I can't feel God's presence. Shit sucks.

OP, I think most 20 somethings in our time would fall into the absurdist/nihilist/existentialist spectrum if they had to classify their views on life. That's what I see from talking to people my age, anyway.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:36:00 No.9529231 Report

Quoted By: >>9529281

>>9529172

Oof, Buddhism is a pet interest of mine. The gist of it's philosophy hits me well.

I think that to annihilate the ego, and all cravings along with it, would be such a wonderful peace. Personally, I would like to kill myself before I die, so to say. Even if it makes no difference once I'm gone, for me it would be valuable. I'll gladly accept defeatism if it gives me contentment.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:38:00 No.9529241 Report

Quoted By: >>9529281

>i don't think humans are supposed to live wthout some kind of conviction.

That's a pretty essentialist remark for an absurdist.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:43:00 No.9529276 Report

Quoted By: >>9529296

Buddhism seems to only have one thing to say, which is that life is pain. I don't really want to spend a lot of time dwelling on that fact, when I could be surrounding myself with things that make life not feel so painful.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:43:00 No.9529281 Report

Quoted By: >>9529312

>>9529241
i'm just saying it from a psychological viewpoint. like, nihilism wasn't relevant to prehistoric peoples. it just doesn't make sense intuitively until you have the levels of opulence and hedonism we have thanks to modern industry.

>>9529231
the problem i have with it is that if we believe schopenhauer when he says the human condition is privation, desire, etc., then that's simply what we're built out of. how do you break that down? there is no me without an ego. the only reason i do anything whatsoever is because i want something that i don't have. strip that away and i would cease to be me, wouldn't i?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:47:00 No.9529296 Report

Quoted By:

>>9529276

That's really not a good picture of it. Even Buddhist doesn't say that LIFE IS PAIN.

A more accurate statement would be; Life is unreliable, everything is unreliable, so don't get attached to it.

Don't get attached to anything being any particular way, because change is inevitable and if your happiness relies on anything that is subject to change, you will suffer to some degree.

When your happiness is not reliant upon any conditions whatsoever, there you have the most stable contentment possible. So, you give up the intermittent pleasures of life for a more stable peace. This of course, is not everyone's cuppatea, though.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:51:00 No.9529312 Report

Quoted By: >>9529374

>>9529281

>strip that away and i would cease to be me, wouldn't i?

Would that be such a bad thing? I don't want to be a dick and buddhafag up this thread too much, but consider the trouble that maintaining an identity brings. Fearing the loss of yourself is a big source of existential angst, isn't it?

So, I think it's worth trying to give up.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:53:00 No.9529328 Report

Quoted By:

Nietzsche discusses the fact of suffering as a resource for strength. That which does not kill us makes us stronger, and to shy away from pain and ordeals is to lose the wisdom that is gained from overcoming obstacles.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 13:56:00 No.9529348 Report

Quoted By:

In the end I think we can all agree that weed is the shit.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:00:00 No.9529374 Report

Quoted By: >>9529407

>>9529312
but why bother though? it's like.. if i am composed entirely of motivations and desires, why spend my time carefully stripping them away, assuming that's even possible, so i can cease to exist as an individual? why not just blow my brains out?

if schopenhauer is all about annihilating the will, why not make it your life's goal to kill every living thing, rather than get everyone to be a pseudo-buddho-nihilist?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:05:00 No.9529407 Report

Quoted By:

>>9529374

I've already expressed my personal view, but I'll say it again: Even though it makes no difference, and that I may as well kill myself, when it gets down to it I think that the annihilation of self and desires would be pleasant, in a peaceful kind of way.

Plus, a loss of the fear of death would come along with the end of ego, too. And since death is really, the only thing that's certain, I want to be prepared.

If I could have this, I could live out my days happily and without regret or worry. I would rather have this stable contentment born of complete giving up, than the mixture of pleasure and pain that comes with the other option. So, that's why I'd bother.

>if schopenhauer is all about annihilating the will, why not make it your life's goal to kill every living thing

Lol, well that would be just plain hard.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:06:00 No.9529413 Report

Quoted By: >>9529427

I'd love if there was a special program through the church where you could literally kill to be a christian again. You would be given a sharpened crucifix and put into a ring with another absurdist. Winner gets blind faith in god again. Best out of three.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:08:00 No.9529427 Report

Quoted By:

>>9529413

>sharpened crucifix

You mean... a sword?

I just blew your mind, didn't I.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:14:00 No.9529457 Report

Quoted By:

bad thread that turned into good thread. thanks.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:27:00 No.9529520 Report

Quoted By:

Y'all philosofags need to lay off the psychedelics, seriously. That shit ain't for everyone.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:42:00 No.9529634 Report

Quoted By: >>9529660

wat da fuk r u dikeds on about lol...............

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:49:00 No.9529660 Report

Quoted By:

>>9529634
oi m8

u wanna fite?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 14:59:00 No.9529699 Report

Quoted By:

aBsurdd

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 21:06:00 No.9532256 Report

Quoted By:

Eh, Kierkegaard fancier here. Not religious, but his solution of love/self-transcendence as a response to the inscrutability of the universe has been a real inspiration.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 21:19:00 No.9532380 Report

Quoted By: >>9532421 >>9532557

I like Camus' teachings.
I don't miss anything about how I used to view the world at all.
A central point in the myth of sisyphus is that the stone and the mountain are all he knows, there doesn't need to be anything else.
You should be content with what you have. There is only the initial shock when you first understand absurdism. having conviction doesn't matter, nothing matters, just breathe and don't think about shit anymore, because it's a dead end.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 21:24:00 No.9532421 Report

Quoted By: >>9532501

>>9532380
>Not that nostalgia is foreign to him.

Camus acknowledges that there will always be moments of despair. He even mentions Sisyphus having moments of reflection and doubt, IIRC.

The absurd is the divide between our constant search for meaning, and the lack of one. There's always going to be that "ironic" awareness of it. It will never go away.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 21:34:00 No.9532501 Report

Quoted By:

>>9532421
i agree but i don't see the lack of meaning as a bad thing really. it's only really because you're raised believing in a purpose or not understanding or caring about it that you have an existential crisis when you understand absurdism/existentialism/nihilism.
purpose is an entirely human concept anyway, you don't really need a reason to do something or enjoy it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 21:36:00 No.9532522 Report

Quoted By: >>9533202

Absurdism is fun.

Everyone always thinks the lack of meaning in life is all horrible and terrifying but it's really only terrible if you're a boring loser who never does anything with your life. When you're blowing your load on some asian girl's titties then the lack of meaning in life is just so downright absurd and silly and beautiful.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 21:40:00 No.9532557 Report

Quoted By:

>>9532380
I don't think you really understood Myth of Sisyphus if you think it's about being content with what you have. The reason why Camus urges us to think of Sisyphus as happy in the end is because despite his eternal and inescapable fate, he still retains his ability to choose. He can choose how he accepts his fate, or if he accepts it at all. He can still choose to be happy, or to rage against God for all eternity. Despite everything, God does not determine that for him. Nothing can take that away from him, and that's why he is happy.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 21:43:00 No.9532594 Report

Quoted By: >>9532791

All this philosophy bullshit is irrelevent in the modern age. Soon (say in a 100 years) we'll all be living forever in the Matrix. There's still the "lack of meaning" shit, but like the existialists like to say "one must create meaning for themselves".

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 21:55:00 No.9532706 Report

Quoted By:

Not going to make a serious post, so I'll just chip in and say that this is a pretty good thread. I wish r9k had more of this stuff.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 22:02:00 No.9532791 Report

Quoted By: >>9534660

>>9532594
Existentialism is for fucktards. The goal of philosophy is not to describe the world but to change it. Existentialism is a passive nihilism, it is a symptom of a diseased will to life. Whacking off to Sartre and Camus and intellectualizing the alienation of modern society is nothing more than a farce to make you feel better about not doing anything.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 22:32:00 No.9533045 Report

Quoted By:

>>9529149
>>9529170

good stuff right here

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 22:50:00 No.9533202 Report

Quoted By:

>>9532522
You said it way better than I could have, mate.

Everyone, listen to this guy.

If there is no god then there are no consiquences. Go have fun.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 15 Jun 2010 22:51:00 No.9533209 Report

Quoted By: >>9534765

Sartre ain't no absurdist.

Camus was.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 16 Jun 2010 01:27:00 No.9534660 Report

Quoted By:

>>9532791

Marxist detected.

Wed 16 Jun 2010 01:29:00 No.9534688 Report

Quoted By:

homo thread sure is homo!

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 16 Jun 2010 01:37:00 No.9534765 Report

Quoted By:

>>9533209
yeah i just had a pic of sartre saved for some reason, figured what the hell, existentialism is existentialism

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 16 Jun 2010 02:01:00 No.9535027 Report

Quoted By:

Why hasn't this been archived yet? I think a lot of robots could be helped out of neckbeard status by some of the posts here.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 16 Jun 2010 02:29:00 No.9535406 Report

Quoted By: >>9535868

>>9529186

lol idiot. i wasn't being sarcastic when i said faux. if you're trying to pretend you're an intellectual, you're a faux intellectual. lrn2dictionary pseudo boy

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 16 Jun 2010 02:36:00 No.9535491 Report

Quoted By:

I didn't do a philosophy class in college and I don't understand the terms you used, but for some reason, I think I understand how you feel.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 16 Jun 2010 03:00:00 No.9535868 Report

Quoted By:

>>9535406
It's not that you used the prefix "faux" that made it sarcastic, it was the "I'm above this and can tell that you're a douche without discussing the content of your argument" way you chose to participate in this thread. Due to the decline in quality on 4chan I can't tell trolling from people being serious, so I'm going to hope you're trolling just to help me sleep easier at night.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 16 Jun 2010 03:07:00 No.9535941 Report

Quoted By:

To all the buddhists: how do you compare yourself with other people? Do you think you're better than people now that you've found out the secret to life? Do you humble yourself because that's the secret to life?

Also, do you ever discuss your buddhism with other people, and if so how have they reacted?

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