Paradox

[MrP]

The biggest paradox of all is that nothing matters. It's our self awareness that gives meaning to things. That's the curse. Where do we go from here? All this misery and sadness for what? Something's coming. Soon. I hope everyone here can eventually find their peace. Perhaps we'll get some sort of explanation after this or it is just nothing but an eternal oblivion.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I wish the thought that 'nothing matters' was actually comforting. But, I find that, even if we can reason with ourselves that nothing we do matters- we will likely still have preferences. Would you prefer to eat or go hungry? Sleep in the warm or- sleep on the streets? So- that requires money which requires a job or proving you deserve benefits. It's still difficult to persuade yourself that the fact you hate every second of your job doesn't matter because- nothing matters when you know in yourself- you'd prefer to be doing something else! I've just never found philosophy to be all that helpful in regular living where you end up having to do certain horrible things in order for things not to get even worse!

But yeah- it does seem pretty farcical. Even when you think of the greatest achievers of our species. Who have they ultimately benefitted? Other humans. Which will all be kind of pointless when we all go extinct (hopefully) one day. Still- I'm greatful to many of them for making life that little less shit. Imagine a world without music, stories, invention, medicine, art.

 

[AInilam]

I wish the thought that 'nothing matters' was actually comforting. But, I find that, even if we can reason with ourselves that nothing we do matters- we will likely still have preferences. Would you prefer to eat or go hungry? Sleep in the warm or- sleep on the streets? So- that requires money which requires a job or proving you deserve benefits. It's still difficult to persuade yourself that the fact you hate every second of your job doesn't matter because- nothing matters when you know in yourself- you'd prefer to be doing something else! I've just never found philosophy to be all that helpful in regular living where you end up having to do certain horrible things in order for things not to get even worse!

But yeah- it does seem pretty farcical. Even when you think of the greatest achievers of our species. Who have they ultimately benefitted? Other humans. Which will all be kind of pointless when we all go extinct (hopefully) one day. Still- I'm greatful to many of them for making life that little less shit. Imagine a world without music, stories, invention, medicine, art.

It's exactly that, it's the fact that we make life feel so tedious and meaningless when it should be relatively simple. Why do we have to live like this--when we're the ones who were dragged kicking and screaming into this world against our will? These things shouldn't be considered comforts or luxuries, having food (healthy and quality food not the fake shit they pump out by the dozens), a roof over your head and a warm bed to sleep in. These are basic necessities, the bare fucking minimum lol. People should be able to enjoy art and music, spend time with loved ones and have time for themselves, but that isn't what society is about nor has it ever been (except for a select few). It doesn't care if you go hungry or have to work yourself down to the bone just to scape by, and in turn people turn to these philosophies because when we look at the big picture: Our sick, tired neighbors, our failing society and dying planet, people have to stop and ask themselves--what the hell was even the point?

 

[Forever Sleep]

It's exactly that, it's the fact that we make life feel so tedious and meaningless when it should be relatively simple. Why do we have to live like this--when we're the ones who were dragged kicking and screaming into this world against our will? These things shouldn't be considered comforts or luxuries, having food (healthy and quality food not the fake shit they pump out by the dozens), a roof over your head and a warm bed to sleep in. These are basic necessities, the bare fucking minimum lol. People should be able to enjoy art and music, spend time with loved ones and have time for themselves, but that isn't what society is about nor has it ever been (except for a select few). It doesn't care if you go hungry or have to work yourself down to the bone just to scape by, and in turn people turn to these philosophies because when we look at the big picture: Our sick, tired neighbors, our failing society and dying planet, people have to stop and ask themselves--what the hell was even the point?

Exactly- I think we turn to philosophy, even religion and self help books when we don't feel able to cope with our modern lives. And- we pick up a few tips- meditation, centring ourselves, getting rid of all that outside crap but ultimately- it's very hard to do that constantly. Maybe it's just a trick to try and keep us functional. To stop us burning out all together.

Even as a philosophy/ religion though- I don't entirely get it. Maybe because it's a spiritual realisation that needs to be experienced to be understood. Still- in terms of self awareness and ego- If we manage not to identify with the things we don't like, then we probably need to go the whole hog and not identify with anything but- are we really free even then? We're still alive after all! I just feel like- if that's the ultimate goal of these religions- have any grand masters actually accomplished it? In which case- did they flop down dead? If that's the goal and they achieved it- why aren't they freed from their mortal trap? Forever?

Really, I suppose I see most religions as a kind of 'useful guide' to life. I'm not convinced any of them are real.

As for consciousness and self awareness itself- I don't know but I don't see why it shouldn't just be (bad) luck we got landed with it. If humans didn't exist- would religion? But- some animals show self awareness. A huge amount of them are sentient. I think it could so easily be just some random event rather than something we have told stories about through the ages to try and make sense of.

 

[FuneralCry]

Peace will come someday as I very strongly believe death to be nothing more than the absence of everything. We are all just waiting to die in this futile and meaningless existence, it's comforting to think of disappearing into nothingness.