The Existential Crisis

[roydop]

"Your views is no different from the fundamentalist theists who insist God exists but will not provide sound justifications for his beliefs. In any case, it is impossible for a theist to justify his belief since his ground is based on faith, i.e. beliefs without proof nor rational grounds.
This is also no difference from mental cases making all sorts of unjustified claims.

I am merely presenting my views and if they don't resonate with you it is your discretion to ignore them, else if you insists, then present your arguments and rationale."

I have presented to you the proof validating my argument. I will do so again.

The proof is in my direct experience. I have already told you that almost (I am not yet fully liberated) ALL SUFFERING HAS BEEN ELIMINATED FROM MY LIFE. But for some reason you rejected this. There is nothing more I can do than be sincere and as accurate as possible. The rest is up to the reader.

I also told you that the(my) internal monologue (thinking) has been reduced by approximately 90%, but you seem to have a problem believing that as well, for whatever reason.

You are discarding what the actual proof of a theory is - the outcome of a physical experiment - in favor for just more theory. Can you see this? You keep looking for me to say something within the thought realm close enough to your belief system in order for you to accept the validity of my practice. You see I'm done with theory and now I'm actually living it. I have no beliefs. What very few beliefs I had have been verified and therefore are no longer needed and have faded away.

I have discovered the direct path to the transcendence of all suffering and for whatever reason it seems like a natural thing to want to share this.

[henry quirk]

my perfectly natural & normal internal dialog is lively, on-goin', and necessary

I'm not sufferin'...I'm not angsty...I'm not fearful...I'm not plagued by desires...I don't rush about lookin' to fill non-existent voids

seems to me: I contradict your strategy for a peaceful, untroubled, life right across the board

'splain that, swami

[Belinda]

There are various meanings of what is an existential crisis.
Here is an argument to justify the substance of the existential crisis pulsating from an algorithm with the brain/mind of a person;

• 1. All humans are "programmed" [no God involved] to survive at all costs.
  
  2. To ensure survival, any awareness of a threat of death is triggered with terrible fears to ensure the individual find solutions to avoid premature death.
  
  3. All humans are "programmed" with self-awareness.
  
  4. Mortality [death] is a "certainty" [99.999999..999%].
  
  5. Self-awareness [3] make one aware of mortality [death] [4].
  
  6. Premise 5 triggers 2 but there is no possibility of solutions [2].
  
  7. No possibility of a direct solution [6] pose a dilemma - a cognitive dissonance - which cannot be resolved, thus the existential crisis exuding subliminally.

The above cognitive dissonance from the inherent existential crisis drives the majority into the theism and religions which provide instant relief to numb the terrible existential pains [Angst, anxieties, despair, hopelessness, etc.] of the sufferer.

The above existential crisis also drives many other psychological problems for humans, but that is another topic.

Views?

The problem arises with #3. We misinterpret Self to be the body/mind complex.

It's not. When Self is realized fear of death passes because one is now abiding in/as the Absolute, which exists beyond time, birth and death.

The idea of the self as absolute with the Absolute is an illusion and to persist in such a belief is delusional.

The point is when you make the above claim, you need to support that with sound arguments and justifications.

Note Hume, Parfit on the concept of the self which is just a bundle of activities and the self is not a thing-in-itself. This mean if a person is not alive, the living self is gone, poof! and don't exist at all.

Kant wrote a long book The Critique of Pure Reason to denounce the self or soul as a permanent thing-in-itself.

If you insist in your claim, produce your arguments and justifications to counter the above arguments.

The block universe is timeless. Not only is the self (whatever that may be) eternal i.e. timeless but also everything else is timeless to the extent nothing is differentiated from anything else. Therefore the self is absolute.
If the self be defined as feeling of individuality then the individual self is absolute.

NB Individuality became much more a thing in recent historical time and place. Individualism is key tenet of the Romantic movement.

[Veritas Aequitas]

The block universe is timeless. Not only is the self (whatever that may be) eternal i.e. timeless but also everything else is timeless to the extent nothing is differentiated from anything else. Therefore the self is absolute.
If the self be defined as feeling of individuality then the individual self is absolute.

NB Individuality became much more a thing in recent historical time and place. Individualism is key tenet of the Romantic movement.

Whilst timeless, you are still projecting the self "whatever that may be" as a thing.
Even "whatever that may be" is undifferentiated, you are still postulating whatever-that-may be as a thing-in-itself.

However Kant has proven whatever that thing-in-itself is an illusion.
The foundation of such an illusion is psychological.
So the solution to the above doubt need to be dealt with from the psychological perspective.
Whatever is psychological is leveraged on neuro-processes within the brain/mind and the universe - so this aspect must be investigated.

Actually your view that the self is whatever-that-may-be, is timeless and is Absolute is more of a Romantic View [idealized] than others you are accusing of the same.

[Belinda]

The block universe is timeless. Not only is the self (whatever that may be) eternal i.e. timeless but also everything else is timeless to the extent nothing is differentiated from anything else. Therefore the self is absolute.
If the self be defined as feeling of individuality then the individual self is absolute.

NB Individuality became much more a thing in recent historical time and place. Individualism is key tenet of the Romantic movement.

Whilst timeless, you are still projecting the self "whatever that may be" as a thing.
Even "whatever that may be" is undifferentiated, you are still postulating whatever-that-may be as a thing-in-itself.

However Kant has proven whatever that thing-in-itself is an illusion.
The foundation of such an illusion is psychological.
So the solution to the above doubt need to be dealt with from the psychological perspective.
Whatever is psychological is leveraged on neuro-processes within the brain/mind and the universe - so this aspect must be investigated.


Actually your view that the self is whatever-that-may-be, is timeless and is Absolute is more of a Romantic View [idealized] than others you are accusing of the same.

I am not accusing; I am trying to explain the idea of the block universe. I am not a mystic so I can't experience timelessness/changelessness. Possibly this lack hobbles my understanding but I can still try to explain .

If there were such entities as selves these , under conditions of absolute changelessness, would be undifferentiated as to any dimensions of duration, and time/space coordinates. Under conditions of absolute changelessness ,relationships would not exist because there wold be no relative difference between any entities, so there would be no entities , no selves whatever those might mean.

Under conditions of changelessness there would be no analysis nor synthesis, there would be only be pure being with the possibility that pure being would become relative and transient. Stuff is happening, so pure being became relative and transient. The only alternatives could be one, there is a noumenal world of things in themselves(which we are not privy to), and two, this phenomenal world is all there is.

A possible alternative to block universe is illustrated by Indra's Net. This is an infinite and timeless network of all events and all entities. Indra's Net is a happy medium between the inaccessible noumenal world on one hand, and cold cheerless block universe on the other hand.

https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/ar ... indras-net