Philosophy Now Forum

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:46 am I'm negative. I'm resentful. I'm bitter. I'm fed up with other people and I'm fed up with God's world. Now what?

You are going to suck it up like the rest of us and move on. God's world, burn his fucking house down!!

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:46 am I'm negative. I'm resentful. I'm bitter. I'm fed up with other people and I'm fed up with God's world. Now what?

I've got quite a long list of things that I'm fed up with, Gary, I'll see if I can find it. It might give you one or two new ideas.

gary just forget everything u ever learned, decide what kind of dude u wanna be - aggressive and ambitious hustla or laid back go with the flow modest guy - and read Nietzsche and/or Spinoza... depending on where u place.

start with the introductory and for dummies books and work your way up. hey it ain't u it's the potentially confusing nature of the material. like imagine meeting this guy at a coffee shop. Or this guy. you're like 'I'm sorry, what?'

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:46 am I'm negative. I'm resentful. I'm bitter. I'm fed up with other people and I'm fed up with God's world. Now what?

Any answer will just be a generalization, not necessarily fit to you and your personality and situation. I'm sorry to hear you're going through this or have lived this the whole time if that's the case. There are options and strategies, and as many as all the religions and secular paths and spiritualities and self-help books out there. Maybe one of these would help, maybe not.

Is there anything that has gone well?

I am not trying to get you to look at the bright side. I think that's generally a rude and awful approach.

It's more like: is there something to build from? A practical question.

interesting I think fritz just said something about man needing to 'diabolize a part of himself something something'. that's incredible insight. in order to be able to be good man has to either exercise his will in fighting for some cause he's found greater than himself (sans stirner) or inventing an enemy, something against which one can exercise one's willpower in resisting. This enemy is called 'bad choices'.

if the immediate cause and it's demands on the individual don't suffice to occupy him fully in this engagement of will, he'll then invent an enemy, an opposition, in his mind so he can do so. the tyranny of the conscience gives man the ability to feel he is doing good, to feel he has good will, etc., because this other side, capable of doing 'bad', is purposely refused, resisted, repressed, controlled... and that is, essentially the operant condition of the will; its feeling of freewill and the pride it feels in exercising (tho in an illusory way) it's freedom of movement, in choosing and not being compelled.

in truth nothing he does is either Good or Bad, but good or bad based on and relative to an innumerable variety of factors and contexts. this is a very unsettling thought, so man would rather invent an enemy than have nothing against which to exercise his resistance and choice (this exercise is again the essential expression of the feeling of freewill). if he does not do this, his actions won't be meaningful and he plunges into nihilism. he needs to believe in the Good and the Bad.

upon discovering the nature of such things can't be settled by thinkers, wise men and philosophers alone, man invents a 'god' to be a foundation/basis from which to draw absolute values and concerns himself only with following them thereafter, never again questioning the truth of the matter. such things are indespensible for a conscience to even be possible at all, and whether or not they are true is incidental.

how did fritz say it? Not in the YouTube short .. in the book BGE. i would make the following edit to the thought: man would rather feel like his suffering is meaningful than not suffer at all, but live a meaningless life.

Iwannaplato wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:27 pm

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:46 am I'm negative. I'm resentful. I'm bitter. I'm fed up with other people and I'm fed up with God's world. Now what?

Any answer will just be a generalization, not necessarily fit to you and your personality and situation. I'm sorry to hear you're going through this or have lived this the whole time if that's the case. There are options and strategies, and as many as all the religions and secular paths and spiritualities and self-help books out there. Maybe one of these would help, maybe not.

Is there anything that has gone well?

I am not trying to get you to look at the bright side. I think that's generally a rude and awful approach.

It's more like: is there something to build from? A practical question.

Rock bottom like Gary describes , is intellectually the most secure place to build from. Mood is something else. Is unhappy mood caused by appraisal of circumstances, or is it caused by a physical cause, or both?

Belinda wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:46 pm

Iwannaplato wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:27 pm

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:46 am I'm negative. I'm resentful. I'm bitter. I'm fed up with other people and I'm fed up with God's world. Now what?

Any answer will just be a generalization, not necessarily fit to you and your personality and situation. I'm sorry to hear you're going through this or have lived this the whole time if that's the case. There are options and strategies, and as many as all the religions and secular paths and spiritualities and self-help books out there. Maybe one of these would help, maybe not.

Is there anything that has gone well?

I am not trying to get you to look at the bright side. I think that's generally a rude and awful approach.

It's more like: is there something to build from? A practical question.

Rock bottom like Gary describes , is intellectually the most secure place to build from. Mood is something else. Is unhappy mood caused by appraisal of circumstances, or is it caused by a physical cause, or both?

I was thinking more like did he have some skill or area of his life that he felt confident in/with. Or some connection with another person that was something to build from. I wasn't think about moods.

Iwannaplato wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:53 pm

Belinda wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:46 pm

Iwannaplato wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:27 pm Any answer will just be a generalization, not necessarily fit to you and your personality and situation. I'm sorry to hear you're going through this or have lived this the whole time if that's the case. There are options and strategies, and as many as all the religions and secular paths and spiritualities and self-help books out there. Maybe one of these would help, maybe not.

Is there anything that has gone well?

I am not trying to get you to look at the bright side. I think that's generally a rude and awful approach.

It's more like: is there something to build from? A practical question.

Rock bottom like Gary describes , is intellectually the most secure place to build from. Mood is something else. Is unhappy mood caused by appraisal of circumstances, or is it caused by a physical cause, or both?

I was thinking more like did he have some skill or area of his life that he felt confident in/with. Or some connection with another person that was something to build from. I wasn't think about moods.

Anyone who can write as well as Gary writes has something intellectual to build from. Also Gary may have manual, physical skills, although as we age these tend to become weaker.
If Gary is lacking a good diet, hydration, enough sleep, enough fun and recreation, or has some other physical deficiency these can and should be sorted. Hope and faith are moods that depend upon physical factors

Belinda wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 4:40 pm Anyone who can write as well as Gary writes has something intellectual to build from.

Sure. I was asking Gary to see what Gary thought.

Iwannaplato wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 5:01 pm

Belinda wrote: ↑Sat Dec 24, 2022 4:40 pm Anyone who can write as well as Gary writes has something intellectual to build from.

Sure. I was asking Gary to see what Gary thought.

Yes, I know. Sorry!

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:46 am I'm negative. I'm resentful. I'm bitter. I'm fed up with other people and I'm fed up with God's world. Now what?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVjP7BaTSqU

I am also ... a loser.

With the way the world has turned out, thanks to humans, I don't know if it's possible to even be a loser!

Dubious wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:37 am With the way the world has turned out, thanks to humans, I don't know if it's possible to even be a loser!

Gary Childress wrote:A loser is a loser is a loser.

When we continually argue for our limitations we get to keep them.