The Philosophy Discussion Forum

I crave your darkness not because I am in gloom,but because my light has no room to shine without you.

In your shadow, I finally radiate.

most infants discover things before they can name them

-Imp

Impenitent wrote: ↑Thu Dec 04, 2025 7:26 pm most infants discover things before they can name them

-Imp

And why babies stare into the mirror of their parent’s faces, to discover emotion, mood, hostility, or security. They have no words for these natural feelings. These feelings are intrinsically embedded into the very fabric of being itself.

We eat and drink from the sustainer of life, just to survive, just to give it all back in the form of poo and pee.

"Life can only be lived forward, and understood backwardly."

popeye1945 wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2026 7:29 am "Life can only be lived forward, and understood backwardly."

“It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards. And if one thinks it over, it becomes more and more evident that life can never really be understood in time simply because at no particular moment can I find complete rest in which to adopt the position: backwards.”

Soren Kierkegaard - journals 1843

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Mon May 25, 2026 9:20 pm

popeye1945 wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2026 7:29 am "Life can only be lived forward, and understood backwardly."

“It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards. And if one thinks it over, it becomes more and more evident that life can never really be understood in time simply because at no particular moment can I find complete rest in which to adopt the position: backwards.”

Soren Kierkegaard - journals 1843

Hi Gary,

Excellent, I couldn't remember what philosopher it was that made that statement. There is no complete rest in any particular moment; that moment would be death. Reminds me of something Schopenhauer stated, after one gets to a certain age, say in one's late sixties, it all seems to have had an order to it. I personally have found that to be true. There is order to it, continuity, whether a regetable continuity or that of a lighter burden, the contexts of the past play a tune heard in the present and the future.