Dennis:
You too, eh? Luckily I worked myself out of this reputed depression by, oh, how shall I say it…coming to terms with the universe, I guess, around my twenty-sixth year. For me, my sense of despair is founded on being alone, really, without ‘connecting’ with friends, who have come and gone as long as I can remember. Being a somewhat unorthodox person my friendships inevitably end due to fundamental differences in priciples, or I just develop an outright disrespect for them, and vice-versa. I’ve always been a team-player but have been somewhat of a lone-wolf since twenty-seven. From that point I set a goal to find people of ‘philosophical inclination’ on the internet, and, if I played my cards right, hopefully meet them. Needless to say there is a shortage of intelligence in the world, and I lack the medium to find the ones that are out there; didn’t go to college, don’t do bars and clubs, and am not much of a socialite. Rarely do I become friends with my co-workers either, not many construction workers escape the stereotypical box they exist in.
I couldn’t agree more. There is a reality to such cynicism, however much it appears to be a great generalization. If only you coulda turned out ‘normal,’ eh? Kidding aside, my strongest objection, and perhaps my greatest shortcoming, is that I WILL NOT participate in a capitalist economy if I have a choice. This resolve has kept my pockets empty, reducing me to a wanderer of sorts…spend a little time here, make a few bucks to get by…and move on. In the last ten years I haven’t lived in the same place for over three months at a time. My pattern is seasonal, living in the mountains during the summer…the beach during the winter. I work outside and am quite particular about the climate.
On a another note, I see nothing better to do than to work to change those two situations, or get old and die trying. The option to ‘drop-out’ is always there, but I almost feel it to be my duty to have a positive influence on the matter. I can remove myself from the setting and also take efforts to change it, I think. If I fail, then I’ve lost nothing. If I succeed…
Don’t we all. I have a simple formula (well, not simple, but if I had to print it on a t-shirt it would look like this): live as if you are mortal, with the prospect that you might not be. What is certain is that life can be pleasurable, and enjoyed. We know this much, and it should come a logical consequence that we promote that possibility to its fullest potential. There is nothing terrible about dying, but I think there can be trouble if in living we become anxious and reckless. The irony I have found is that religion has caused this problem, as well as nihilistic atheism. Both need to be absolved.
Yes, of course. I think that while individuality should be preserved, there are also certain objective truths, or rules, which can exist to promote cooperation between individuals within a group. The community, as you say, can be founded on a set of basic imperatives, but also allow for improvisation and creative advancements. There is a fine line between a ‘cult’ and a free community, as you know, and I think a modified democratic political setting would work great.
Absolutely. Person to person philosophy is where its at, dude. Some of the greatest conversations I have ever had were struck up in a coffee shop with complete strangers. We got so jacked on coffee, owner included, that she kept the place open after closing time and we talked well into the morning hours. Party at the coffee shop. That’s the good stuff.
Bingo.
Check this out. I own five acres of land in Galax county Virginia. It is bordering a fourty-acre abandoned x-man tree farm (the black-furs grew up and overwhelmed the fraziar-furs) owned by my father. As far as I know, he hasn’t made any efforts to develop the land yet, and he doesn’t seen opposed to the idea of myself doing something with it. Actually, a few hundred of the x-mas trees are salvageable, but would have to be trimmed the previous spring in order to be sold that following winter. My father said I could have them, and I’ve been planning to sell them for a while, I just haven’t got around to it. Anyway, fourty-five acres is quite a stretch of land, and with a few permits for building (and there are ways to avoid having to get permits, too), why, one could design a fantastic community if one were so inclined. I am eventully going to build a simple cabin for myself if I don’t end up organizing a plan to create a ‘village’ of sorts on the property. Although in my mind I see a great complex with many people living there. Philosophers, and the most beautiful women you could imagine…walking around naked. We would have our own farms, hunt and fish, have festivals, music and games, arrange traveling,…oh it would be awesome!
How are you with a saw, a tractor, and a set of post-hole diggers? [wink]
The area is very rural, with rolling hills and woodlands, but there is a decent sized town a few miles from there, so its not off the map completely. It is settled in the blue-ridge mountains.
Well, they got the right idea, as far as natural living is concerned, but they’re so burnt-out and too liberal. Lazy too. You can hide a bar of soap under a hippies work-boots and he’d never find it. But the women, oh yes, if I could get them to shave their legs I’d be in business. I’d be making babies alright.
Yes, always keep an eye on the latest discoveries in physics. Philosophy is indeed important, but science gives us the material to work with. Science gives us the form, philosophy gives it value. They work together and are crucial counter-parts.
I also think that eastern thought has its strength in using metaphor and allegory to arrive at ethical elucidations, many times far more powerful than what logical directives can inspire. Granted, it is not the calculated practice of westerm thinking, but it is indeed a very ‘anti-technological’ convention and has its merits in introducing aesthetic and conservative principles for living. Its quite fun, you’re right.
Phenomenology is da bomb, dude. Husserl was trying to bridge the gap between rationalism and empiricism, albeit his ‘epoche’ is a controversial method and many find it ridiculous. Still you should check it out, or at least survey an introduction and get a taste for it.
Yeah, that’s what I hear. It seems that those philosophers who invent their own terminologies get the worst reactions. But what is failed to be considered is that all philosophy terminology was invented some time or another, and often posthumously credited as being useful. I envisage a furture where “Dasein” is a household word.
Haha, that’s funny but true. Personally, and I might be the exception, I find Sartre’s philosophy to be extremely empowering. Not so much Camus, though. That guy was a party-pooper, smart, but terribly depressed.
In a nut-shell it means that if God does not exist there is at least one being that is not defined before it exists…and that being is man. If there is no artisan to design the image of man, then man will be determined through his choices, and his essence becomes historical, or what Sartre called a 'facticity’after the fact of his choosing.
This has been my agenda for several years now. Unfortunately, all my favorite posters don’t show any interest in organizing such a thing. Most of them are pursuing degrees in school, or are married with youngins’.
Its like this. I am tempermental and my moods swing like a pendulum. I love these people and I hate them. This is the problem with these fucking internet forums: one can never be sure what intentions are behind the posts. If I were in person, I doubt that I would ever get upset because I am an excellent character judge…I can smell honesty, I can see the eyes, hear the tone…watch the body language, etc. You can’t do this at these goddamn forums. Dealing with shady people all my life has caused me to be somewhat suspicious of most people and I rarely trade a benefit for a doubt.
I really have read 