Free Time

What do you do with it?

I’ve had a lot of it recently whilst being in-between jobs and I find myself mostly wasting time idling around on the internet. The things which would’ve occupied me in the past such as reading or art no longer really do it for me nor am I particularly fond of studying for studying’s sake i.e. philosophy or a new language. I’m tempted to just buy a games console and “zone-out,” but I know that’s not the fix. Nothing seems to quite fit the bill. I think my body and mind are out of synch. I’ve been too focused on the cerebral and not the material…

Waste it, everything on earth bores me. There’s nothing to do on this planet, with anybody. All humans are the same. You can go everywhere, meet new people, everybody is the same. Nobody is different, nobody really “thinks” although they claim to. Everybody gets their ideas from somebody. Most inherit their idealism. Most are indoctrinated religiously. Most get their ideologies from thinkers of bygone eras.

This whole planet is boring, I want off.

What somebody thinks doesn’t really define who or what they are, at least not entirely. Maybe if you lessened your demands on that front you’d enjoy your time with people a little more.

One thing people do have that differentiates us from one another is experience. Maybe experience is more valuable than ‘thoughts.’ Of course, it takes a little thoughtfulness to appreciate experience though.

Let’s agree to disagree, thoughts, knowledge, belief, memories, these all define a person more than anything else.

The unexamined life is not worth living. It’s a life wasted.

Learn a programming language, or how to use a useful piece of software like Photoshop or Illustrator or some sort of Office program (open source or Microsoft, or whatever else you prefer) or any other piece of software you could either make professional use of or at least have fun using. I spend a good deal of my free time learning skills which I expect to be useful. If you think this is something you’d like to do and would value doing but would find it hard to find the motivation to do, send me a PM and I think I can help you over that akrasia. I can also help you find the resources you need to get the ball rolling - I’m good at that sort of thing.

A definition of a person is akin to a map of a land. It represents it to a degree but is not the real thing. Whereas, how one acts is the real thing, and that is the one omitted from your list there…afterall, it’s called interaction.

I actually read and responded to a thread of yours which resonates this issue. You had a graph for your progress in Excel. It’s a good idea. Doing something “useful” is definitely very much at the fore of my mind. Once I begin my new position I’ll take it from there and see what could be done that would be directly applicable to the role. However, in the past I’ve struggled to maintain motivation when the thing in question is only potentially useful i.e. in the future. In fact, I’m already enrolled on an IT course, but can’t muster the enthusiasm as my new position is not within IT. Damn it, I should get back on that…

If you want to learn something atm, and you know (at least vaguely) what you want to learn, pm me. I think I have something that can help you.
I’m doing an IT course as well. IT and Design actually.

And what causes action? Need.

You think because you need to, act because you need to. Now, do you understand your own needs, where they come from, why you have them, how they evolved? Do you know your past? Are you aware of your genes, what they do, and the limits of your instincts? Actions also have histories. Think of a chain of events, linked together by causality. One action leads to another, to another, to another, infinitely.

And people live their lives on this presumption, based on their shallow goals and superificial idealism. Without thinking, lives are wasted attempted to attain a forever elusive “meaning” or “purpose”. These attempts reflect values, of every individual person.

And these values are what I investigate in people. Most have common values, reflecting a commoner. Common people have common lives.

Is yours any different? How do you stand apart, or, do you even care to try? What is your need? I already admitted mine to you, I need off this planet.

Will do.

:handgestures-thumbupleft:

But when you’re dealing with a person, you’re dealing with their actions not their needs. You might feel the need to fart whilst in public, but whether you do or not is the only thing that matters. Regardless of that, who are you to say who has shallow goals or superficial idealism, or who are you to “investigate” people, the Inquisition? You’re already a somewhat self-confessed misanthrope “needing” to get off planet Earth, and to not just escape a bad neighbourhood but the entire human race, and you then consider yourself as a suitable judge? Laughable. Comic. Doestoevyskian. Raskolnikov! You sick man!

I’m not “sick” because I want to get away from humanity. There is nothing inherently wrong or right about demanding separation from society. In fact, this is a sign of health, to become independent and an individual. If men wanted to stay and live in society, then that could be considered more of a mental illness. Why do people want to stay within the confines of society?

It’s because they lack courage, the drive to explore the universe, lack curiosity, lack spirit, lack strength, lack ingenuity, lack innovation, lack resourcefulness.

And maybe I am the inquisition. All I know is that I’m more curious about life and existence, then everybody else. I ask the toughest questions, which nobody can answer. I go where others do not, will not, cannot. I want to see what life is truly made of, and I am willing to take the biggest risks, to accomplish what I want. And I have, accomplished. I see right through most people. Petty and superficial ideals?

Yes common people have common dreams, shallow people with shallow thoughts. Here’s the deal. When I inquire into somebody, I look you straight in the eyes, and begin to ask questions. These questions are easy, at first. But then they become harder, more difficult. What do you believe in? What do you know? What is existence? Do you have faith in God? What happens after death? Then I gauge their reactions. Most people either don’t know, or lie, or contradict themselves, eventually. And each time a person does this, I remember. Because I remember what a person thinks, how they rationalize, how they reason, what they believe in. I know a person more than she knows herself. That’s what any decent, mediocre philosopher ought to do and be.

If you can’t do that, then quite frankly, you don’t interest me. I only want to meet people who are very, very influential, and have unique, original, thought provoking ideas. If you have nothing, or you’ve garnered your ideology from books and dead philosophers, then you bore me. Because I’ve heard it all, all of it, before. I’ve heard the same stories repeated a million times. They become boring, after the hundredth thousandth time. How many times do you want to hear the same repetitions, before you demand from others, and create your own, your own ideals?

Your own values?

You think you can critique me? But who are you? And what do you know? What is your philosophy, can you even develop one? Can you even ask a question?

Doubtful, you’ve already made a mistake. You falsely interpreted that the need to disassociate yourself, with society, is a sign of illness. This tells me a lot about you. It unveils that you need to fit in, into groups, to feel safe and redeemed of value of your life. That’s why you used it as an insult. You, falsely, thought you were insulting me, when you just replied. Instead, you only revealed to me a blatant fact about yourself.

I, obviously, look at independence and individuality as a strength, not a weakness. I value difference and separation. And you value the opposite. You value dependence, sameness, equality, connection. This was an easy one.

Do you have anything else to say?

So we have another martyr. The valiant knight alone striving through the darkness whilst the beasts cower at his feet, when all the while it’s his lonely pilgrimage which is actually the darkness and not the vapors of discontent he’s surrounded himself with. You don’t ask “tough” questions, you ask foolish questions if “nobody can answer.”

So you look in peoples eyes and question them like the gestapo? Do you do this whilst living in your parents’ house or in a student dorm by any chance? Are you a bearded caucassian by any chance, who listens to heavy metal?

Appropriate name…insightfoul…so, you looked inside and saw it was foul, and lo and behold, it’s everywhere and everyone else too? “Even if it’s not, let’s just act as if it is, things are easier that way, more comfortable. Heaven knows, if I were wrong, and it turned out I was the loser, then that would be terribly embarassing, shameful even!”

Just as I suspected, you should spend some of your “free time” thinking about everything just a little bit more.

If you ever think of a thought that I haven’t, let me know sometime.

:laughing:

Funny, but I imagine even if I had all the time it wouldn’t be enough to not only “think about everything” but to also think about everything “a little bit more.”

But I guess I could remove a few friends and relationships from my life to free up some time. I guess I could spare a little bit of laughter for some deep, dark introspection of the pits and furnaces of the world. Maybe I’ll have a souvenir to bring back, a scar or a tale of my heroic deeds to impress the ladies with!

Or maybe not.

Because after all, we’ve merely adopted heroic metaphors to assume the appearance of heroic deeds. When in fact, there’s nothing.

I like to exercise, wander around the internet. Once I get my own place, I’ll have a TV so I’ll watch that more often.

Exercise. Yes, that’s one thing I’d like to do more of. I like to walk, but I’m looking at getting into something a bit more strenuous. Swimming maybe, although I’d have to learn first :blush:.

What kind of exercise do you do?

Walking, squats, pushups, (not enough), situps (not enough)

In a couple months I’m going to join a gym.

Working out, cooking, eating, partying with my pal in new and interesting places, watching TV whilst working out, making and drinking red wine and chocolate, gluten-free baking, winning BN silk dresses for 99p on eBay… amongst other items, oh… and hanging with the man in my life when we have time to meet up.

You do know I am in your wardrobe right? :-" :mrgreen: