Life is a losing game

[Arcturus_Descending]

uglyfuckingpeople:

@uglypeoplefucking

Arcturus, if humans are animals (they are) then being an animal is all part of the significance of being human.

My response to Fabiano was in response to his “just an animal” I ought to have put the emphasis on just. For me, just an animal would imply not human…and there are/have been those humans who are just animals…and that is a direct affront to the animal kingdom, who are by their nature - just animals. And there are actually those animals who do act more human - loving - than humans. And thus the flow goes on and on in ad finitum.

And you are right, we are also animals…that is a significant part of our humanity, our evolution, for some of us more than others both in this direction or that - my thoughts actually hadn’t proceeded far enough along a line to include this. At the same time, that should not deter us from rising above our animal nature albeit without letting go of our wonderful primitive instincts - but rather being aware of and working with them - they are a very important and intuitive part of that animal “nature”.

For myself, I love all animals, especially the human male kind unless they are barbaric.

[xzc]

An animal means a couple different things. Firstly, and owing to the religious tradition wherein man is thought to have a soul or some other such characteristic that other animals lack, man is elevated above the category ‘animal’. To be called an animal under this paradigm is to be insulted, because it is implied that one lacks that defining characteristic that elevates man from beast.

Then there is modern non-anthropocentic conception of man, which owing to modern superior methods for acquiring knowledge recognizes that although man has characteristics that differentiate him from other creates this doesn’t warrant the conclusion that man doesn’t belong in the kingdom ‘animalia’. Simply put, there is no good reason to warrant such a move. In this second conception, being called an animal is not an insult. It means using the term in the most modern/justified way with regard to one of it’s instances.

[PavlovianModel146]

@FreeSpirit99

How does having a good meal give life a point? You’re hungry a few hours later

I don’t see how giving oneself pleasure gives life a point.

That one is a matter of opinion. To some people, it is a good point, to others it is not.

To a Cyrenaic Hedonist, or maybe any Hedonist, it is THE point.

[Peachy_Nietzsche]

“You don’t win, you just do a little better each time.”

[Arcturus_Descending]

@FreeSpirit99

How does having a good meal give life a point? You’re hungry a few hours later

I don’t see how giving oneself pleasure gives life a point.

“A few hours later” - there is only THE MOMENT.

Think of the most delicious meal that you can sit down and eat. While you are eating it, does life not have meaning for you. In that MOMENT, are you not content? Are you not beginning to feel satisfied, feeling pleasure. Perhaps not to look at it as meaningful, but c’mon, is there not PLEASURE within those moments of eating?

Ask a starving child how having a good meal would give life a point or meaning?

Ask someone unable to ever walk how being able to use his/her legs would give meaning to their life. But I know, I believe that their life perhaps might indeed have more meaning than the lives of some of us who have more than enough food on our table to eat and have the ability to walk.

What do you think, FS?

[FreeSpirit99]

@arcturus rising

@FreeSpirit99

How does having a good meal give life a point? You’re hungry a few hours later

I don’t see how giving oneself pleasure gives life a point.

“A few hours later” - there is only THE MOMENT.

Think of the most delicious meal that you can sit down and eat. While you are eating it, does life not have meaning for you. In that MOMENT, are you not content? Are you not beginning to feel satisfied, feeling pleasure. Perhaps not to look at it as meaningful, but c’mon, is there not PLEASURE within those moments of eating?

Ask a starving child how having a good meal would give life a point or meaning?

Ask someone unable to ever walk how being able to use his/her legs would give meaning to their life. But I know, I believe that their life perhaps might indeed have more meaning than the lives of some of us who have more than enough food on our table to eat and have the ability to walk.

What do you think, FS?

I don’t think food, sex, or anything else can ever make someone, at least someone interested in philosophy, content. It could definetely make someone happy for a time. I know I’m generalizing, but I could eat the best meal on Earth and DURING the process I still wouldn’t know:

1.) If there is a God
2.) What happens when we die
3.) If there is any purpose to human existence

I think it’s honorable to strive for these answers, even though we know we have no chance of finding them. Of course, these are all human questions concerning purpose, meaning, etc. so perhaps the questions themselves are pointless.

Our lives are but a tiny drop in the bucket. Does that make them pointless? I don’t know…

[Alpha_Omega]

@itlog

In the end, the house always wins. Whatever gains we get, we leave in the game. I don’t care if it’s your philosophy, your experiences, wealth, goodness, whatever - you die anyway.

What’s the point in playing a game where you lose in the end?

In fact, why not just tear this game up for fuck’s sake?

Try it and see what happens after you die.

[PavlovianModel146]

@FreeSpirit99

1.) If there is a God
2.) What happens when we die
3.) If there is any purpose to human existence

1.) It’s a non-issue until you die. Actually, if you live a, “Good,” enough life, it might not even be an issue then.

2.) All in due time.

“Life is but a dream, death is the awakening. Eternal paradise? Eternal pain? Eternal nothingness? You will know when you wake, but for now enjoy your sleep.”

3.) Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. The real question is, what are you going to do in the meantime?

[Arcturus_Descending]

@FreeSpirit99

@arcturus rising

@FreeSpirit99

How does having a good meal give life a point? You’re hungry a few hours later

I don’t see how giving oneself pleasure gives life a point.

“A few hours later” - there is only THE MOMENT.

Think of the most delicious meal that you can sit down and eat. While you are eating it, does life not have meaning for you. In that MOMENT, are you not content? Are you not beginning to feel satisfied, feeling pleasure. Perhaps not to look at it as meaningful, but c’mon, is there not PLEASURE within those moments of eating?

Ask a starving child how having a good meal would give life a point or meaning?

Ask someone unable to ever walk how being able to use his/her legs would give meaning to their life. But I know, I believe that their life perhaps might indeed have more meaning than the lives of some of us who have more than enough food on our table to eat and have the ability to walk.

What do you think, FS?

I don’t think food, sex, or anything else can ever make someone, at least someone interested in philosophy, content. It could definetely make someone happy for a time. I know I’m generalizing, but I could eat the best meal on Earth and DURING the process I still wouldn’t know:

1.) If there is a God
2.) What happens when we die
3.) If there is any purpose to human existence

Food and sex are more about giving one pleasure, FS, satisfying those human needs. You might of course, while ruminating on your cheeseburger, be considering the below questions but - during sex, I would say that if you are ruminating on these questions during sex - change partners right away.

I think it’s honorable to strive for these answers, even though we know we have no chance of finding them. Of course, these are all human questions concerning purpose, meaning, etc. so perhaps the questions themselves are pointless.

[b]Yes, one can say “it is honorable to strive for these answers” - is that one of Freddie’s concepts? I am one who feels that the questions are more important than the answers - truth be told, many questions have within them the answers I think - we are just not, as of yet, prepared as yet to “see” them. But speaking personally, sometimes when I ask a question of myself, the answer is there, and I “know” it, just need to accept it. So to me questions are not pointless - and if I might add - what kind of a philosopher says that “questions are pointless”? The more we ruminate on the above questions, we may not get answers, but it might indeed bring us closer to “something” perhaps another question and then another question…and of course, we do want answers too. But in being in the moment, we simply are where we are.

[/b]Our lives are but a tiny drop in the bucket. Does that make them pointless? I don’t know…

To me, no, our lives are never pointless - I guess it just depends on one’s point of view. How could you ever measure your life if you can’t be entirely sure how you have affected others’ lives? Didn’t you touch on that in just another post, FS? We can either choose to see our lives as pointless, as futile, as so much nothingless, or we can choose to see another side of our life, of our world. The choice is entirely up to us. If someone chooses to see it as pointless or futile, perhaps it is just part of their journey for their time…but at some point, hopefully, they will slide over…and see what more is OUT THERE to be seen. Perhaps one has to crawl up that dualistic pole to the top and look down to get a better view of both. Just crawl up, FS.

[finishedman]

The plain fact is that if you don’t have a problem, you create one. If you don’t have a problem, you don’t feel that you are living. So the solutions that we have been offered by those in whom we have tremendous faith, are not really the solutions. If they were the solutions, the problems wouldn’t be there at all. If there are no solutions for the problems, even then the problems wouldn’t be there. We would like to live with those problems, and if we are free from one problem, we create another. Without problems you will be bored.

Boredom is a bottomless pit. There is no way you can be freed from boredom. You like your boredom, but all the time you are trying to free yourself from boredom. As long as you think that there is something more interesting, more purposeful, more meaningful to do than what you are actually doing, you have no way of freeing yourself from boredom. So, it goes on and on. If you don’t entertain yourself with a movie, you might go to a guru and meditate, or you might want to listen to a spiritual man telling you all kinds of stories. He will sell you some shoddy piece of goods - “Stand on your head, stand on your shoulders, do this and do that, and you will be all right.”

But the basic question which none of us is willing to ask is: what is it that we want? Whether you are in Holland, in America, or in Africa, anywhere, what you are really interested in is the quest for permanent happiness. That is all that we are interested in. All these spiritual experts who are marketing these shoddy pieces of spiritual goods are telling us that there is some way you can have eternal and permanent happiness. But that doesn’t happen. We invest our faith in them so that it gives us hope, and we go on doing the same thing over and over again . And we continue to live in that hope. But it does not help us to get what we are really interested in, namely, to be permanently happy. There is no such thing as permanence at all, let alone permanent happiness.

The quest for permanent happiness is a lost battle; but we are not ready to accept that fact. What we are left with is some moments of happiness and some moments of unhappiness. If we are not ready to accept that situation, and still demand a non-existent permanent happiness, we are not going to succeed.

It is not just a question of succeeding, or wanting to be in a permanent state of happiness, but that demand is the enemy of this living organism. The organism is not interested in happiness at all. It is only interested in its survival. What is necessary for the survival of this living organism is its sensory perceptions along with the sensitivity of the senses and nervous system. The moment you find yourself in a happy situation and tell yourself that you are happy, the demand that this happiness should continue for a longer time is bound to be there. And the more you try to prolong that sensation of happiness beyond its natural duration, the more there is danger for this system which is only interested in maintaining its sensitivity. So, there is a battle going on between your demand for permanent happiness and the demand of the body to maintain its sensitivity. You are not going to win this battle; yet you are not ready to give it up.

[finishedman]

@arcturus rising

Yes, one can say “it is honorable to strive for these answers” - is that one of Freddie’s concepts? I am one who feels that the questions are more important than the answers - truth be told, many questions have within them the answers I think - we are just not, as of yet, prepared as yet to “see” them. But speaking personally, sometimes when I ask a question of myself, the answer is there, and I “know” it, just need to accept it. So to me questions are not pointless - and if I might add - what kind of a philosopher says that “questions are pointless”? The more we ruminate on the above questions, we may not get answers, but it might indeed bring us closer to “something” perhaps another question and then another question…and of course, we do want answers too. But in being in the moment, we simply are where we are.

Are you sure that no one can help you? You are not so sure. You will harbor hope. Even assuming for a moment that an outside force can help you, you are still convinced that you can help yourself. This gives you tremendous hope, and hope is always oriented towards achieving something. So, rather than waste your time asking if there is or is not anyone who can help you achieve what you want, you should rather be asking, “Is there anything to be attained?” Whether you yourself, or someone else, helps you to attain it is not the issue at all. It is, rather, that you are searching. That is obvious. But for what are you searching? You are undoubtedly searching for what you already know. It is impossible to search for something you do not know. You search for, and find, what you know. It is difficult for many to face this simple fact.

[Peachy_Nietzsche]

@Fabiano

@FreeSpirit99

How does having a good meal give life a point? You’re hungry a few hours later

I don’t see how giving oneself pleasure gives life a point.

Animal satisfaction, FS.

Without god people are generally reduced to this, like WWIII said.

Satisfaction is still satisfaction despite whether or not it is “animal” satisfaction. Virtually any part of the human psyche can be reduced to its animalistic counterpart - this however does not negate its purpose or enjoyability.

[Arcturus_Descending]

@finishedman

@arcturus rising

Yes, one can say “it is honorable to strive for these answers” - is that one of Freddie’s concepts? I am one who feels that the questions are more important than the answers - truth be told, many questions have within them the answers I think - we are just not, as of yet, prepared as yet to “see” them. But speaking personally, sometimes when I ask a question of myself, the answer is there, and I “know” it, just need to accept it. So to me questions are not pointless - and if I might add - what kind of a philosopher says that “questions are pointless”? The more we ruminate on the above questions, we may not get answers, but it might indeed bring us closer to “something” perhaps another question and then another question…and of course, we do want answers too. But in being in the moment, we simply are where we are.

Are you sure that no one can help you? You are not so sure. You will harbor hope. Even assuming for a moment that an outside force can help you, you are still convinced that you can help yourself. This gives you tremendous hope, and hope is always oriented towards achieving something. So, rather than waste your time asking if there is or is not anyone who can help you achieve what you want, you should rather be asking, “Is there anything to be attained?” Whether you yourself, or someone else, helps you to attain it is not the issue at all. It is, rather, that you are searching. That is obvious. But for what are you searching? You are undoubtedly searching for what you already know. It is impossible to search for something you do not know. You search for, and find, what you know. It is difficult for many to face this simple fact.

Did you by accident copy and paste the wrong quote over here? What I said in quotes above has absolutely nothing to do with your response, or vica versa. Perhaps you meant to copy someone else’s quote over here to respond to.

[finishedman]

The response was not directed to anyone in particular but to all who get caught up in the question-answer ritual.

[finishedman]

@Peachy Nietzsche

@Fabiano

@FreeSpirit99

How does having a good meal give life a point? You’re hungry a few hours later

I don’t see how giving oneself pleasure gives life a point.

Animal satisfaction, FS.

Without god people are generally reduced to this, like WWIII said.

Satisfaction is still satisfaction despite whether or not it is “animal” satisfaction. Virtually any part of the human psyche can be reduced to its animalistic counterpart - this however does not negate its purpose or enjoyability.

If you do not want to think, is there thinking? Wanting and thinking go together, and thought is matter, so you use thought to achieve either material or spiritual goals. But unfortunately, we place the spiritual goals on a higher level, and consider ourselves very superior to those who use thought to achieve material goals. So actually, whether you call it spiritual or material, even the so-called spiritual values are materialistic. So it is matter; thought is matter. And thought is not a creator of thought, it is a responding to the stimuli. What is there is only the stimulus and response. Even the fact that there is a response to the stimulus is something which cannot be experienced by us except through the help of thought, which creates a division between the stimulus and response. Actually, the stimulus and response is a unitary moment. You can’t even say that there is a sensation; even the so-called sensations we think we’re experiencing all the time cannot be experienced by us except through the knowledge we have from the sensations.

[Jamielynn]

@itlog

In the end, the house always wins. Whatever gains we get, we leave in the game. I don’t care if it’s your philosophy, your experiences, wealth, goodness, whatever - you die anyway.

What’s the point in playing a game where you lose in the end?

In fact, why not just tear this game up for fuck’s sake?

Hey it-

Ya know what’s really cool? When you can catch yourself in this frame of mind and catch yourself getting carried away by it. When you recognize it as it’s happening it sort of looses it’s potency because you realize you’ve been there and done it many times before. When you see it happening you already know it’s a mood and it’s going to end. In a way it sort of seems like a mind game that we play with ourselves. We let ourselves get carried away in the moment knowing full well that’s it’s temporary. It’s funky that we let ourselves do that to ourselves.

[itlog]

@Jamielynn

@itlog

In the end, the house always wins. Whatever gains we get, we leave in the game. I don’t care if it’s your philosophy, your experiences, wealth, goodness, whatever - you die anyway.

What’s the point in playing a game where you lose in the end?

In fact, why not just tear this game up for fuck’s sake?

Hey it-

Ya know what’s really cool? When you can catch yourself in this frame of mind and catch yourself getting carried away by it. When you recognize it as it’s happening it sort of looses it’s potency because you realize you’ve been there and done it many times before. When you see it happening you already know it’s a mood and it’s going to end. In a way it sort of seems like a mind game that we play with ourselves. We let ourselves get carried away in the moment knowing full well that’s it’s temporary. It’s funky that we let ourselves do that to ourselves.

True that.

[likestothink]

If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that is a big accomplishment. That quality is important because it stays with you the rest of your life.
-Chris Evert

[Jakob]

@itlog

In the end, the house always wins. Whatever gains we get, we leave in the game. I don’t care if it’s your philosophy, your experiences, wealth, goodness, whatever - you die anyway.

What’s the point in playing a game where you lose in the end?

In fact, why not just tear this game up for fuck’s sake?

Why does dying mean losing the game?
That’s not a universally held position.

To some, if not most, a good death can justify an entire life.
But I suppose you value life according to possessions rather than actions.

[Three_Times_Great]

@Jakob

@itlog

In the end, the house always wins. Whatever gains we get, we leave in the game. I don’t care if it’s your philosophy, your experiences, wealth, goodness, whatever - you die anyway.

What’s the point in playing a game where you lose in the end?

In fact, why not just tear this game up for fuck’s sake?

Why does dying mean losing the game?
That’s not a universally held position.

To some, if not most, a good death can justify an entire life.
But I suppose you value life according to possessions rather than actions.

well, meaning is what we make of it. i think thats the entire point, really, i mean what other alternatives are there? either that there is an absolute meaning that we need to “find” somehow, or that there is no meaning at all… if there is no meaning, then certainly its better to create one for ourselves than have none at all; and if there is some ultimate meaning we need to find, the only way to do this (since this meaning is certainly not apparent or obvious) would be to create meanings for ourselves and gradually try to refine and seek better meanings over time.

whats the point of life? i would ask: why does life need a point?

and if WE do indeed need a point for OUR lives, why not just make one for yourself? why just give up?

and even if life is a “game” (the metaphor is pretty flawed, but ill go with it), we play games all the time and derive meaning from the playing itself, EVEN WHEN WE LOSE IN THE END. it would seem that the game has intrinsic meaning in itself that is independent of how it ends up.