So meh, where do I go from here?

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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After serious philosophical study, everything feels “meh”, “been there, done that”. I used to be a quite frustrated person before, this has receded completely however. I no longer resent, nor care, about anything at all. Almost. I very rarely have emotional outburst, but even they are much weaker than before. I also get some pleasure from going on vulgar websites with tons of swearing and idiocy and laughing at all the chaos, outright dumbassery, lack of subtlety, etc. I’ve been thinking a bit about what to do with my life but again, care. But this would be the time to do something, I have great opportunities in my life now… A golden age may be within reach if I just will it, yet I do not. No great man can come of this kind of mentality. Indeed, it all relates kind of to Nietzsche. I made sure to purge as many weaknesses and forms of resentment as possible of my psyche, but all I’m left with is sometimes great energy and enthusiasm at nothing in particular, and otherwise careface. Am I a lion who has failed to set new goals? Or am I some kind of last man who can do nothing but sit fulfill weak hedonistic impulses, without a care in the world? Feels like my life lacks that “magic” and genuinity others have. Socrates was in on this whole business, wasn’t he? Revealing all the lies and roles we have tricked or selves into believing in so very much. I’m also reminded by nihilistic Russian anarchists who rejected all kinds of meaning and lived lives about purely technical issues. I don’t have the willpower for that though. As for Nietzsche, I don’ know where I stand with him. Sometimes I like to think of existence as unbearably light, aka Kundera while at other times I feel the burden of Nietzsche (Which actually feels better, but I wish it was less fleeting). I’ve been thinking I just need to loose my self more, get out more (I’m a loner, and I’m to often sedentary), as every weakness stems from the physiological, according to Nietzsche at least. But still, the omnipresence of my mind is quite horrible. Only rarely does it leave me completely…

Postmodern nihilism at a personal level? Conquered by Dionysus with no Apollonian counterweight? Cognitive dissonance? Anyways, help, advice, insights, liting up ways for me to walk, anything you can do to help, post it here!

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Diet, exercise, get out of comfort zone. Forget Nietzsche, forget postmodern nihilism n’all that crap. Do something. Anything! Before that apathy takes complete control.

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Discover your own way of living and thinking without using the knowledge of others so much. True you still must use others but, let them show you what has been discovered not lead you.

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Sport and music work for me, not to mention a dose of realism/humility (are you reading, Ascolo?).

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gevtell,

Try to make strong connections with people. I mean, work on lasting friendships. Make it a point to interact with people. Hopefully you can share some of your thoughts with them when the time is right. It may be hard at first because it seems that your motivation is badly shot - but try. What have you got to lose. That would be my first priority in your shoes.

Second priority - make philosophy work for you. If it isn’t, then rethink it. There many possible ways to pursue truth, and to your own advantage. A careful reading of Nietzsche does not have to lead to disadvantage.

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You need to pick something that interests you and pursue it intensely.

I also agree with Bluff - exercise and diet can stabilize mood swings.

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Your main crisis (literally a “sifting”) seems to be one of conscience, or rather of an internalised sense of honour. It’s internalised because, insofar as Nietzsche is dead, he cannot despise or respect you; insofar as you’ve internalised him, however, he’s not dead.

Care and resentment go hand in hand. Resentment is the will to revenge yourself on those who come between you and the things you care about. But Nietzsche was not against resentment; he was against ressentiment—a subtle but crucial difference. Ressentiment is the thirst for revenge fueled by the feeling of powerlessness. When you realise it’s your lack of power that prevents you from removing the obstacles that stand between you and the things you care about, you can redirect your ill will at your weakness instead of at your enemies’ strength—and especially at your consent to your weakness, at your weakness of will. And as for your weakness of will:

[size=95]There is in fact only one Magical Operation of whose propriety we may always be sure; and that is the increase of our sum of Energy. It is even indiscreet to try to specify the kind of Energy required, and worse to consider any particular purpose. Energy being increased, Nature will herself supply clarity: our Vision is obscure only because our Energy is deficient. For Energy is the Substance of the Universe. When it is adequate, we are in no doubt as to how to employ it; witness the evident case of the will of the Adolescent. It is also to be well noted that moral obstructions to the right use of this Energy cause at once the most hideous deformations of character, and determine the gravest lesions of the nervous system.

Let therefore the Magician divest himself of all preconceptions as to the nature of his True Will, but apply himself eagerly to increasing his Potential.
[Crowley, Little Essays toward Truth, “Energy”.][/size]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resentment
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ressentiment

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Nihilism is the worst enemy humanity will have to face, sooner or later.

It seems to me you are affected by this evil.
It is very dangerous but it could be a big opportunity too.

It will be an opportunity if you will be able to unmask it.

It’s not so easy to unmask it because it is deeply hidden in our mind.
I’ll try to show you nihilism origin, so you can be aware of it.

Nihilism comes with rationality, it is its obscure side.

We have a rational understanding of realty, and this understanding is believed as true.
The more that rational understanding of realty is believed as true the more nihilism increases.
It is the reality rational understanding (meant as absolutely true) that feeds nihilism.

First of all, it is the rational meaning of Becoming the main cause of nihilism. This meaning is widespread and is saying:

“Reality it’s only what it is here, now, into the present. Whereas what was or what will be it’s not real, but it only was real or it will be. Real it’s just what is living here, now, in the present.”

The table in front of me is part of Being, because it is here, now.
In the past it wasn’t anywhere, that is, it did not exist. Then it has been built, so it became part of Being, it existed. In the future it will be destroyed, so it will not be part of Being anymore.

Time flows, and Being looses some parts and gains some others. That is the law of Becoming: something comes from nothing to reality (Being), some other goes from Being to nothing.
That is what Becoming usually (rationally) means.

Being is what exists. And it exists only what it is here, now, in this exact moment. This Being is continuously under attack by Becoming.

That easily causes existential distress. That brings to nihilism.

To face nihilism many remedies have been invented, one of them has been a super entity (God). However the remedy of religions is not more effective as it was, because rationality goes ahead…

Nietzsche faced nihilism without understanding its origin. He had powerful will, but it was not sufficient…
It is necessary to see the weakness of that Becoming rational meaning.

We need to observe that the rational meaning of Becoming is based on absurdity: Being becomes Nothing, Nothing becomes Being.
How can Being become Nothing? How can Being come from Nothing?

May be, Becoming is only the appearing of Being…

I hope it will help.

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What exactly is your practical advice for gevtell, Sauwelios? Are you just recommending “diet and exercise”, but with your usual pietistic bumptiousness?

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Get to know those people.

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Crowley as a guide for living? Is that really a good idea?

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Where do you go from where?

What if you were told that the situation you find yourself in through the way you are thinking is all there can ever be for you? What would you do? Struggle and make vigorous efforts to resist or overcome it?

What should you try to do in such a situation? NOTHING, NOTHING AT ALL! Nothing, no power in the world can help you, period. Thus, as long as you remain dependent on any authority outside of you, you remain hopeless. Once you understand this plainly, in a way that is easy to understand, there is no more helplessness, your helplessness no longer exists.

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Why diet? Why exercise? It can only be because one cares. I have tried to show him two things: one, that resenting things is not at odds with Nietzsche’s philosophy; and two, that dieting and exercising should be aimed at strengthening the will first and foremost.

[size=95][T]he wholesome, healthy selfishness, that springeth from the powerful soul:
—From the powerful soul, to which the high body appertaineth, the handsome, triumphing, refreshing body, around which everything becometh a mirror:
—The pliant, persuasive body, the dancer, whose symbol and epitome is the self-enjoying soul.
[Nietzsche, Zarathustra, “Of the Three Evils”, 2.]

[U]ntil we become innocent, we are certain to try to judge our Will by some Canon of what seems ‘right’ or ‘wrong’; in other words, we are apt to criticise our Will from the outside, whereas True Will should spring, a fountain of Light, from within, and flow unchecked, seething with Love, into the Ocean of Life.
[Crowley, ibid., “Silence”.][/size]
There is no right and wrong (good and evil) in Nietzsche, of course,—only might and lack thereof (good and bad). No conscience, only sense of honour. All that’s “wrong” with weak hedonistic impulses is their weakness, not their hedonism. But in a sense, hedonism is itself an expression of weakness: the strong burden themselves because they find pleasure in it. Thus there are lower and higher hedonisms—hedonisms of weakness and hedonisms of strength.

Nietzschean philosophy is the highest form of art:

[size=95]The artistic view of the world: to sit down to contemplate life.
[Nietzsche, WP 677.][/size]

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Yup, I thought so.

gevtell,

I think the best advice was your own, at the end of your post. You just need to put the first foot forward, to start. —Try standing up, and leaning far. Your foot will move almost without your trying. Then head to your recreation of choice. Remember, the Lion isn’t capable of creating new goals/values—you have to become like a Child to do that. The Lion is only capable of creating for itself the freedom to. So, become like a Child. Go out and play. Keep your paperback educators close to your heart, but remember what Nietzsche says, “One repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil”. (That goes for you, too, Sauwelios).

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You thought nothing, as usual. Your anal-ysis of my posts only reveals your own intellectual bankruptcy. I definitely do not dissuade him from dieting and exercising—to the contrary—; but I have more to say than that.

Gevtell, Monooq only participates in this thread to nag at me. That’s what he does, he follows me everywhere on ILP—like a leech.

I can say this freely, as he’s obviously baiting me. Don’t become a child like him.

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This is the best and most useful answer.

I think a lot of philosophers go through this phase, I certainly have. For me it represents an entirely new phase of your life. Once you acknoweldge the idea of nihilism and you realise how much your beliefs have changed from all the shite you are spoonfed in your early life. It’s a hump for sure, but get right over it.

In terms of where you go from there, you are in the most excellent place of your life. You can enjoy all of the small things without worrying about the bigger things in life. You need to find something to focus on though. This can help;

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But of course that would depend on how Nietzsche is read.

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i should probably read nietzche because his beliefs seem to be so relevant to my interests…and to life in general. i looked up the last man and it seems like the worker drone archtype. the family man. etc. a hedonist is very different from these things.
you’re going through ego death. a nihilistic phase. but i think it will pass, the only reason mine took so long is because i clung to my ego(for good reason) but then i just decided to follow logic until it led me back to an ego. nihilsim makes sense because it identifies a reality…but it is illogical because it is a reality that you dont have. a perspectiveless one.
here’s a good symbol. i used to say (when i was like 15-17) “morality is a matter of opinoin and i don’t have one”. now i ask myself how i could’ve said such a thing. of coarse i have an opinoin and it revolved around the perspective i occupy. i know say good is the core of what makes me happy today andwill be productive to my overall happiness tomorrow . what is bad is what makes me unhappy today and will contribute to my overall lack of productivity and happiness tomorow.

true hedonsim is the most logical thing in the world. boredom breeds indifference. make yourlife exciting. live :banana-dance: and i’m pretty you’ll feed off of the beautiful drama that is life…just try not to become too enraveled in it (which is pretty hard)

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I participated in this thread because I often find myself in just the position that gevtell does. And if I asked you to clarify what your practical advice was to gevtell, it’s because I wanted to make sure you didn’t actually have anything original to say. The diet and exercise recommendation is important enough to repeat, so I’m not criticizing you. I may even check out this Crowley figure. He was an occultist magician who started his own religion with himself as the leader, right? …Kind of like Raelians? It’s not really my thing, though.

I’ve particpated in two threads with you because they’ve concerned two of Nietzsche’s ideas. It’s only my generous nature, combined with the brilliance of my insights, that made me want to share and correct what are your obvious interpretive shortcomings. Most of my posts there were too discerning and profound to actually believe that the names you attack me with actually apply.

I personally think that the best advice for someone in gevtell’s situation isn’t to abandon philosophy and philosophizing, but to maybe change your style, methods, educators, focus and outlook. If you’ve been like Zarathustra’s Lion up until now—a destroyer of oppressive values, categories, dogmas etc—and find yourself left with nothing but their absence, then you have to create new ones, somehow. It’s not for nothing that the Child is the next progression for Zarathustra. They tend to find in things everything and more that adults can’t—to make-believe. The problem is that I don’t know what practical recommendations would come out of this. It’s very abstract and not much of a guide.

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Which I obviously did.

This is so conceited you must be kidding.

But it’s not about creating just any values—not at all! To the contrary!

[size=95]The complementary man “is the first man who consciously creates values on the basis of the understanding of the will to power as the fundamental phenomenon.” [Leo Strauss, “Note on the Plan of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil”.] Just what those values are Strauss is going to make clear—they are in no way arbitrary, they are not invented or created in order to celebrate mere inventiveness. Such creativity for its own sake counts for less than nothing in Nietzsche, less than nothing because mere creativity is the modern way, the way of the actor, the way Nietzsche most opposes: Nietzsche contra Wagner. Understanding the will to power as the fundamental phenomenon generates values of a precise sort, natural values, naturalizing values. Insight into the fundamental fact gives birth to new highest values.
[Laurence Lampert, Leo Strauss and Nietzsche, page 98.][/size]