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#51
05-31-2005, 10:08 AM
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Re: Finding meaning in life
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[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] What I don't like in teaching philosophy, is that it's mostly reading a book and some minor chitchat afterwards. I don't remember who said that math and chess are only things that should be taught in schools, as they teach you to think. I agree that thinking is the most important ability we have and those who really think are usually curious and learn new things voluntarily. [/ QUOTE ] Actually, I think that you're wrong that philosophy doesn't make people think. One of the most important things that philosophy tries to teach people is how to critically think. But other than this tiny disagreement, good post [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [/ QUOTE ] I agree 100% that philosophy should be about teaching critical thinking, but at least what I've seen here in Finland, it's not about that. But that might be 'cos our school system overall rewards memorizing instead of critical thinking. [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, it seems that our school system sometimes focuses on memorization more than thinking too. I guess in some subjects this is important because without the memorization of certain vocab, facts, formulas, etc... it may be difficult to know/understand the subject (and then you couldn't even critically think about it). 
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#52
05-31-2005, 01:58 PM
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Re: Finding meaning in life
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[ QUOTE ] For someone like you it is important to understand that you don't have to fool yourself like religious fanatics do or those who riot at soccer games. You can come out the other side, I think, possibly at first with the help of medication but also with the little trick I just gave you. [/ QUOTE ] Wow, David, that is some really shitty advice. Using medication to find meaning in life should be a last resort not a first option. I hope that PJ doesn't heed that part of your advice unless he deems it absolutely necessary (something that I didn't gather from his post) Drugs (even drugs prescribed by shrinks) are not the key to happiness... Edit for clarification: I thought your general advice was good but the part about taking meds as a first option was TERRIBLE [/ QUOTE ] I'm not here to defend David but he didn't say that medication could help Popinjay find the meaning of life. He said that it might be part of what would help someone like that "come out the other side" of a similar existential quandry. Immediately discounting medication as an option in this case is short-sighted.
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#54
06-01-2005, 04:35 AM
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Feeling better (long)
Thank you for all the responses everyone. Today I have actually started to feel better and am a little less lost in life. I figure it's worth it to explain what happened and so that is what follows. It's pretty long and I don't blame anyone for not reading it--in a way it's just the collection of my rambling stream of thought from the past 24 hours.
I read through every post here and continued contemplating life. I still felt hopeless though and didn't really follow any of your guys' advice just because I didn't see them as solutions to my problem, even though later I would find out they almost all were. Yesterday was Memorial Day and I had no school. However, the next day I had a 5 page paper due. In typical fashion I had not started and was stuck in a state of perpetual procrastination. Despite the paper I was looking forward to actually enjoying the day because I was going to go over to this girl's house to hang out. I thought maybe an emotional connection would lift me out of my darkness? Well maybe it would've but I didn't get the chance to find out. She called and said she couldn't have me over as she too had to work on a paper, though hers was 10 pages. She was very sorry and I told her it was okay. We arranged to have lunch together the next day after class. Anyway with that gone all I had to do that day was just my paper. I didn't even start on it. I still felt a meaningless in life and questioned why should I even do the paper? So instead I did other things like eating and sleeping, both more than I should've. I also decided to watch a movie, and stumbled into a meaningful choice when I popped in one of my favorite movies, Spider-Man 2 (SM2). But I only got halfway in when I stopped to do other things, most notably playing poker. I was actually playing quite well and was up quite a bit. Things took a turn for the worse when I started to get unlucky and out came my "f--- it" attitude. I played until 2 AM that night and would regret every moment of it. Needless to say I was down and it was a decent amount. Once again as a result of my disregard for life I felt like complete sh--. I really hated myself and didn't want to do anything at all for fear of f---ing it all up like I did everything else in life (such as poker). And in these moments of stagnant misery I still had the paper on my mind. My years of schooling with the parental message to do my work kept me thinking that I should write it. I struggled to find a reason to work and I surely did not find it in the outlook I had on life at the time. And then I realized that if I didn't do my paper then I wouldn't be able to go to class, and thus would not be able to have lunch with that certain female I liked very much. With the thought of an emotional connection perhaps improving my life, I decided to write. By the time I started it was 6:30AM and class was at 11AM. I had to skip my first class, but I was barely able to finish. So off to class I went with only an hour's worth of sleep in me. I turned my paper in and the rest of class went by rather slowly. Finally it was 12 and class was over. I left and waited to meet my female friend. I waited for a few minutes and then I got a phone call. In an ironic (probably the wrong usage) twist of fate, she told me she skipped her class to finish writing her paper. Okay. I told her again that it was fine because I could very much sympathize with her and also possibly because I am a pushover. I made my way home feeling disappointed. For some reason even after all that had happened I was feeling a little better. I think it was the sense of accomplishment that came from actually finishing my paper on time, even if it was a little rushed and probably crappy. Feeling this way I ate my first meal of the day and went to watch the last half of SM2. I love this movie because I can really relate to Peter Parker and the struggles he goes through (yes I have a distorted self image). In watching this movie I felt a great uplifting and experienced first hand the power of art. What happens to Peter is that he shirks his "great responsibility" and stops being Spiderman. A series of experiences culminate in his Aunt May telling him that heroes are courageous, self-sacrificing people who inspire and set examples for all of us. From this Peter realizes that he was given a gift and it is his duty to use it in the service of mankind. In this rebirth, Peter also realizes that he can be Spiderman and also be happy as he ends up getting together with his love Mary Jane. It's really a beautiful movie and it got me to think about life once again. After watching, I felt a great joy and it truly made me feel alive for the first time in a good while. I came to the conclusion that I was doing myself a great disservice by wallowing in my sorrows and not seeking out happiness. That's what human life is about, that's what we all desire, being happy. Yet I couldn't also stop thinking that whether or not our lives are happy doesn't matter in the end if there is no God and no after-life. Luckily with SM2 fresh on my mind I recalled Aunt May's words that the greatness of a hero lies in his inspiration of others. And if we do die and cease to exist we can continue to live on in the hearts of others, or even just one person that we have affected positively. So our lives do matter even if there is no God. Thinking that life is meaningless just because it might be limited is actually quite absurd. Was Einstein's life meaningless because he died? No, of course not, his life and his work have improved and will continue to improve the life of everyone--in this respect he is still alive. Therefore, there is a reason to try to live a happy life if one can inspire others. Furthering my thought I wondered how happiness relates to being a hero. This affecting and inspiration of others (being a hero) is such a higher ideal that it is difficult to see happiness in it when you are looking at it from so far away. I knew that life had meaning but I still didn't know how to live. And then I thought about Socrates and his wisdom that I had read in the Phaedrus and the Symposium. He said that humans are creatures of desire. We desire happiness. He explicated that happiness comes from the conception and generation of beauty. The desire for beauty is what love is, and that we are lovers all the time because we desire happiness all the time. Furthermore when we become conceivers and generators of true beauty we help humanity in that others look upon our works of beauty and become inspired to acquire beauty themselves and thus be happy... in comic-book terms this is being a hero. Therefore if we seek happiness in beauty we can be a hero and be happy. This is how I should live, by striving for beauty in my every act (e.g. writing good essays, eating healthy, being a good lover, etc.) I can be a happy person. And so I found a way to live, but I had to ask myself is Socrates right? Well I meditated on the question and saw that having and creating beautiful things has indeed made me happy every time it happened. I know this is not complete proof but it is reason enough to try out this Socratic lifestyle. And this is how I feel now, that I can be happy and it is worth it to be happy because life does have meaning if we can positively affect others. To do this I will attempt to find beauty and do beauty in every moment of my life. Maybe it will work and maybe it won’t but either way I have hope for a better life.
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#55
06-01-2005, 04:57 AM
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Re: Feeling better (long)
"My Life is my Art"
- Unknown 50's Beat Poet
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