Absurdity

[markdohle]

Absurdity

When I was young, I came upon the quote: “life is absurd”. I am pretty sure it was from Camus, for I spent some time in my middle twenties reading him extensively, for a year or so. I think I kind of got it, yet as I get older this quote has become more and more real for me. It is obvious to me that as a species we are far from rational, well at least in the way we live our lives, treat each other and our environment. There seems to be a strong self-destructive streak that is perhaps inherited and passed on from generation to generation. It also seems to expand and get worse. At least it seems that way to me, as a man living in the United States at this time. It is as if the whole human race is delirious from a high fever and it seems to be rising from year to year.

We look for groups to blame for this phenomenon…. that of our continual slide into chaos and it is not too far of a stretch to say our mutual destruction. It is as if something has us by the scruff of the neck and shaking us. We can be like the proverbial frog placed in water and as the temperature slowly rises to a boil; it does not sense it and it dies. Our adaptability in the end could be our own undoing, for we adjust ourselves to certain circumstances and it soon becomes the new norm.

Those who see the broader picture and in their desire to alert others, tend to look for certain segments of society to place all the blame, therefore deflecting any attention to their own sub group that they belong to; which I believe is not intentional. It is easier to see the darkness in others than in oneself, or of ones tribe. We all have something we identify with no matter how loosely and often fail to see the truth about said group’s history. It is just another symptom of the absurdity of our situation. The cure for our continued decline into irrationality, hatred, and warfare are shouted from the house tops by assorted segments of society, even if no one is really interested in what they have to say.

Religious people say, follow my faith and all will be well….forgetting to look at their own history and perhaps if they did so, they would gain a little humility from what they discover. Atheist, well some of them, scream “we need to become more rational”. Often spewing contempt for any one who dares think, or believe, differently and failing to see how irrational that actually is and how it sounds to those who do not share their simplistic beliefs. They to fail to look into their own history and see how atheist run governments often fall into the same trap that religions do when they acquire too much power. For then the state then becomes god, having the power over life and death of those who belong to such societies, which are in reality prisons, some exist to this day.

Perhaps one day we as a species will be backed into such a tight corner, with no room to wiggle out (which I think is fast approaching), that we will all be forced to work together to get some breathing room. Or perhaps not for I am not optimistic about the outcome. For the belief that our societies will continue to evolve into something better or more humane and that it is somehow guaranteed that this will happen, is I believe false and dangerous. As a species, if a certain age could be attributed to it, I would say we are about 15 years old, teenagers with too much energy and not having the maturity to handle it in a productive manner. The majority of suffering on this planet is man made. The will to power and greed will perhaps be our undoing.

To believe that one segment of society can be blamed for our situation is just another example or our irrationality and yes our immaturity as a species. Life makes little sense to me. All of our running around, driving ourselves mad, being brainwashed, not only by our governments but also by our entertainment media (of which I am a part, I don’t think for a minute that I am also not manipulated), leaves little room for hope. Yet, I believe because of my faith that there is perhaps something deeper going on, that some how all of this mad chaos has some meaning and purpose, though for the love of God, I don’t see it at all, at least at this time. I feel like I am in sort of end of the world novel, though I doubt the end is near, or that as a species we will soon be extinct. However our societies, our technological advances can easily be lost. There are no guarantees; in fact science in the hands of our leaders could be what brings us down, not with a crash but with a whimper……..don’t forget the frog in the pot of water quietly being boiled to death.

[andes_wolf]

OUR PERCEPTION DICTATE THAT MIDIA governments entertainment midia=illusion that distract you from your ego and yourself I will use the word hook of the illusory term of ''evolution'' of our perception in yourself

[Likely Guy]

OUR PERCEPTION DICTATE THAT MIDIA governments entertainment midia=illusion that distract you from your ego and yourself I will use the word hook of the illusory term of ''evolution'' of our perception in yourself

I'm probably just being dense right now, but... for me, that made little sense.

I suspect that you're using a translator.

[andes_wolf]

I'm probably just being dense right now, but... for me, that made little sense.

I suspect that you're using a translator.

YOU ARE RIGHT

[+Liquid Gardens]

Hi Mark,

We look for groups to blame for this phenomenon…. that of our continual slide into chaos and it is not too far of a stretch to say our mutual destruction.

I disagree with your premise; we have supposedly been in a continual slide into chaos for millenia now if we listen to various naysayers from nearly every generation. Within those millenia, the human lifespan has increased dramatically, I would think we have less people living in constant hunger than ever, our ability to combat diseases has greatly increased, and individuals' rights, especially to worship whatever they want or not at all, are as great as they've ever been. Agreed, it hasn't all been good, but it still seems to me that we can only say we are on a continual slide into chaos by looking at history very selectively; in many ways, things are better than ever.

[Mikko-kun]

LQ, are those good things? Everyone can see the good in them, no denying that, but more humans = more crap. More disagreements, more weight on nature, more stress about there being too many of us.. think about all the things that one person ruins when they just live and eat: the habitat that could be used by other humans or animals, the land for food that's in over 90% of the cases (my estimate) ravaged by mainstream agriculture, the suffering of both humans and animals in order to support us, in factories where we make things and in meat factories. I think we all know this list could be continued for a good time. My point is, you are right in saying we've been slowly moving towards chaos throughout history.

But maybe it's just a point of view. If you ignore all the offsets, it's all good. Unless you believe your emotions still catch the better of you and you still figure this all out in the back of your head eventually, even if no one told you. And somehow you just become anxious.

I think it's about the definition of what's good.

[+Liquid Gardens]

LQ, are those good things? Everyone can see the good in them, no denying that, but more humans = more crap. More disagreements, more weight on nature, more stress about there being too many of us.. think about all the things that one person ruins when they just live and eat: the habitat that could be used by other humans or animals, the land for food that's in over 90% of the cases (my estimate) ravaged by mainstream agriculture, the suffering of both humans and animals in order to support us, in factories where we make things and in meat factories. I think we all know this list could be continued for a good time. My point is, you are right in saying we've been slowly moving towards chaos throughout history.

I'm definitely not saying that there isn't plenty of evil and bad things too, but I don't know if that overwhelms the good and that we're ultimately slowly headed towards chaos. If we've been moving towards chaos all this time that people have been stating we've been moving towards chaos, we'd have arrived there long ago. The suffering of animals is absolutely nothing new, and as I argued in many ways humans are suffering less than ever. I know what you're saying, if you look at specific issues there are plenty that have been getting worse. But a general claim of a slide towards chaos has to take into account the good, and in my view we need something pretty obviously terrible just to balance out the good from just the development of medicine; that alone has alleviated an incredible amount of suffering.

But maybe it's just a point of view. If you ignore all the offsets, it's all good. Unless you believe your emotions still catch the better of you and you still figure this all out in the back of your head eventually, even if no one told you. And somehow you just become anxious.

I think it's about the definition of what's good.

It's definitely just a point of view, agreed, and vice versa, if you ignore all the offsets, it's all bad. Almost everything 'good' has negative side effects. If we're going to evaluate whether it's good or bad ultimately that people live longer because of the effect on the environment, then we can conversely suggest that maybe it's better that people die at a younger age, that has the 'good' of being less impactful on the environment ("less people = less crap"). But most people wouldn't say that people dying too young is a 'good' thing. Maybe I shouldn't use 'good' though as we're talking about 'chaos'. In the US I'd say it's pretty absurd to say we're sliding towards chaos; we've been through a civil war, abolished slavery, endured the Depression, fought in a couple world wars, survived the Cold War, those are all severely chaotic times to have behind us. I don't think it's just about the definition of what's good, I think it's about taking a wider historical perspective.