Why are we obsessed with the END!

[zenfahr]

I asked this question in another Thread, I thought I would open up a new one on it to see if I could get more of a discussion going.

It's the only constant that man ever experience, life and death.

True and of course taxes. . Except you would think that we would be more obsessed with our own mortality, not the entire planet's. Is EVERYONE depressed or what? But do you think its just good entertainment? I AM entertained by the VeiledProphet. So yeah the Mayan calendar only points out new ages of man or the earth. I sure there is a real significance, these guys were no dummies, and I for one am interested in why they had the long count. Do I think its the end of the world? Are you outside your mind? That’s a really silly idea.

True the weather has been crazy for a while, but I would chalk that up to an increase in solar activity, and the earth's natural climate cycle. Add in a bit of manmade CO2 and badda boom badda bang you have today's current environment. That does not point out that we are all going to die. Just that perhaps it would be a good idea to by some excellent home insurance.

But why? why are there so many prophets of doom? 2012 is just a new date. there have been so many more. In 1996 California was supposed to slide into the ocean. I once read a small book handed out by our local catholic church. The title.... 88 reasons why the rapture will happen in 1988. Then there are numerous movies and books. The Prophets looking for profits, but why are we buying?

Personally I can see the effects it is having on the people. Kids these days, are very convinced that they all are going to die young. They see no hope for the future, or any reason to better themselves. I have even met adults that have sold their perfectly good homes in order to buy another that will be safer when the apocalypse comes. This is not an issue of education either. People of all levels of education are obsessed with this idea. Why?

[zenfahr]

anyone wanna offer up an opinion?

[SlimJim22]

anyone wanna offer up an opinion?

On what? The end! If such a thing happenned we would be around to worry about it. Although I am inclined to think the proverbial jumping on the band wagon is motivated by profit and control. We are made to feel helpless when we are far from that. We are the makers of our own destinies and the creators of a new age of our own design. Anything else is superstitious mumbo jumbo. There may be messages in the stars that point to future phenomenon that could cause strife but above all we should be getting our house in order and quit the fear mongering as the ones benefitting probably don't even belive their own tripe. (Get it tripe not hype, sorry that was poor) Good day all.

[Mind_n_Motion]

Of course we are obsessed with the end. Most religions predict there being one and a person with religious beliefs or not can't help but hear them over and over and over again. We need to make ourselves matter, no individual likes to feel like they are as insignificant as some bug on the windshield even though our population has massed into the billions.

Paranoia, hype and general lack of control keeps us as a species freaked out and waiting for the next disaster to happen. If we were to sit back and simply let the days go by, enjoying them without worrying when they would end...well...we would have to be happy with the notion that there is only so much we can control and do in the unknown time given to us. That's just not a trait of the human species that is duplicated enough.

Personally I'm not a fan of Apocalypse scenarios because it only generates faithful believers of them into devote worshipers that would do anything to make their beliefs come true. Nothing dissuades them. If the apocalypse they believed in doesn't occur on its own they then set themselves on the notion that they are the "acting hands" that must bring it about. That isn't destiny or fate or a higher power, that's a deadly delusion that brings no good or higher level of existence in the end.

I Wish people would not worry themselves over these obsessive unfulfilled prophecies. Even if they were to come about, how much can you prepare for them without allowing the paranoia to drive you mad? I always imagine that prepared boy scout who has everything he needs falling into a river and drowning because his pack was overloaded.

[Rickety]

You know I was actually thinking about this very subject on my way home from college today! My sister was in the car with me and I looked at her and I noticed that my 21st birthday is in 2012 and I said "Hey! I turn 21 in 2012! 7 months before the world is supposed to end! We're gonna party it up for 7 months straight dude!" and then I was thinking for a second and asked her "Why are we so obsessed with the end? I mean we lead our existence by looking forward to our demise! What's up with that?!" and she was like "True! I don't understand it either!" so I don't really know, if you ask me, if it happens at all it will happen on a random date at a random time, so live your life to the fullest and when the world unexpectedly ends, then you will die a happy man!

[zenfahr]

Great responces. Perhaps we all feel like we do have some control, and we want control on that fateful day. But as Grunge artist stated, when it does happen it will happen unexpected, and most likely very quickly. I too am a fan of end of the world senarios. I especially love movies where the meteor comes flying in the atmosphere as a huge flaming, smoking rock, moving slow enough that everyone has time to look up, point and run for their pathetic lives, or have time to call home and visit every loved one to say goodbye..... But if one did hit, heck we would probally have no early warning, nor would we even see it, as it would hit so fast. No time, no screams. The mountain Monkey has spoken, and all that is left is silence. Perhaps what we really fear is not having any control over how it actually ends.

[Eldorado]

anyone wanna offer up an opinion?

People like to scare themselves. It's why horror movies and books are so popular. If there's nothing much happening to be afraid of, then make something up. lol

[ytwlgs8]

People like to scare themselves. It's why horror movies and books are so popular. If there's nothing much happening to be afraid of, then make something up. lol

wow...wow...

good forum ,

[jules99]

People like to scare themselves. It's why horror movies and books are so popular. If there's nothing much happening to be afraid of, then make something up. lol

So its like people suspend their sense of better judgement and "pretend"

what it would be like for the world to end, acting the part out and getting themselves worked up in the process. I can see that...

[Black Red Devil]

Personally I can see the effects it is having on the people. Kids these days, are very convinced that they all are going to die young. They see no hope for the future, or any reason to better themselves. I have even met adults that have sold their perfectly good homes in order to buy another that will be safer when the apocalypse comes. This is not an issue of education either. People of all levels of education are obsessed with this idea. Why?

Maybe because these kids think they're living some Hollywood movie. Sensationalistic media and the doom and gloom movies is what's traumatising young kids in the US, specially the gullible ones who then become obsessed with what they experience. Then you have the religious types who think the Bible has predicted the end of the world while the same Bible can't even make proper sense of the beginning.

[zenfahr]

Maybe because these kids think they're living some Hollywood movie. Sensationalistic media and the doom and gloom movies is what's traumatising young kids in the US, specially the gullible ones who then become obsessed with what they experience. Then you have the religious types who think the Bible has predicted the end of the world while the same Bible can't even make proper sense of the beginning.

That is very true. But also consider that besides these movies that glorify the end, consider all the programs on tv. For instance The Bible Code.... as if it wasn't bad enough that they had to predict the end the bible, well now you can find other messages almost at random in the bible.... Oh and Moby Dick. But when people start seeing stuff like this on the History Channel, they begin to take it seriously. Then you have these radical jews who are working to rebuild the temple in jerusalem. Nice idea except they would have to evict the Muslims who consider sacred and have the Kaaba which contains the black stone. Well that action would most surely begin a thrid world war. Which is one of the reasons they want to do this, to bring the rapture upon us. Clearly not the fantastical musing of pubescence teens, or overworked adults.

[Agent. Mulder]

wow...wow...

good forum ,

wow...wow....constructive post.

and people do like to scare themselves, just as much as we Always need to connect dots to make a picture, even if theres nothing there.

just a sitchin did with the goddamn mayan 2012 end of the world crap.

[Eldorado]

lol....Mulder....

Am lookin forward to seeing 2012 movie. Not because I believe in this "prophecy", but just for the special effects.

How the hell is a calendar a "prophecy"?.....grrr

[Black Red Devil]

That is very true. But also consider that besides these movies that glorify the end, consider all the programs on tv. For instance The Bible Code.... as if it wasn't bad enough that they had to predict the end the bible, well now you can find other messages almost at random in the bible.... Oh and Moby Dick. But when people start seeing stuff like this on the History Channel, they begin to take it seriously. Then you have these radical jews who are working to rebuild the temple in jerusalem. Nice idea except they would have to evict the Muslims who consider sacred and have the Kaaba which contains the black stone. Well that action would most surely begin a thrid world war. Which is one of the reasons they want to do this, to bring the rapture upon us. Clearly not the fantastical musing of pubescence teens, or overworked adults.

I doubt very much that the western world is going to let themselves get dragged into a World War just because of some radical Jews and Muslims. If there is ever going to be and end of the world within our lifetime it most probably will happen through a natural disaster of macroscopic levels like an asteroid hitting the earth. We've come a long way but unfortunately our technology is still very limited and I doubt we have the power to stop an event from occurring.

[Attemped Human]

Personally, I think our obsession with the End comes at times of stagnation. Especially in the current situation. I think the majority of people in the West are sick of their vapid, exploitative, alienated, soulless existences (yes, even the happy people who claim they aren't) but its become impossible to imagine the world differently- at least in any realistic rather than utopian way. I reckon because of that we can only foresee the way it is stretching out forever.

In the absence of a new world we will dwell on the world's destruction.

Tis as Nietzsche said; man would rather will nothing than not will at all.

[SlimJim22]

Personally, I think our obsession with the End comes at times of stagnation. Especially in the current situation. I think the majority of people in the West are sick of their vapid, exploitative, alienated, soulless existences (yes, even the happy people who claim they aren't) but its become impossible to imagine the world differently- at least in any realistic rather than utopian way. I reckon because of that we can only foresee the way it is stretching out forever.

In the absence of a new world we will dwell on the world's destruction.

Tis as Nietzsche said; man would rather will nothing than not will at all.

I think you and Nietzsche are right. Also, it seems sympotomatic of the change of astrological changes. Take Palestine before the time of Jesus, messianic hope and expectation where extremely high, possibly due to the stagnation caused by Roman occupation. For a couple of centuries after Christ there remained a fervour around the issue of messiahship. It was until Constantine that the issue was finally resolved. It did not end there though as the rise of Islam under a different messianic figure added further spice to the mixing bowl. Therefore we could say that we are concerned with the end but I'm sure many would say that they are bothered about the return of the messiah as linked to 2012 and not just the End.

[Darkcore]

I too am a fan of end of the world scenarios. I especially love movies where the meteor comes flying in the atmosphere as a huge flaming, smoking rock, moving slow enough that everyone has time to look up, point and run for their pathetic lives, or have time to call home and visit every loved one to say goodbye..... But if one did hit, heck we would probably have no early warning, nor would we even see it, as it would hit so fast. No time, no screams.

Sweet! Did not notice you started a post on the topic

Laughed when you said taxes, can't get away from those...

Must admit was proud of my reply, even if it was a bit short.

And yes, you are right when you are talking about the Meteor movie scene:

Wiki

"Meteoroids travel around the sun in a variety of orbits and at various velocities. The fastest ones move at about 26 miles per second (42 kilometers per second) through space in the vicinity of Earth's orbit. The earth travels at about 18 miles per second (29 kilometers per second). Thus, when meteoroids meet the Earth's atmosphere head-on (which would only occur if the meteor were in a retrograde orbit), the combined speed may reach about 44 miles per second (71 kilometers per second)."

In other words, once in our atmosphere (calculated from the Kármán line = 100Km), the meteor would touch water / ground in around 1.4 sec. - combined speed.

So ya, something like;

"What's this? Oh s**t!" BOOM!

"Perhaps what we really fear is not having any control over how it actually ends." yup, people don't like it when they don't have control, we should all just chill and enjoy the opportunity we have now.

[Attemped Human]

I think you and Nietzsche are right. Also, it seems sympotomatic of the change of astrological changes. Take Palestine before the time of Jesus, messianic hope and expectation where extremely high, possibly due to the stagnation caused by Roman occupation. For a couple of centuries after Christ there remained a fervour around the issue of messiahship. It was until Constantine that the issue was finally resolved. It did not end there though as the rise of Islam under a different messianic figure added further spice to the mixing bowl. Therefore we could say that we are concerned with the end but I'm sure many would say that they are bothered about the return of the messiah as linked to 2012 and not just the End.

You're right to bring up messianism as there are strong strains right now in both religious and secular areas. Religiously, there is obviously the claims of entering a new age and the fundamentalist belief that end-times can be engineered into existence (although forcing an Event usually ends in totalitarianism) and politically we had Obamamania, the unrealistic expectations being none of the man's fault. Interestingly for me, as I'm political very leftwing, is the complete absence of anything but a very weak messianism from so-called revolutionary circles.

[zenfahr]

Sweet! Did not notice you started a post on the topic

Laughed when you said taxes, can't get away from those...

Must admit was proud of my reply, even if it was a bit short.

And yes, you are right when you are talking about the Meteor movie scene:

Wiki

"Meteoroids travel around the sun in a variety of orbits and at various velocities. The fastest ones move at about 26 miles per second (42 kilometers per second) through space in the vicinity of Earth's orbit. The earth travels at about 18 miles per second (29 kilometers per second). Thus, when meteoroids meet the Earth's atmosphere head-on (which would only occur if the meteor were in a retrograde orbit), the combined speed may reach about 44 miles per second (71 kilometers per second)."

In other words, once in our atmosphere (calculated from the Kármán line = 100Km), the meteor would touch water / ground in around 1.4 sec. - combined speed.

So ya, something like;

"What's this? Oh s**t!" BOOM!

"Perhaps what we really fear is not having any control over how it actually ends." yup, people don't like it when they don't have control, we should all just chill and enjoy the opportunity we have now.

Nice to have some mathmatics!!!

So what do you think Jung would say about all this nonsense?

[Marby]

I like a lot of the responses here, and I may not be saying much that is different, but here is my take:

I do believe that this end of world thing obssession is a human need for control. It is very human for people to want to have a sense of control over their fate - a sense of "knowing" that there is something beyond death, and some deeper meaning to life. This is why religions tend to have an end of world scenario. Not only does it offer those who hold power within that religion to control their followers, but it allows the followers to believe that they are part of a special group of people that will somehow survive spiritually and sometimes even physically after that end comes.

Death is the ultimate unknown. No one truly knows what happens after we die, and people like to think that there is more to it than being thrown in a pine box and existing as worm food. This feeds into those end times prophecies. If some sort of special meaning is attached to it, not only does it offer hope that there is more to death, but also, that there is more to life, and that our deeds on earth will be cosmically recognized.

[cluey]

The one constant we do know is life and that one day we we die!!!.....you could walk out today and get hit by a bus......anything could happen........i guess that being obsessed with an end eventually happening...eg 2010!!!!....gives some people the idea that we will know when we will die....as apposed to never knowing when a persons final day will be....in a strange way....i believe that brings some people a weird comfort..........then again.....others don't like the thought of the theory of being told when they may go............the human nature to want control......and our lives are the one thing we can have the most control over........IDK....i'm probably rambling....i just woke up,lol.......ok...i'm going to make a cup of tea......

Edited February 14, 2010 by cluey

[Cryptid_Control]

Worrying about the end wont make ANY difference, if it happens it happens.

Edit: Typo

Edited February 14, 2010 by Cryptid_Control

[Finity]

Maybe people just want to be there for the end, rather than die before it and miss all the action

We all have to die sometime, might as well get used to it and hope it's in an interesting way. At least when it finally happens you won't have to worry about anything else ever again

Edited February 15, 2010 by Finity

[THE MATRIX]

Valid excuse for looting.

Valid excuse to make out with one of your hot female coworkers in the supply closet.

[issacweirdo]

I'm pretty sure you can't start a new topic that addresses the same issue on the basis "you want more replies"...

People do it because they are insecure. They give themselves reasons to justify their actions and behavior. Even if we all die and the world ends, so what? It's expected. I can appreciate people being scared of their own lives more in comparison to the end of the world; it's only natural to be afraid of death, but seriously. Scared of the world ending when you might be already dead? Sounds absurd to me. We can die at any moment. Life and death ain't that different from each other; we see stuff, even though we might experience the absence of stuff. Just a small change, no biggie

EDIT

Found it! Under the rules button on top. Stated from GOD HIMSELF!!!HERSELF!!!WHATEVER!!!

1c. Multi-posting: Do not start multiple identical threads in multiple forum sections or post multiple identical replies in multiple threads. Posting something once in one place is sufficient.

Edited February 16, 2010 by issacweirdo