|
 caolite
Ambient Drone
Registered: 09/28/03
Posts: 276
Loc: Second star on the right.
Last seen: 19 years, 10 months
|
 How to survive Nihilism?? 
#2011885 - 10/15/03 04:12 PM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Ok first off there is the definition from dictionary.com so we know exactly what I mean and interpretations of the definition are kepts to a minimum.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=nihilism
I am having trouble with this I guess. I just out of curiosity was poking about the net, and I noticed this topic. Low and behold it managed to describe how I feel very well.
I don't really feel anything can really be known or proved, etc. I also don't believe the self, the mind, or maybe even my body. In other words my waking life literally feels like a constant dream. There are moments when I feel something slipping away. I dunno if it is control, or if it my ability to handle all the input being sent to my brain or what. But it starts to slip, and I panic, because I mean how easy would it be for me to appear to break down while serving a guest at work or something.
I am having a hard time controlling this feeling of nothingness and dreamlike reality. I suppose I could do something with it if I wasn't always wondering what the real point of it is anyways. Not to mention the fact that I am in constant battle wihtin myself, like the battle between "normal standard mind" and "no mind at all" is always going on much liek a tug of war, and every so often one will get a good tug in and then Blamo, dream world, or the opposite, being throw into a reality that I suddenly find unfit to live in.
Is it more of my brain using defense mechanisms to stay alive, like providing me with this state so I don't want to perish at the site of what is "real".
Keep in mind things themselves don't actually change really, it is more my perception of them, and it is so hard to concentrait on even the simplest activites when my perception feels like the thing eye doctors use to check what kind of glasses you need. Everytime I feel like I should be reaching the end of these rapid shifts of perception another comes along. This also makes it hard to form any opinion or make a choice, because every perception I have had has left its mark, and I will have maybe several opinions about a topic, but many or all of them contradict one another.
I am just wondering if this is a bad thing or a good thing. If we can separate ourselves from being human, or at least no feeling that way, does this open up new doors or just make me a very dangerous person capable of bad things to to "mental disease".
I was thinking on my way to work the other morning, that I was ok withmyself maybe, that not being human in a human world just means things will be very interesting. It makes it hard to balance that no fear of death, and such a neutrality about it that one feels they might as well get it over with. Any opinions or thoughts? I know I have a lot more to say, but I might repeat myself too much or something and would prefer to go off of others thoughts, or if one is confused with how I feel, that makes two of us. I could always try to clear up what I mean. Anyways, how can I survive this, its like frightening, but very enjoyable somehow, like the loss of my hold on reality is kind of addictive...
|
 2Experimental
 
Registered: 01/15/03
Posts: 18,073
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: caolite]
#2013124 - 10/15/03 10:38 PM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
sounds like you need to find out what you beleive, do some searching, if youve done it , keep trying. I dunno man, you will find something, but who am i to give advice!
|
NiamhNyx
I'm NOT a 'he'
Registered: 09/01/02
Posts: 3,198
Last seen: 14 years, 10 months
|
|
I felt like that some time ago, so I know exactly what you're talking about. I really don't know how to explain how I left that state of mind, but I did. Perhaps it was that I decided that it didn't much matter if life was a dream or not, that either way it was something I had. Something I could use to create beauty and express love. My conciousness is experiencing life as a human female and I'm going to embrace it fully, experience it fully, and Love.
|
Jellric
altered statesman
Registered: 11/07/98
Posts: 2,261
Loc: non-local
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: NiamhNyx]
#2013732 - 10/16/03 03:19 AM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
I went throught that phase also. Thank God it was a passing phase- a purgatory of sorts.
I discarded it when I realized it was just an incredibly un-useful way of thinking about life- even if true. I adopted a new model of life that at least made me feel like life has some meaning- even if it's all just a dream; at least I have something to do with my time if I'm going to be here anyway. And if I'm right, I will have done something productive with my life.
You are correct to sense the danger in this way of thinking, even if there are pluses. There can be some temporary exhilaration and feelings of freedom that come from it, but nothing that is worth the long-term price you'll pay. In the long run it will sap your energy and leave you as a burned-out husk. A sense of meaning and purpose is essential to the survival of a human being.
Nihilism is a dead end street.
--------------------
I AM what Willis was talkin' bout.
|
DankBluntZ
We know little
Registered: 01/29/03
Posts: 184
Loc: florida
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: NiamhNyx]
#2013742 - 10/16/03 03:25 AM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
How to feel human again :
1) Meet some girl(s)
2) have lots of sex with them.
|
Anonymous
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: DankBluntZ]
#2013749 - 10/16/03 03:31 AM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Here's how - Don't worry about it, buddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
sirreal
devoid
Registered: 01/11/03
Posts: 1,775
Loc: In the borderlands
Last seen: 16 years, 11 months
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: caolite]
#2013922 - 10/16/03 06:37 AM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
You describe it a little differently than I would, but I know how you feel.
I have struggled with finding a sense of purpose for many years. I am starting to understand how life can mean something though. Becoming less self centered is helping.
Seeing the "bigger picture" kind of takes the spotlight off of how I feel and puts it on what is actually happening. When you are consumed with how you feel, and think that is what is important, It's hard to have any purpose.
It is kind of addicting to feel purposeless though. It does make you feel free. Kind of like a drug. I don't find it very satisfying.
--------------------
I may not always tell the truth, but atleast I'm honest
-----------
I see what everyone is saying. It is so hard to form an opinion when you see both sides so clearly!
|
Alan Stone
Corpus
Registered: 11/23/02
Posts: 986
Loc: Ten feet up
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: sirreal]
#2013952 - 10/16/03 07:19 AM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
It's a phase I regularly go through, but it's just one stop on the bus ride. There'll be more.
--------------------
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- Aristotle
|
Viveka
refutation bias
Registered: 10/21/02
Posts: 4,061
Last seen: 7 years, 6 months
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: caolite]
#2014288 - 10/16/03 11:08 AM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Some Zappa should fix you right up. I suggest starting with one of his first three albums. "We're Only in it for the Money" is a good one to go with. "Sheik Yerbouti" or "Apostrophe/Onernight Sensation" might be good starting points as well.
|
caolite
Ambient Drone
Registered: 09/28/03
Posts: 276
Loc: Second star on the right.
Last seen: 19 years, 10 months
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: Viveka]
#2014617 - 10/16/03 01:01 PM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
So most of you feel that it will just pass? Did it get more intense from the point I am describing, or did you activly have to do something about it?
I just don't see how I can ever escape this, or maybe it is my fate to be stuck here, maybe it will produce something wonderful, who knows. I do understand that we are here so we might as well make some use of it, but then I think that I don't have to be here if I don't want to at any time, and that drives me crazy.
I am horribly curious to see if things just end or if they do indeed continue on in some form. I just don't know though, and a wise person once said to have no hope is illogical because that would imply we know the future. Well in a way I guess I feel I know at least one aspect, which is it will all end anyways, and maybe that is the problem.
Heh I have little or no desire to ever be with another human being ever again, so that road is out heh, no sex for me. I guess I just have to try to work things out, or let it be sorted out on it's own, I am not sure which is the right path or if choosing the wrong one will cause more damage, but I guess we will all see where this leads me.
|
Anonymous
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: caolite]
#2014669 - 10/16/03 01:14 PM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
you survive nihilism by eating food and drinking water.
conclusions that bring you nowhere aren't meant to bring you somewhere.
you could enjoy being nowhere or you could not enjoy being nowhere
i really don't know and i don't think it matters
|
DoctorJ
Registered: 06/30/03
Posts: 8,846
Loc: space
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: ]
#2014766 - 10/16/03 01:36 PM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
how to survive nihilism:
realize being unhappy accomplishes nothing
the end.
|
NiamhNyx
I'm NOT a 'he'
Registered: 09/01/02
Posts: 3,198
Last seen: 14 years, 10 months
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: ]
#2014796 - 10/16/03 01:44 PM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
For me nihilism was a stage, then I got sick of being depressed, sick of feeling sorry for myself and empty.... so I reached out to other living beings and thought "whether or not your real, you're beautiful..." and I think it progressed from there. I think once you recognize the utter beauty of every living being, life becomes as real as real can be.
|
Alan Stone
Corpus
Registered: 11/23/02
Posts: 986
Loc: Ten feet up
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
|
Re: How to survive Nihilism?? [Re: DoctorJ]
#2014798 - 10/16/03 01:44 PM (20 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Stop thinking about the future and immerse yourself in the now.
--------------------
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- Aristotle
|
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Feminized Cannabis Seeds 
Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order 
Red Vein Kratom
Edit 
Reply 
1 2 3 4 all )
Ravus
SneezingPenis
Swami
trendal
Phluck
SkorpivoMusterion
FreedomFight