Noteworthy said:

but id like some more money

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Me too; money buys me drugs!

Icelander said:

What I relate is the history of the next two centuries. I describe what is coming, what can no longer come differently: the advent of nihilism. . . . For some time now our whole European culture has been moving as toward a catastrophe, with a tortured tension that is growing from decade to decade: restlessly, violently, headlong, like a river that wants to reach the end. . . . (Will to Power)Since Nietzsche?s compelling critique, nihilistic themes?epistemological failure, value destruction, and cosmic purposelessness?have preoccupied artists, social critics, and philosophers. Convinced that Nietzsche?s analysis was accurate, for example, Oswald Spengler in The Decline of the West (1926) studied several cultures to confirm that patterns of nihilism were indeed a conspicuous feature of collapsing civilizations. In each of the failed cultures he examines, Spengler noticed that centuries-old religious, artistic, and political traditions were weakened and finally toppled by the insidious workings of several distinct nihilistic postures: the Faustian nihilist ?shatters the ideals?; the Apollinian nihilist ?watches them crumble before his eyes?; and the Indian nihilist ?withdraws from their presence into himself.? Withdrawal, for instance, often identified with the negation of reality and resignation advocated by Eastern religions, is in the West associated with various versions of epicureanism and stoicism. In his study, Spengler concludes that Western civilization is already in the advanced stages of decay with all three forms of nihilism working to undermine epistemological authority and ontological grounding.

What cha think Noteworthy.

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Lakefingers said:

There is no correct course for mankind though. We've always been wandering. Nations, value metaphysics, etc, have always been unfinished, ultimately unfounded, etc. What Western civilization has to realize is that its search for new beginnings is its nature.

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Lakefingers said:

Nietzsche really shines there. Spengler's prescient too.

There is no correct course for mankind though. We've always been wandering. Nations, value metaphysics, etc, have always been unfinished, ultimately unfounded, etc. What Western civilization has to realize is that its search for new beginnings is its nature.

Interesting comparing the US to Europe. In the US the foundation was made and history's parenthetical end was reached in 1776. From then on you build. Europe's been starting over, and over, and over, and over... Two different modes of the West's sense of metaphysical rootlessness that expresses itself in need of historical grounding. But by the time we've solved this, we'll have no nation states, etc, etc..

[Edit:]

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Lakefingers said:

Point being?

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Icelander said:

And that you were a Mason.

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Icelander said:

nothing I just figured people should know that

It was a good natured poke in the ribs.

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