On the futility of everything

Qcmbr

Once again I'm in a philosophical mood:

We spend our time in avoiding death as though the absence of being was our primary reason or motivator and yet our mere existence is clearly not fulfilling in and of itself (for a nightmare example ask yourself- would you rather die or live in a fully conscious state but be totally paralysed and unable to communicate.)

If existence alone is not enough yet we will give almost anything to continue to exist what is it that we are actually aiming for? We seem to look to create moments of achievement(or of unique experience) and to prolong such moments as long as possible and yet the more permanent the achievement the less we seem to value it (as children we longed for Christmas day - oops JWs didn't :) let's go with the analogy - but if every day was christmas day we would soon lose any sense of pleasure in it.)

If the permanence of the achievement is inversely proportional to the enjoyment of such achievement then we can track this back simply to a claim that we crave novelty - what drives us is the need for change, a need to consume, to dominate and be dominated in equal measure as long as one is the antithesis of now. Are we merely the basic law of entropy made conscious? In an environmnet of no change - no matter how supernal and awesome - we would find ourselves in a delicious hell. Indeed what makes the sunset most beautiful is not its intrinsic play of colours but indeed its absolute uniqueness.

Now let us place ourselves in the mind of the omnipotent God who knowing all, impervious to all, all present and all encompassing must indeed exist in a nightmare world where boredom is the prison that enslaves the consciousness of the universe. If God is, is chaos God's scream.

Just as we animate these clods of earth that we call bodies by no more than sheer conscious willpower and maintain those bodies by the daily slewing of of the old and the consumption of the new are we no more than the after froth of a consciousness that is bored. Indeed do we exist not for ourselves (after all beyond the mechanical perpetuation of our futility by procreation what do we exist for if ultimately we are driven by the novel not the persistant) but for the entertainment of the universe?

Drawing back from such imponderables maybe we can find a perverse relief in pain/suffering/trials and our personal fall from any gardens of Eden that we may have believed in. Maybe the great wisdom passed on in the story of the forbidden apple is that only by failing to last forever can we truly be happy. Thanks Eve.

nomoreguilt

I agree with you. Why exist at all...............

NMG

Robdar

That was deep. And almost poetic.

Crumpet

Drawing back from such imponderables maybe we can find a perverse relief in pain/suffering/trials and our personal fall from any gardens of Eden that we may have believed in. Maybe the great wisdom passed on in the story of the forbidden apple is that only by failing to last forever can we truly be happy. Thanks Eve.

I found reading that quite stimulating. Thank you son of Eve.

I'd contend that not everyone spends every moment trying to stay alive. On the contrary I probably spend equal amounts of time sustaining my life as I do extinguishing it. For me it's curiosity that is an end in itself. I just like to know what happens next. But then we all know what curiosity did to the cat.

The tree of knowledge of good and bad is significantly more tempting as inducement to survival and continuance than the tree of life. I've never wanted to live forever, it was one reason that I considered prospects of paradise earth more hellish than paradisiac, even as a child. Existence for existence sake is pointless and futile and results in extinction of spirit, even whilst our progeny may survive and inherit that spiritless world.

However I do want to know, I want to learn, I want to understand. When there is nothing new to learn, no new perpsective for me to explore, no concept left to embrace or reject...then my curiosity will be sated and my apple will fall.

nvrgnbk

Now let us place ourselves in the mind of the omnipotent God who knowing all, impervious to all, all present and all encompassing must indeed exist in a nightmare world where boredom is the prison that enslaves the consciousness of the universe. If God is, is chaos God's scream?

Did you come up with this yourself?

It's quite good.

Narkissos

Delightfully gloomy indeed.

"Entropy made conscious" is a great formula.

Let's not forget laughter though. Tragedy and comedy are made of the same stuff.

Qcmbr

Nvr - I'll hesitantly claim the words but little else. I'm sure others have said it many times.:)

lalliv01

If the permanence of the achievement is inversely proportional to the enjoyment of such achievement then we can track this back simply to a claim that we crave novelty -

For a God that knows all, sees all - is all there is to be - He must surely be a very bored god. He's seen it all, done it all; For God there is no such thing as novelty.

It pains me to even think about it. At least we have the "hope" of death, Not He.

Lalliv01

SPAZnik

Coooool.

Crumpet

I just came across this in my studies and it seems applicable:

"As far we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being."

C G Jung

On the futility of everything

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