Many ancient Romans had "NFFNSNC" inscribed on their graves. It stood for: non fui, fui, non sum, non curo, meaning “I was not; I was; I am not; I do not care”.
I just subscribed. Yes it is weird. It all seems so weirded out.
Last month I gave a donation to a young man standing outside a storefront who works for Nature Conservancy. He is trying to save the kelp beds off of the California coastline, which sustain the ecosystems there. I know it’s a hopeless pursuit due to the inevitable extinction of the kelp and all other life forms (including us, yes, that’s right) on planet Earth due to the climate catastrophe. Still, I donated anyway. It was the intention that was important, not the outcome. Meaningful intentions, heartfelt motivations and sparkling creativity is all that seems to matter to me now. The rest is all hay and stubble.
There's nothing "meaningful" or even "intentional" about your robotic, impulsive virtue-signaling about false constructs implanted into your head by mass media.
The ones who cooked up the nightmare narratives of "climate catastrophe" and so forth, in order to manipulate the behavior of meat-puppets such as yourself--now THEY have some intentionality. But you and the Nature Conservancy drone both are just reactive, passive bio-bots, mindlessly following the path of psychic least resistance.
There is no climate catastrophe. There have always been extreme weather events and they are not increasing. If you are still worried because of 110-degree parking lots in August, there were multiple life forms on Earth during the Carbiniferous Era, and human carbon-generating activity will decrease as we go over the global TFR cliff.
Haha! Yes, so weird. But I loved it. The perspective you share brings me (weird) comfort. And makes the pain stop for a few minutes. Ergo, despite what you say...you create meaning! How very weird indeed. What a ride this all is :)
Good exploration. I was watching a film the other night, in it a psychiatrist opined that everything we do and think is linked to a fear of death. Which is similar to conclusions i am reaching at 60.
The only inherent purpose of life meanwhile, it seems to me, is to survive until you've created more life and gotten it to a stage where it may survive long enough to make more life. All true meaning is related to this. (Which by the way means there is zero imperative to life right now given there are probably 5X too many of us for the resources at the moment.) Why sex is such a strong drive and feels so good, for one thing. Why hunting is such a strong drive, to those of us who have not lost our ancestral cores. The rest of it? Fabrication.
I try to imagine what it would be like to live as a beast. No real knowledge of death, but rather just a basic drive to stay alive. Sex, hunger. Nothing excess. No real worries beyond any immediate stimulus that may be concerning and must be dealt with.
Let me ask you this in light of this essay, you say life is "important" because it is temporary. So the question is, why must our lives be "important"? Why can't they just be our lives? Like a squirrel's life? How important is that? Like any of the majority of species that lived now extinct? Yet it all went on, how important was it that they vanished? How about it wasn't important at all? In recent years i've realized just how utterly unimportant my own life is. It's actually a very liberating feeling.
while we die, we should care about future generations. the present gerontocracy may think they have considered their progenies futures by amassing billions or hundreds of millions but they do not.
the acute dread and suffering in a world swallowed up by endless droughts, floods, fires and other extreme weather events will be unpleasant for all.
Pain is a necessary part of the human experience. It keeps us in balance and makes us strong. We avoid it at all costs, thus we miss out and feel lost. Wondering if life has anymore to offer. Head towards the pain and find meaning.
Even though nothing matters, if we sincerely act as if it does and lose any expectation of outcome, maybe then meaning will arise. Just not the one we might have expected. We are so seriously bound up in egoic expectations and performance required by such expectations that - to paraphrase Ferris Bueller - if you stuck a piece of coal up our asses, we would have a diamond in a couple of weeks. Our downfall as Western society isn't that there's not enough meaning, it's that there's too much of the wrong kind.
Sounds like you are on a similar journey to me. Fun ride ain't it.
I've found existentialism a helpful escape from pure nihilism. Nothing matters, there is no outside source of meaning, nothing we do will last in face of an uncaring universe. All true.
But that does not mean we cannot construct meaning for ourselves. That beauty and joy do not exist. It does not mean that everything is pointless, only that we have to find the point ourselves.
It's frightening to realise, terrifying really. But once you wrap your head around it it is also terrifically liberating. Because I, and only I, am responsible for finding meaning in the world. Which means it can be whatever I want it to be and not what anyone else tries to tell me it should be.
I'm not afraid of dying and I don't really care. We are all made of ancient stars that went super nova. Stars died so life could be born. Your only purpose in life is to be a helper and a healer. Humans are a social/communal species like ants, bees, elephants, and other apes. White supremacist ideology utilizing capitalism to oppress, torture,divide, and mass murder us has made our species regress😞
I might have a slightly twisted vision of reality from yours. I'd say my motto goes along the lines of "Everything doesn't matter--but YOU do." So, since whatever happens (or doesn't happen) at any particular time is no big deal, why are we sweating the details? I guess that's a part of human nature, the conscious part that doesn't live in the moment. But we human BEINGS do matter--and we should matter to each others as fellow beings in the here and now. Screw the meaningless shit at the office, in politics, in popular culture, and the world at large and focus on the meaningful creatures that dwell together with us on this big rock orbiting the sun. How do we help each other create meaning in what seems like a meaningless universe/existence? How do we make sure everyone (including the planet herself) is being taken care of in the way they deserve to thrive and flourish? Because as human beings we all have human rights. (Corporations aren't human, so they don't. Fuck capitalism.) By focusing on the BEINGS and letting the meaningless shit go, we will find some form of happiness in this here and now.
(Of course, if I had as many subscribers--paid ones at that!--as you do, Antonio, I'd be ecstatic beyond all measure. My poor ego could do with a stroke or two nowadays. LOL!)
Could you have this similar debate with a person/mind who, ultimately, right now, is trying to do the exact opposite, but artificially, in life's interim, while waiting to become immortal? And argue why would one want that and how morally to ever get there. Is morality real or just a supervillain we like to cheer knowing real doesn't work that way...unless it does.
Many ancient Romans had "NFFNSNC" inscribed on their graves. It stood for: non fui, fui, non sum, non curo, meaning “I was not; I was; I am not; I do not care”.
You're like my favorite writer on here but now you're like my all time favorite writer lol because you read Ligotti.
Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race" is a must read imho
Interestingly, "Conspiracy Against the Human Race" benefited me more than any self-help book I've read in the past.
I'll definitely second this.
I just subscribed. Yes it is weird. It all seems so weirded out.
Last month I gave a donation to a young man standing outside a storefront who works for Nature Conservancy. He is trying to save the kelp beds off of the California coastline, which sustain the ecosystems there. I know it’s a hopeless pursuit due to the inevitable extinction of the kelp and all other life forms (including us, yes, that’s right) on planet Earth due to the climate catastrophe. Still, I donated anyway. It was the intention that was important, not the outcome. Meaningful intentions, heartfelt motivations and sparkling creativity is all that seems to matter to me now. The rest is all hay and stubble.
well said
There's nothing "meaningful" or even "intentional" about your robotic, impulsive virtue-signaling about false constructs implanted into your head by mass media.
The ones who cooked up the nightmare narratives of "climate catastrophe" and so forth, in order to manipulate the behavior of meat-puppets such as yourself--now THEY have some intentionality. But you and the Nature Conservancy drone both are just reactive, passive bio-bots, mindlessly following the path of psychic least resistance.
There is no climate catastrophe. There have always been extreme weather events and they are not increasing. If you are still worried because of 110-degree parking lots in August, there were multiple life forms on Earth during the Carbiniferous Era, and human carbon-generating activity will decrease as we go over the global TFR cliff.
"This was weird, right?"
Nah. It's pretty much my view of things too. It was nice to see it articulated so well from another pov.
Haha! Yes, so weird. But I loved it. The perspective you share brings me (weird) comfort. And makes the pain stop for a few minutes. Ergo, despite what you say...you create meaning! How very weird indeed. What a ride this all is :)
life is weird
I wish I could have this kind of conversation with people around me, thanks for a great read again, Antonio :)
my pleasure, there are people like that out there just got to find them (where are they??)
Good exploration. I was watching a film the other night, in it a psychiatrist opined that everything we do and think is linked to a fear of death. Which is similar to conclusions i am reaching at 60.
The only inherent purpose of life meanwhile, it seems to me, is to survive until you've created more life and gotten it to a stage where it may survive long enough to make more life. All true meaning is related to this. (Which by the way means there is zero imperative to life right now given there are probably 5X too many of us for the resources at the moment.) Why sex is such a strong drive and feels so good, for one thing. Why hunting is such a strong drive, to those of us who have not lost our ancestral cores. The rest of it? Fabrication.
I try to imagine what it would be like to live as a beast. No real knowledge of death, but rather just a basic drive to stay alive. Sex, hunger. Nothing excess. No real worries beyond any immediate stimulus that may be concerning and must be dealt with.
Let me ask you this in light of this essay, you say life is "important" because it is temporary. So the question is, why must our lives be "important"? Why can't they just be our lives? Like a squirrel's life? How important is that? Like any of the majority of species that lived now extinct? Yet it all went on, how important was it that they vanished? How about it wasn't important at all? In recent years i've realized just how utterly unimportant my own life is. It's actually a very liberating feeling.
while we die, we should care about future generations. the present gerontocracy may think they have considered their progenies futures by amassing billions or hundreds of millions but they do not.
the acute dread and suffering in a world swallowed up by endless droughts, floods, fires and other extreme weather events will be unpleasant for all.
Pain is a necessary part of the human experience. It keeps us in balance and makes us strong. We avoid it at all costs, thus we miss out and feel lost. Wondering if life has anymore to offer. Head towards the pain and find meaning.
Even though nothing matters, if we sincerely act as if it does and lose any expectation of outcome, maybe then meaning will arise. Just not the one we might have expected. We are so seriously bound up in egoic expectations and performance required by such expectations that - to paraphrase Ferris Bueller - if you stuck a piece of coal up our asses, we would have a diamond in a couple of weeks. Our downfall as Western society isn't that there's not enough meaning, it's that there's too much of the wrong kind.
Read the ancient Greek philosophers, read Nietzche, and you can pretty much ignore everything else.
Sounds like you are on a similar journey to me. Fun ride ain't it.
I've found existentialism a helpful escape from pure nihilism. Nothing matters, there is no outside source of meaning, nothing we do will last in face of an uncaring universe. All true.
But that does not mean we cannot construct meaning for ourselves. That beauty and joy do not exist. It does not mean that everything is pointless, only that we have to find the point ourselves.
It's frightening to realise, terrifying really. But once you wrap your head around it it is also terrifically liberating. Because I, and only I, am responsible for finding meaning in the world. Which means it can be whatever I want it to be and not what anyone else tries to tell me it should be.
Antonio Melonio: 21st century Nietzsche
lol thanks I guess
I'm not afraid of dying and I don't really care. We are all made of ancient stars that went super nova. Stars died so life could be born. Your only purpose in life is to be a helper and a healer. Humans are a social/communal species like ants, bees, elephants, and other apes. White supremacist ideology utilizing capitalism to oppress, torture,divide, and mass murder us has made our species regress😞
I might have a slightly twisted vision of reality from yours. I'd say my motto goes along the lines of "Everything doesn't matter--but YOU do." So, since whatever happens (or doesn't happen) at any particular time is no big deal, why are we sweating the details? I guess that's a part of human nature, the conscious part that doesn't live in the moment. But we human BEINGS do matter--and we should matter to each others as fellow beings in the here and now. Screw the meaningless shit at the office, in politics, in popular culture, and the world at large and focus on the meaningful creatures that dwell together with us on this big rock orbiting the sun. How do we help each other create meaning in what seems like a meaningless universe/existence? How do we make sure everyone (including the planet herself) is being taken care of in the way they deserve to thrive and flourish? Because as human beings we all have human rights. (Corporations aren't human, so they don't. Fuck capitalism.) By focusing on the BEINGS and letting the meaningless shit go, we will find some form of happiness in this here and now.
(Of course, if I had as many subscribers--paid ones at that!--as you do, Antonio, I'd be ecstatic beyond all measure. My poor ego could do with a stroke or two nowadays. LOL!)
Could you have this similar debate with a person/mind who, ultimately, right now, is trying to do the exact opposite, but artificially, in life's interim, while waiting to become immortal? And argue why would one want that and how morally to ever get there. Is morality real or just a supervillain we like to cheer knowing real doesn't work that way...unless it does.
Nice work.