Author Topic: Why Write? (On the Futility of Writing)  (Read 533 times)

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Nation of One

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Why Write? (On the Futility of Writing)
« on: July 26, 2015, 10:08:37 am »
After tossing and turning last night and deciding to type a little more than I scribble with the pen, I did a search for "the futility of writing" and hit the following:

1. On the Futility of Writing and Writing in Spite of It All

2. an excessive pointlessness beyond terror and despair: why do i write

And that's it ... Incidentally, it appears that I am leaning toward writing about the pointlessness of writing.  This ought to gel quite harmoniously with existing for no reason in a world that makes no sense whatsoever. 
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

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Holden

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Re: Why Write? (On the Futility of Writing)
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2015, 03:00:15 pm »
When suffering from an illness, Beckett once confided to a friend:
'[...] the only thing I could read was Schopenhauer. Everything else I tried only confirmed the feeling of sickness. [...] I always knew he was one of the ones that mattered most to me, and it is a pleasure more real than any pleasure for a long time to begin to understand now why it is so. And it is a pleasure also to find a philosopher that can be read like a poet.'

I say the same thing about you Mr H,Im sorry I am writing after so long.Long hours at work.But I keep thinking of you often.You are to me,what S.was to Beckett.Not that it matters,but I would try to be of assistance to you with regard to getting your work published.

You know,in a way you are better than Liggoti,S. and Kafka.Kafka worked almost till the end.Liggoti for about 20 years.S. was rich.Its only you &Lovecraft who chose to do the  right thing.And van Gogh.

Keep  well my friend.I will write more frequently henceforth.
I
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

Nation of One

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Re: Why Write? (On the Futility of Writing)
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2015, 10:41:53 pm »
While writing, like everything else, may be a pointless exercise, I get more relief from writing than I do from watching some Hollywood film.  Schopenhauer counsels us that we can only truly be ourselves in solitude.  Even when we are in the presence of others or out in society doing what we have to do to secure sustenance, we are alone in our thoughts, and this is liberating actually.  I mean, just because we might be able to handle facing unpleasant facts does not mean those around us will.

Once one has come to certain conclusions about life and the nature of living creatures, human society is just so phony.

We have absolutely no idea why we exist, and most people obviously yield to playing a role "as if they have their **** together."  I figured this out when I was a teenager, so I am sure most everyone is aware of it on some level.   Sometimes an exchanged glance with someone can confirm how bizarre it is to have been born.

I will be able to muster some enthusiasm for a few days or even a couple of months about some learning project, but all the while, right in the midst of wracking my brains, the familiar feeling of pointlessness returns ... and I welcome it.

Confirmation of Schopenhauer's philosophy is not a "mental illness" called depression.  Insights into the absurd quality of existence, even if these insights lead one to the point where one is no longer a "productive drone of civilization" is not a step in the wrong direction.  We have our entire life-time to practice how to die.  Celebrate the fact that we are destined for Nothingness. 

Nothing need be done.   No books have to be published.  We do what we do, and, as animal creatures, we hide .... That's what creatures do - hide from hostile and dangerous environments.

The less I care about being able to articulate what it is I think or how it is I feel, the deeper my mood can become. 

Was it Schopenhauer who write that "the unspeakable is not unthinkable" ???  Something like that.

Just because we can't speak it, doesn't mean we can't think it.

 
« Last Edit: August 19, 2015, 10:52:39 pm by H »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Nation of One

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Re: Why Write? (On the Futility of Writing)
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2015, 11:24:39 pm »
Holy s-h-i-t Holden, I was taking a break from "learning" so I decided to just pick one of the diaries I scanned ... to read ... and I had momentarily forgotten that I had set sumatrapdf with green text on black background ... I opened H-130, and to my surprise it comes out more readable this way.  I had set sumatra as default but never expected to be able to read the diaries with this setting!

I think you might want to download sumatra and at a command line type:

sumatrapdf.exe -set-color-range 0x00dd00 0x000000

sumatrapdf.exe H-130***.pdf

The Idiot Papers

What do you think?  We can forget about a publisher.  The work is done AS IS!

Also, I have your copy of all that I have salvaged in that format.  It is on an 8GB USB flashdrive shaped like a key.

I don't know where to send it, and, I have to confess, I am nervous about it. 

Two friends of mine also want copies.  Now that it is done, I am hesitant. 

I just looked at the volume from 1987 ... the notes from jail that are hardly readable with yellow paper from jail and blue ink.  I think it is easier to read with the green text and black background.

I did this accidentally, but it has a creepy feel to it with this configuration.

Maybe my work is done.

I go to court on the 28th. 

I have the flashdrive for you.  My mother knows where the disks are.  Your disk is a red key.

It would be a shame if something happened and it just sat in a box. 

All I have written all my life is just a stream of how I think and feel.  Maybe that's all I can ever hope to do.  And so what if it is in cursive.  It is what it is.

We are just ghosts!
« Last Edit: August 22, 2015, 02:34:35 pm by H »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Holden

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Re: Why Write? (On the Futility of Writing)
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2015, 01:33:17 pm »
Im glad you could complete it.Good luck with the court. Im still travelling.
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.