{∅, {∅}, {∅, {∅}}} : Rage Against the Meat Grinder

Well,I am glad to hear that your nephew is safe.In all of this I would  like to underscore the  fact  that we  are  all  bereft of free-will of any kind.
The world  is what it is. There  was a time when I was really into biographies and in all of them there was only one common denominator I could decipher-suffering.

The very thought of the whole of existence and even the whole of my own life is enough to drive me to morbid thoughts.

No  worries.I  am  reading  Ramanujan's biography-"The man who  knew  Infinity".Its all quite interesting really.
Like I often  say ,life is more strange and  more  horrific than any  fiction.

Take care.

Do you think a great deal of humility might make our existence less horrific?


I'd say a kind of  stoicism could be of some  help.Think  of a rock which just does not mind all  the  waves   splashing all over  and around  it.
Pain is nothing personal.Suffering is nothing personal.Its just a part of the job description.We signed up  for it   when  we  landed on this planet.

Do we have any control over how overwhelmed we become at times?   

We have about as much control as a  driver in a  car with no steering  wheel   or  brakes  or  gear.  How does   a  robot who  knows its a robot act?
Just like  any other  robot ,if  observed from  the  outside.
Honestly, I  do not think  we  have any agency at all. What  is that old-fashioned word? Oh,yes.Grace.

Over here,  people  are  almost ready  to embrace   fascism.They( the  much  esteemed "middle-class")  are  also  decidedly  anti-pornography.Most  of the sites have been  banned. No,   I  guess  ,they  want  us to do  the  "real"   thing

I read a comment today  wherein the  writer says-"growing up I wanted  to   be like Batman, but  now, well,  now, I understand  Joker."

Like the slightest push can bring a  house  of cards tumbling down, so we  make  our  plans,  misfortune   can ruin   it  all   in  a moment.
The  city I live  in  is  a veritable sea  of humanity.Where  ever one  may look, all   one would  get to  see   are  the  teeming millions.

They  are like maggots. They  will suck  the carcass of this planet dry. I,am of course, one  of them.They  know only two things-how  to  feed and how to breed.
That is sufficient for  them.The movies here are like a pile of stinking repellent   goo.

Recently, I  read that they were  selling   dog meat as chicken in   the restaurant all over   the city.Sure,why not? Might as well be honest about it.
Eat everything that moves or does not  move. This city is one big mouth with a lot of razor sharp teeth.

What  did they say in Germany?   If you cannot  fight them,join them. Well, a lot of people  have.Religious  fanaticism  is one big magnet    which is attracting millions of weak-willed men and women.They  wish to submerge their identity into that of  the Religion.

Its like a black  hole which is gorging  on stars and planets.How  many couples all over the city must be copulating  with abandon (but without  rubber) even as
  I write this?Thousands.
Today,if  I  am  any kind of a revolutionary, I am a revolutionary   against the  revolution   which led to the emergence of sentient life.

That was very poetic and graphic.  I am honored to be among your few confidants in this realm.

In a thrift store, for about one dollar, I had found a small coffee mug made of thick glass with a rudimentary map of the globe on it the outer surface.   In the morning, I find myself wandering the cup with my eyes, wondering what Holden of Northern India is up to, and also often wondering what Senor Raul is up to down there in South America ... My eyes wander around that area between Europe, Africa, and Asia ... I become curious about Ibra and what exactly it is about the correspondence on this message board that draws the few who have found us to return now and again to take some kind of interest in what it is we post here.

I fully sympathize with how you (Holden) feel about the teeming masses.   The horrific aspect of the masses is that each certainly experiences the same hunger pains as I do.  By design, through no fault of our own, we are each and all condemned to have to eat to live, and, as a species, along with all other biological organisms, must reproduce in order for the species to exist.   

I am repeatedly amazed at how weak the body becomes when it needs food.  I wonder what it would be like for the grids to shut down, the trucks to stop hauling groceries, the farm machinery (both mechanical and human) to cease producing FOOD for the masses.

We are always kind of here existing by the skin of our teeth.   Eventually, the sun "expires."   Isn't that a relief?!   

I never cared for Freud since i resented him for not giving Schopenhauer credit for concept of "the unconscious"  [will]; but his idea about a secret death wish in all organic life, how it longs to return to an inorganic state, well, this idea of Freud's really strikes me as quite liberating.   I mean, you just said it, Holden.  You want to become a rock.  The ancients believed in the Rock People, but we do not want to be people at all.  We just want to be a life form that must be totally unconscious.

I share your longing for death's warm embrace often.   One thing that might make the teeming millions less horrific (maggots!  coc-kroaches!) is to acknowledge the dissatisfaction inherent in their condition.    Isn't this kind of the way Schopenhauer resolved his disgust for pitiable humanity?  Is it possible to actually have compassion for the teeming millions seeing as how we are all wired to eat in order to remain alive?

What we have done, what Schopenhauer and probably countless others of our species (and even outside our species) have done, is to rub our eyes in astonishment at the spectacle we are apart of:  They  will suck  the carcass of this planet dry .   Yes, we will at least try to do so, and then there will be no more nourishment for all us maggots, and we shall die with our Host at last.

Yes, stone cold reality is far stranger than anything Bollywood or Hollywood can come up with.

I read a comment today  wherein the  writer says-"growing up I wanted  to   be like Batman, but  now, well,  now, I understand  Joker."

This reminds me of Zamyatin's (author of WE) ideas about Lucifer being, by far, the most heroic character in the Abrahamic mythology.   I forget where I was reading about this, but it sure isn't too difficult to reimagine the character of Satan in the epic poem “Paradise Lost” as a hero, daring to rebel against God’s unjust tyranny.   Similar sentiments are expressed in My Hero, Satan.

As always I read your words and Holden´s words too. That also includes Silenus, Ibra and other readers in this blog.

Raul,

Yes, I too read carefully what is posted here.  I had not mentioned Silenus since I believe he is from upstate New York, relatively close to where I am (at least on the map on the coffee cup), a place I associate with beautiful mountains whose winters I would be hard pressed to survive without a vehicle for gathering necessary supplies.   I know it is possible to live in a yurt in the mountains, but one would always be at risk of being arrested for "squatting"  (I think that's what it is called).   It is against "the law" to build a yurt or any kind of shelter on the land since, in our "world" certain people supposedly own the land, or the government "owns" the land … 

It is certainly not against Natural Law.  I mean, it is possible to live in a yurt in the mountains, although such a life is certainly not easy.   There are those who prefer living off the grid without any assistance from the government even if they risk freezing to death in the mountains. 

I know a guy near here who took his mother to a public hospital. The lady suffers from diabetes. Her condition got worse and the doctors had to amputate her leg. The man sells fruits and lemons in front of a supermarket and his 68-year old mother used to sell things in the cemetery in the city. Now she cannot do that any longer and she uses a wheelchair. He told me that he and her sister would do their best to take care of her. The little money they got for the medications came from polladas or chicken barbecues where people gather together and buy a piece of chicken to help the family. Most do that very often here. Life is sad. 

That is actually very impressive that such community spirit still exists that people have such barbecues to raise the funds for families in need.   Your post has me wanting to listen to 2 particular songs ... (And So Is Love (Life is Sad): Kate Bush with Eric Clapton on guitar; Indian Girl by The Rolling Stones).





Life just goes on and on, getting harder and harder …
Life just goes on and on, getting harder and harder …    

I read an article about Russian Zamyatin. I hope to read him one day. He was in the inspiration for novelists George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. You maybe already know all this. He was a maritime engineer who built the first Soviet icebreakers in England. He wrote that “true literature can exist only where it is created, not by diligent functionaries, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels, and skeptics."

You quote one of my favorite quotes.  I like where he wrote, "The best novels I never wrote.  I lived them."

I learned about Zamyatin's novel, We while reading Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano."   He admits that his book is a rip-off of (inspired by) We, and he also clued me in that We was also the inspiration for Orwell's 1984 as well as Huxley's Brave New World and others. I used to read Vonnegut novels compulsively after high school, during jail time, just prior to my accidental "discovery" of a certain Arthur Schopenhauer.  Player Piano was Vonnegut's first published book, in 1952.  It was considered Science Fiction.  I had to read it in English class as a freshman in high school (about age 14), but I would not read Zamyatin's We until about 15 years later.   There is a weird connection to mathematics in that book which is unique.   

"Now I no longer live in our clear, rational world; I live in the ancient nightmare world, the world of square roots of minus one." 
~ Yevgeny Zamyatin

Drive carefully.

At least 1 in 20 drivers in Dirty Jersey must be "demonic clowns."   One must drive defensively, and if driving a 4-cylinder vehicle, well, be extra careful since so many more "Americans" prefer the Big Fat Gas-Guzzling SUVs and Pick-up trucks since they have to haul so much STUFF to their Big Fat "Middle Class" McMansions (the so-called middle class is actually only about 15% of the population - I refer to them as the ass-lickers of the uber-rich, their Masters).

"You will live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension." -Nikola Tesla

Holden,

Thank you for your response. Yes, every man/woman for him(herself) and God against all. I must have heard many times that one should start making one´s  mark on the world. But the advisable is to abandon it this wretched world. A relative told me that I should exit this world for sometimes uttering dark truths. I told this person I was going to die anyway.

I suppose the community spirit is an expression of the Will to Life. Maybe I am wrong. I agree with you that there is a “spirit of mutual hatred embedded within humanity”. It is in our nature as you well know.

That community spirit I wrote about will not last long. I am witnessing, as I understand, a controlled demolition of the Paraguayan state. Slow but steady. In the future, if there is one, using your words there will be more beggars looking for a crust of bread in front of the mansions where the rich and powerful frolic. Our mothers´ milk nourishes murderers and heroes at the same time.

Today I read that 10,000 liters of milk were thrown away by small cooperative producers because there are no roads to transport the milk in the Paraguayan Chaco. So things will grow worse. 

I do not blame the hands of the elite for what they do or what they are. I don´t understand why the psychologists or psychiatrists here and in the world do not diagnose these powerful bankers, politicians, financial tycoons for leaving millions of humans homeless. They are the ones who should fill the psychiatric hospitals. 

The little I read about Rome is that the Stoics said that the “The world’s a stage and life’s a toy,” and a Greek poet said these words:

Dress up and play your part;
Put every serious thought away
Or risk a broken heart.


Yes, this world only causes broken hearts.

Take care.