Author Topic: Happiness is not even a remote possibility in this life  (Read 5545 times)

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Nation of One

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Raul, you are perfectly clear about this life's biggest challenge:  enduring ourselves.

I hope you find some moments of peace, and if you do find some peace, try to note down exactly what brought you that peace.

I know there are no fool proof recipes.   

I suppose that I must have expereinced some kind of peace during moments of laying on the fllor working on a math problem.  I know that I am very fortunate to have found something to do with myself.

Thanks for communicating with us here.   You write English well, far better than I could ever write Spanish.

Do you find any peace when you sleep?

Do you eat eggs?  If so, where do you get your eggs?  Do you have chickens in the yard or do you have to get them at some store?

Where did you get your computer?  Are computers very expensive there?  My nephew told me that such technology is very over-priced in South America.

Also, I am wondering how Spain is perceived by the people there.  Up north, we are well aware of the horros that took place in "colonization," and we live knowing that, while we call ourselves "Americans" or "Citizens of the United States," that this is all a kind of farce held in place by armies and prisons.  Is there a similar sentiment in South America? ... I mean, since the lands were colonized by powerful invaders from Europe as well.

The people born in either place are not to blame.

I used to think that maybe our misery is caused by civilization, and that perhaps the indignous "traditional" cultures knew better how to live on this earth.   And tet, lately, as i age and become ever more cynical, I think that all human beings have always lived in misery, and that people romaticize how life must have been for the people of traditional societies.

There has always been the need to eat food, the need to kill to eat ... strife between human beings over hunting grounds ... hurricanes, floods, tooth decay, failing health ...

Sorry if I am not clear with these questions.   Thank you for your patience.  I just think that maybe life has always been unpleasant, andd that life would have been just as unpleasant even were the invasions of the Western hemisphere never to occurred.

This goes against what I have felt for most of my life.

I just think that it is quite possible that disgruntled individuals like us have always existed in all cultures at all times.

Maybe even some animals feel this displeasure intensely, and not only those who are trapped in a zoo or farm or slaughterhouse.

Sometimes I notice a seagul far away from the flock, and I wonder if maybe this seagul hates other seaguls.
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 ~

raul

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Hentrich,
Thank you for you patience and your time in reading my comments. I think only peace will come with death. I eat eggs from time to time. I get them from the supermarket. My PC is old. Here the minimum wage is in Guaranies 2,041,123,i.e. USD 370. If you earn more than this, you can get a computer in several payments or used. You can get them in Ciudad del Este, in the border with Brazil much cheaper because most electronics are smuggled even from the U.S. Or you can buy at software stores where they charge you a lot. If you have money you could even get a rocket launcher.

We call Spain here in Spanish "La Madre Patria" or the Motherland. The indigenous peoples are not well treated here. They are being expelled from their ancestral lands and end up in the capital or near the capital. Sometimes I see the indigenous girls with babies in their arms begging for coins in the avenues. I think my ancestors come from Asturias in Spain but I am not sure. My last name indicates that probably my ancestors came from there. Sometimes some people tell me that I am not really Paraguayan because I do not speak Guarani. Although my parents were fair skinned or white ,I am what most would call a mestizo. I could pass as an Indian in New Delhi or Calcutta. There are five indigenous famlies with their subgroups.

The Indians have a name for a paradise, Yvy Maraney, translated into Spanish "La Tierra Sin Mal" or Land without Evil. Here people would live with the gods and good fortune. The Guaranis were fierce warriors. In the north there is a tribe, the Pai Tavytera, whose caciques claim they are linked to the Vikings. Some runic signs were found.

"I just think that it is quite possible that disgruntled individuals like us have always existed in all cultures at all times."
I agree totally with you. We are misfits. We do not belong here. I am often told that in order to survive I should not see evil, speak no evil and hear no evil. A perfect zombie. 
Stay well.

Nation of One

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Spain as the Motherland.  I see.

We are misfits. 

One thing that always baffled me is how people take pride in whatever they are born as, as if they have achieved something in being the outgrowth of sperm fertilizing an egg.

On the other hand, one ought not feel ashamed either.

Pride and shame don't make any sense when it comes to one's cultural or ethnic heritage.

We are individuals in this unhappy brotherhood of man.

As I told Holden, I feel as though I am experiencing some kind of inner transformation.  Not only have I sensed I am more irritable, but when I write, I am uncertain as to whether or not what I am writing is making sense or not.  Please bare with me as I experiment with this style of communication where I attempt to expose the core of being underneath all the layers of "personhood" and "perceived identity".

Maybe we can reach a level of communication here where we no longer feel it necessary to maintain a "projected image".
« Last Edit: September 08, 2017, 10:01:25 pm by { { } } »
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 ~

raul

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Hentrich,
Yes,Madre Patria, or Motherland or Mother Country. It took me some time to realize that all these borders, frontiers, are all just artificial creations. But of course we are brainwashed into considering that one´s own land is sacred. One of the political parties here has the motto: Dios, Patria y Familia. Much nonsense.
"As I told Holden, I feel as though I am experiencing some kind of inner transformation."

Maybe you are in the path in becoming some sort of shaman. If I were in the Amazons , I would have liked to drink the ayahuasca. It is said that one is able to transcend this world, see visions and be transformed.

Stay safe.
 

Holden

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Senor Raul,

Thank you for the response.You wrote:
When a woman looks at him, she becomes ugly as death.

Would you be kind enough to elucidate that a bit.
I have to say ,with honesty,that every time I have to interact with a woman in the office,no matter how appealing to the eye,I thank my stars that at the very least I had  intelligence enough to stay away from relationships and marriage.

Most of them are undercover trollops .And if that were the only issue that would be okay ,what do I care ,right?But no,that's not enough for them,they want ME to play the fool around them, consider every wish of theirs as a command.Sometimes I lose my temper with them.

Let me clarify,I try to avoid them like PLAGUE,but at the end of the day I am a corporate slave and sometimes willy-nilly I am obliged to interact with them-my job entails that you see.That is when my inner Steppenwolf emerges. I am truly terrified of him.
The cultural climate here is such that even a blatantly false charge would be sufficient to put me away for a long while-away perhaps from my beloved books. That would drive me insane. I cannot stay away from them.

But really when people with far greater intelligence than I possess end up getting in trouble (I have Schopenhauer's seamstress incident in mind),then that really scares the hell out of me.

You see, I MUST avoid such incidents. But Steppenwolf does not listen to reason. I must rein him in, or risk losing my philosophical books,perhaps for ever.   :'(

https://youtu.be/VUgsvd3ZjvA?t=1m54s
« Last Edit: September 09, 2017, 10:13:12 am by Holden »
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

Nation of One

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Quote from: Holden
The cultural climate here is such that even a blatantly false charge would be sufficient to put me away for a long while-away perhaps from my beloved books. That would drive me insane. I cannot stay away from them.

But really when people with far greater intelligence than I possess end up getting in trouble (I have Schopenhauer's seamstress incident in mind),then that really scares the hell out of me.

This is why I no longer allow the Steppenwolf to imbibe alcohol and howl at the moon, even as this had been its main source of twisted delight in his own agonizing existence.  Not only does my mother now greatly depend on my monthly monetary contributions (as well as my presence), for once in a very long time I have permitted myself to acquire a library of books which I could spend an eternity in Hell studying.

In fact, if I had access to such a hand-picked library from a jail cell (and my mother no longer needed me due to losing the habit of breathing), I can see myself turning that cell into a personal monastery.  For many men, it is the absence of a woman or their children which compels them to behave in polite society.  For me (and for you as well, I see), it is access to books.

I also cherish tobacco and coffee, the former being not permitted in the county jail, the latter being difficult to protect from being stolen by other mother-fuuckers.

(Please excuse my French.  I try to curse as little as possible when writing since it just gives people one more reason not to read what is written.)

I suppose we ought to thank our lucky stars that we cherish access to books, as this may be what motivates us to behave.

It is far too easy to be locked up.

Keep cool. 

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Another thing.  When one is locked away in an institution, there is not only one's own bad mood to contend with, but the bad moods of so many diverse characters.  It's best to try to stay out of such places.  I'm not sure how it is in India or Paraguay, but the county jails here are like giant insane asylums - psychiatric wards for the poor and disenfranchised masses who can't find a place in this world as it has become too expensive to live indoors and get food from the grocery stores.

For now, I am blessed.  Tomorrow never knows.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2017, 12:27:40 pm by { { } } »
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 ~

raul

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Holden,
Here we have San La Muerte in a temple, a skeletal saint dressed in red robe, or others wearing a black robe with a big cross around the neck with a hat, and holding a type of sickle.In the temple you have light a candle. The statue of the saint must have been blessed seven times by a priest. You give your offerings with alcoholic drinks and other valued objects. I know that although the saint is not recognized by the Catholic Church, it is most venerated, specially in prisons. I know that there are ex convicts who are devotees, have tattooes or have doctors implact images inside their bodies to ward off evil attacks. If you are a devotee you can ask Saint Death to bring death to your enemies.A combination of Guarani beliefs and Christian beliefs. That would be the Grim Reaper here. Although I remember the Devil in the Seventh Seal. I think nobody who looks at this creature can stay the same.

You are very strong to stay away from women. Your commitment is formidable. I often remember the title of the song by the Australian rock band INXS "Every woman is a devil inside". You have decided to become a sort of eunuch. It reminds me of the castrati, those boys who sang beautifully and in order to preserve their angelic voices, well they had their testicles removed.

Clearly you work in a very difficult environment. You do everythink to keep a low profile; however these creatures wont leave you alone. For their own good I hope you keep calm and not use your fists.
Stay safe.

P.D. It has been studied that during the Black Death the black rat, Rattus Rattus probably originated in India.
This rat has a very ugly humanlike characteristic. They laugh or purring is the verb in English.
Tell them you have two of these black rats in your home in a special lab. They breed at a tremendous speed.
Some of these ugly things might turn up in their kitchens.
 

Holden

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Senor Raul,
Thank you for you very kind response.I think the native people of Paraguay were not Christians but Pagans but when the Spanish conquered the land they converted them to christianity.
Over here,there is a state called Goa,it used to be a Portugese colony.Well,the Portugese converted the local Hindus to Roman Catholicism.
A lot of local customs have been appropriated by Christianity.
I find nothing attractive in creeds like Islam and traditional Christianity. I am not even a Hindu. At least not by the definition in vogue here.
There are millions of debates between christians and muslims & religious folks and atheists in the youtube. They mean nothing to me.
 
It is not that one religion is right and the others are wrong.It is that all of them are literally senseless. Even if I ever found a true religion I would not to able to tell anything about it to anyone.

How are the working hours in Paraguay? I suppose most of the people work in the private sector,can they knock off after 8 hours or are they forced to put in more hours,off the clock?
Are jobs easy to find for colleage graduate.There are places where 12 million youth join the workforce every year-but can the society/economy produce that many jobs? If not,would they not wrech havoc?

I dread to think about the future.They all want to like Lords but are destined to live like serfs.I see a lot of turbulence ahead.
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

raul

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Holden,
Thank you for your comment. Yes, Christianity was imposed in these lands with the sword and the cross and the bible. They had their own beliefs. You see here a sort of experiment was carried out by the Jesuits with the Reducciones where thousans of indigenous peoples were under the control of the priests, specially Jesuits. The we had the Franciscans with much influence. Guarani, the second official language has always been oral but the written system was established by the priests in colonial times.

We also have our Afro Paraguayan community who descend from the slaves and soldiers who came here. My parents were both Catholics and I and my sister were not baptized. They later became members of a spiritualist group, in Spanish would be Escuela Científica Basilio. The little I remember is that they believed in reincarnation, the spirits, etc.

Yes,I heard of Goa because once in a magazine I saw the locals wearing traditional Portuguese clothes.
To be Christian or Muslims are labels. There are some evangelical churches near here and many go there on Sundays. This reminds me of a TV program called "Pare de Sufrir" or Stop suffering. It was sad because you saw on TV those peeople raising their hands and chanting while the Brazilian preachers shouting with the bibles in their hands. They offered a sort of holy water from Israel. I suppose many bought it. An acquaintance told me that we should have set our own church and make a lot of money.

Those debates, I agree, between Christians, Muslims,etc make no sense. I understand that for millions religious beliefs are necessary. In a sense I see them as gloomy and bleak beliefs. You have to worship or venerate the deity for the supposedly gift of life you received. You dont do that, well you are doomed to a eternal hell with a guy called Satan. Justice in the other world. Ever saw the Devil´s Advocate with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino? Al Pacino plays the Devil. Interesting devil.

The official working hours are 8 hours but in the public sector is different where they start at seven in the morning and finish at one in the afternoon. It depends really. Unemployment is growing here. Not many vacancies for young people. If you want a good position in the public sector you need a "padrino" or godfather. Yes, many work many long hours pecially in supermarkets, gas stations, bars, security guards,etc. The garbage collectors come and get the garbabe at eleven p.m.  Those who sell hot dogs and beer work sometimes until two or three in the morning.

In the past here people used to go to Argentina, Brazil and Europe, Spain the last seveteen years. Also the USA where many go to work there. I hear the situation in the USA is getting difficult, spècially getting a visa is a lottery. The embassy demands many requirements. They charge you for pay in advance which is not reimbursed, many application forms and they demand that you show them a bank acount so that they think you are not going to stay in the US. Land of the free, land of the brave.

" I dread to think about the future.They all want to like Lords but are destined to live like serfs.I see a lot of turbulence ahead."
Yes, I totally agree with you. A young man told me in Spanish: I start in the bakery at six-thirty a.m and finish at five p.m. Why can´t I go and have fun at weekends? You see he gets money by week and it is not really much. He has to buy a mattress in several payments, clothes too. Sometimes he spends all his money in parties and the next week he tries to get by.

The turbulence will come at any time but I am sure the powers that be are expecting that reaction. Any rebellion will be crushed mercilessly.
Stay safe.

raul

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Holden,
I forget to say that most will find you a very intriguing person. You want to resign from life and yet you want to pursue your studies. You desire to devote your life to philosophy and mathematics in peace. But this world is not for you because this world is full of pain an death. Most would find your studies a waste of time because most people only live a subsistence existence. The goal is to subsist (if my English is correct) and not to exist.
Stay safe.

Nation of One

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Humans aren’t designed to be happy – so stop trying

First paragraph:
Quote
A huge happiness and positive thinking industry, estimated to be worth US$11 billion a year, has helped to create the fantasy that happiness is a realistic goal. Chasing the happiness dream is a very American concept, exported to the rest of the world through popular culture. Indeed, “the pursuit of happiness” is one of the US’s “unalienable rights”. Unfortunately, this has helped to create an expectation that real life stubbornly refuses to deliver.

Last paragraph:
Quote
Postulating that there is no such thing as happiness may appear to be a purely negative message, but the silver lining, the consolation, is the knowledge that dissatisfaction is not a personal failure. If you are unhappy at times, this is not a shortcoming that demands urgent repair, as the happiness gurus would have it. Far from it. This fluctuation is, in fact, what makes you human.

On that note, I am going to sit in a tub of water and stare into space, mumbling to myself.

I will embrace this misery as my our Fate.  This miserable condition WE find ourselves in is universal.  There is no such thing as a "happy person."   There are those who stubbornly refuse to be miserable about anything, like Albert Ellis.  It's all just words and intellectual head games.  I suspect that those who find themselves in relationships with "significant others" may not be as free to face their misery as the loner. 

We are not designed to be happy. Instead, we are designed to survive and reproduce.  So, what happens to those of us who do not reproduce or "survive genetically"?   Were we designed NOT to survive?  Were we designed NOT to reproduce?  Maybe those who are unhappiest alone are driven by that inborn existential despair, driven to pair-bond and reproduce, and these individuals are considered healthy and normal.

Those who "think too much" or otherwise repel prospective mates due to a refusal to "fake happiness" do not pass on their hyper-consciousness to the gene pool.  Those who think too much are unfit for living?  We eek out our existence, detaching from a species we shall not contribute our DNA to.

And yet, what if we are just "ahead of the class" so to speak?  That is, what if this hyper-consciousness we have developed, which makes us unfit for living, is where our species is heading until it becomes the norm? 

« Last Edit: October 27, 2020, 11:54:28 pm by Sticks and Stones »
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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In Schopenhauer as an Educator, Nietzsche has very little to say about Schopenhauer himself. He liked that Schopenhauer looked down upon people who did philosophy as  means of earning their bread and butter but Schopenhauer says the same thing with far greater force.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2020, 06:17:04 pm by Holden »
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

Holden

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La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

Nation of One

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The film depicting Nietzsche berating Wagner feels authentic (except for the English accent), and I genuinely sympathize with Nietzsche's frugal lifestyle.  I understand why Wagner's lavish lifestyle might have confused him about the nature of the world, or at least, about the nature of human society, or civilization, with its WARS and its ART.

I have been cutting Friedrich a lot of slack as of late.

Still, I think readers of this board may get a laugh out of this next video.  Somebody doesn't take too kindly to Nietzsche's habit of trying to throw Schopenhauer (and pessimism) under the bus.



Disclaimer.  While I might fart in his general direction, I think the last statement in the video was all-too-harsh.   He could have pulled that punch.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2020, 11:40:49 pm by Sticks and Stones »
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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I remember reading that once during a festival organised by Wagner,which was attended by the members of the royal houses of Europe,Nietzsche was there too.Only, he suffered an intense headache and had to rush out well before the festival ended and hide in a nearby forest.
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.