I feel like American culture since the 60's is obsessed with being special, living a special and extraordinary kind of life, a life that "rises above" the 9 to 5 job and need for family. We have forgotten the beauty of simplicity and the meaning of life in itself. We have forgotten that maybe, just bc everyone has a family doesn't mean it's bad or basic. Maybe it's just the foundation of a loving and fulfilling home. Maybe a stable job at a big company that you like is good bc it allows you to do other things you love. It's like unless we are constantly backpacking and drinking matchas at hipster cafes we aren't worthy.
Of course travel, aesthetics, delicious food, pure independence are wonderful things, but we can create them in a multitude of environments and lifestyles. It doesn't always manifest itself in one way. Social media has definitely brought out this already complex struggle for meaning and almost twisted it further. Unless you are really delving into philosophical content that attempts to sort it out, people seem to be lost, confused and insecure when faced with the endless stream of perfection that is instagram.
Agreed! This cultural trend of seeking out everything "alternative" seems like a societal-level playing out of a common trope--arrogant youth goes his own way only to find his father's wisdom wasn't all just stuffy tradition.
Considering that, even when the average American's wealth is higher than almost every other country on earth, yet people are still increasingly unhappy and unstable, perhaps the rejection of all tradition wasn't such an obvious path to success.
It seems like our culture is struggling to find a balance between accepting the successes of our tradition while still seeking progress. Entertainment also became a quickly growing part of the average person's life from the 50s and 60s on, which contributes massively to the sense of "missing out" and a desire for novelty over stability.
Now that there is so little our culture can unify upon (not religion, not patriotism, not even the definition of "bad" and "good"), everything has been turned up to a higher level and the cracks in our placeholder philosophy of hedonism are widening.
Always refreshing to read your clear-thinking comments!
Excellent writing. I enjoy all of your contemplations & existential thoughts. Thank you for sharing a bit of your soul with us. Do you have a donations button - paypal or venmo?
Thank you so much for your lovely comment. It's always such a pleasure knowing someone else is enjoying my words!
I do have a Venmo (@salomesibonex) to accept donations for my work. Your interest in supporting my writing has made my night! Thank you for that and thank you for reading!
interesting on anger - I felt reeled in by the start of it :) it reminded me of stigma - something sometimes some people wish didnt exist, but is a permanent feature of social life, where its expression & target can change, but something in humanity needs to stigmatise someone somehow. And thanks for talking through the steps you took with schopenhauer. Thats important. In the middle of all the mental hmms and aahs, & nods & rereading it agains to try & skim the meaning, there was a turn of phrase that dropped with a fat kerplunk.
"the ultimate expression of disinterest in life—suicide"
Maybe for some this makes sense, but the state of being suicidal I had understood as one where the sufferer is trying to break free from an unbearable anxiety, or pain, or shame. To unshoulder life's weight, (in a sense this is a value of life) when it is too heavy - when there is too much "interest" - in the sense of the curse "may you live in interesting times. Not so much about ennui, or disinterest, which the will to life may carry a person through. When it comes to the burden someone feels that drives them to suicide - it is less will to life that helps but more the sharing of the burden, when someone intervenes and helps with that load, whether by talking one through the thoughts that bound us up, or dispelling a moment. I guess thats the empathy that you talk about, realising that we all share the fate of being human, and being able to share it with each other is what gets us through.
I recognise what you say about depression leading to less care towards oneself, but I have seen people who have committed suicide who were the opposite - very driven and conventionally successful who after the event you piece together they had a deep sense of shame or fear or anxiety which they could not unburden.
anyhow - the clouds here stretch for miles, the trees are bare & the kettle's going on
Thanks for this interesting perspective! Really enjoyed reading through your thoughts on this expansive idea. Also thrilled you enjoyed me sharing my process of coming to Schopie; wasn't sure originally about including that but I felt that it might've mattered. Glad you thought so too!
No doubt suicide is extremely complex and varies based on the conditions that cause it. Here I'm speaking narrowly of major depression, which is marked by that inescapable sense of hopelessness. You're absolutely right there are instances of suicide that don't follow that same depressive pattern, whether it's related to a harsh and acute trauma or even the delusions/hallucinations of personality disorders like schizophrenia.
That idea you mention about not being able to shoulder the burden of life is so crucial. I think this is what makes support from others, and particularly the knowledge that our struggle isn't a unique flaw, but part of the inevitable hardship of life, so relieving. And you're right, from here is where empathy can grow and really, should grow.
Lovely scene you described, so I'll share mine: not a cloud in the sky and the sound of an unusually violent wind blowing through the trees is the soundtrack of today.
About the book club, very fair point. It won't be within the next few months, but I'm already working on creating a website that will be a kind of hub for like-minds to discuss ideas and to keep up with my work, book club included. Hopefully when that massive task is completed you'll come by and check out the book club!
I feel like American culture since the 60's is obsessed with being special, living a special and extraordinary kind of life, a life that "rises above" the 9 to 5 job and need for family. We have forgotten the beauty of simplicity and the meaning of life in itself. We have forgotten that maybe, just bc everyone has a family doesn't mean it's bad or basic. Maybe it's just the foundation of a loving and fulfilling home. Maybe a stable job at a big company that you like is good bc it allows you to do other things you love. It's like unless we are constantly backpacking and drinking matchas at hipster cafes we aren't worthy.
Of course travel, aesthetics, delicious food, pure independence are wonderful things, but we can create them in a multitude of environments and lifestyles. It doesn't always manifest itself in one way. Social media has definitely brought out this already complex struggle for meaning and almost twisted it further. Unless you are really delving into philosophical content that attempts to sort it out, people seem to be lost, confused and insecure when faced with the endless stream of perfection that is instagram.
Agreed! This cultural trend of seeking out everything "alternative" seems like a societal-level playing out of a common trope--arrogant youth goes his own way only to find his father's wisdom wasn't all just stuffy tradition.
Considering that, even when the average American's wealth is higher than almost every other country on earth, yet people are still increasingly unhappy and unstable, perhaps the rejection of all tradition wasn't such an obvious path to success.
It seems like our culture is struggling to find a balance between accepting the successes of our tradition while still seeking progress. Entertainment also became a quickly growing part of the average person's life from the 50s and 60s on, which contributes massively to the sense of "missing out" and a desire for novelty over stability.
Now that there is so little our culture can unify upon (not religion, not patriotism, not even the definition of "bad" and "good"), everything has been turned up to a higher level and the cracks in our placeholder philosophy of hedonism are widening.
Always refreshing to read your clear-thinking comments!
Excellent writing. I enjoy all of your contemplations & existential thoughts. Thank you for sharing a bit of your soul with us. Do you have a donations button - paypal or venmo?
Thank you so much for your lovely comment. It's always such a pleasure knowing someone else is enjoying my words!
I do have a Venmo (@salomesibonex) to accept donations for my work. Your interest in supporting my writing has made my night! Thank you for that and thank you for reading!
interesting on anger - I felt reeled in by the start of it :) it reminded me of stigma - something sometimes some people wish didnt exist, but is a permanent feature of social life, where its expression & target can change, but something in humanity needs to stigmatise someone somehow. And thanks for talking through the steps you took with schopenhauer. Thats important. In the middle of all the mental hmms and aahs, & nods & rereading it agains to try & skim the meaning, there was a turn of phrase that dropped with a fat kerplunk.
"the ultimate expression of disinterest in life—suicide"
Maybe for some this makes sense, but the state of being suicidal I had understood as one where the sufferer is trying to break free from an unbearable anxiety, or pain, or shame. To unshoulder life's weight, (in a sense this is a value of life) when it is too heavy - when there is too much "interest" - in the sense of the curse "may you live in interesting times. Not so much about ennui, or disinterest, which the will to life may carry a person through. When it comes to the burden someone feels that drives them to suicide - it is less will to life that helps but more the sharing of the burden, when someone intervenes and helps with that load, whether by talking one through the thoughts that bound us up, or dispelling a moment. I guess thats the empathy that you talk about, realising that we all share the fate of being human, and being able to share it with each other is what gets us through.
I recognise what you say about depression leading to less care towards oneself, but I have seen people who have committed suicide who were the opposite - very driven and conventionally successful who after the event you piece together they had a deep sense of shame or fear or anxiety which they could not unburden.
anyhow - the clouds here stretch for miles, the trees are bare & the kettle's going on
happy wednesday
Thanks for this interesting perspective! Really enjoyed reading through your thoughts on this expansive idea. Also thrilled you enjoyed me sharing my process of coming to Schopie; wasn't sure originally about including that but I felt that it might've mattered. Glad you thought so too!
No doubt suicide is extremely complex and varies based on the conditions that cause it. Here I'm speaking narrowly of major depression, which is marked by that inescapable sense of hopelessness. You're absolutely right there are instances of suicide that don't follow that same depressive pattern, whether it's related to a harsh and acute trauma or even the delusions/hallucinations of personality disorders like schizophrenia.
That idea you mention about not being able to shoulder the burden of life is so crucial. I think this is what makes support from others, and particularly the knowledge that our struggle isn't a unique flaw, but part of the inevitable hardship of life, so relieving. And you're right, from here is where empathy can grow and really, should grow.
Lovely scene you described, so I'll share mine: not a cloud in the sky and the sound of an unusually violent wind blowing through the trees is the soundtrack of today.
He's worth it! I think these videos are great overviews of his philosophy and life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNDw9lO8uKg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0zmfNx7OM4&t=344s -- hope you enjoy those as I have!
About the book club, very fair point. It won't be within the next few months, but I'm already working on creating a website that will be a kind of hub for like-minds to discuss ideas and to keep up with my work, book club included. Hopefully when that massive task is completed you'll come by and check out the book club!