Ignorance is Bliss

Here's the deal, I should be writing on some current event or taking a stance on some philosophical point of view. Instead I choose to manipulate the negative connotation of the human condition and extend it in an effort to prove my point. So yes, this is an entry that is being written for no other reason than to satisfy my own ego. I guess that in and of itself leans on the human condition in relation to the posession of any ego. But let's face it, human's are egotistical and human's are ignorant. Ignorance, my friends, is bliss.

I'd argue the simple point of view that we subconciously block the truth from our minds. We would rather believe a lie than accept that it is, in fact, a lie. I strongly believe that if our subconcious were somehow placed before a choice of truth or lie, it would choose the lie.

That can be brought to a higher context and stronger extent at the same time. Take for example the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. We know it's happening and many of us completely disagree with it. (I'm taking this opportunity to say that I do disagree with it simply for the fact that it is a war driven by corporatism. More on that later.) Although we do know it's happening, we are hidden from the details. When a soldier is murdered in the name of corporatism, we are informed of his death and given vague details relating to the cause of death. After this, the newscaster or next article will announce a story about a sports hero or something inspirational to lighten the mood. But let's face it, we are much happier this way. (Yes I do realize that this concept touches base with a previous post of mine, but I believe that it is an important concept.) We do not want to face the brutality that is war. We do not want to face the brutal fashion in which these soldiers' deaths took place. It would disturb our utopian minds, we don't want that. Are we necessarily accepting a lie? No. We are not, however, inviting the truth.

Lower the scale. In our own peronal lives, we would sooner accept a lie about one of our loved ones than accept the fact that they hurt us. If and when the pain is realized, denial is an immediate reaction.

No further exapmles are necessary and further explaination would be pointless. Let's face it, all of you who choose to read this will understand it and agree. This does not mean that you will accept it and try to appreciate it in your daily lifestyles, hoping to invite some truth and deny some lies. It simply means that you agree. The unfortunate part is that after reading this you will revert to your newsroom lives and turn to a lighter article or go do something that would lighten your mind. Accept that you are ignorant and some of your burden will be removed. We all carry the burden of human fault, it is our job to lessen the load and to relieve the load from existence.

Ignorance is bliss.
Kudos to mankind, we have failed.

Catastrophe and the Cure: Nihilism

I've realized over the past couple of days that I originally planned to touch base on different philosophical point of views in an attempt to enlighten an often misinformed world. Reviewing my previous entries I've noticed that the only philosophy which I truly argued is Existentialism. I mentioned in that post that Existentialism can be very closely related to Nihilism through certain perspectives and relying, of course, on certain aspects of the philosophy. I do realize, however, that there was no true substance supporting that argument, so today's post will be an attempt to connect the two philosophies, as well as being an opportunity for my own personal opinions in relation to Nihilism.

I'll start by explaining the pure basics of Nihilism and how they can easily be connected to Existentialism:
Basically, the philosophy argues that no true human morality or sense of morality exists. No action is better or worse than another simply based upon objective morality. If we were to rely on this theory of a lack of morals, then it would be easy to reject any higher power, as nihilists do. The philosophy states that because there is no sense of morality, there can be no reasonable belief in a higher power or deity. It also argues that our lives have no true meaning or goal, which supports their theory of the lack of some higher force. It goes on to contradict itself (which I think is a way to cover all bases) by stating that if in fact some higher power does exist, we have no moral obligation to either worship or acknowledge its existence. Basically, the philosophy relies on the negative connotation of the human condition in unison with some general lack of meaning to our lives. It is essentially a pessimistic, depressing view of life.

The entire philosophy contradicts itself. It states that no truth can exist in the world we live in. We are all essentially liars and the order under which we live lacks any truth. If the statement of a lack of truth were correct, then that same statement would lack truth. This may sound confusing (and it would not surprise me if it did) but think of it this way:
If I were to say "Don't believe a word I say" then you would not be able to believe what I had just said, causing everything I would say following that order to be true and believable.
Nihilism states "There is no existence of truth". If this is true, then the statement that truth does not exist would be untrue.
This may seem like I'm picking the wrong battles against Nihilism, but I am simply trying to communicate the fact that the teachings of this philosophy doesn't even attempt to hide any contradiction of itself, it is plain and simple. The entire philosophy is a paradox.

A Nihilist may argue that the previous quote has been altered over time and would instead say that although truth may exist, it is strictly unattainable under human circumstances. If this were true, then how would the nihilist have deemed true the theory that human life lacks morality or truth. If we cannot find any truth under human constrictions then how would they deem their philosophy as true, and how can they be certain that we lack morality and truth?

Although Nihilism and Existentialism differ in many ways and existentialists and nihilists would be in disagreeance, the two philosophies have much pessimism in common. I'd argue against both in an attempt to save my own mind. I could not bare to live in a world where there is nothing to live for and no truth or level of morality on which to rely. I do believe that we create our own destinies and that we are in charge of our will, but at the same time I believe so only because God has given us the power to do so. We do not live under the constraints of any deity, but we do live under the guidelines. It is left as a choice whether or not we decide to follow the guidelines placed before us and whether or not we choose to live a life with meaning. Having said that, it is obvious that I believe all life has meaning, all life has an effect on the world and, whether the effect is good or bad, that person will be remembered in one way or another. I think of it as, if life were to lack all meaning, we would not mourne the dead, we would not reflect upon the past. We would not feel emotions such as guilt or emtional pain, we would not hope to affect any lives (whether positively or negatively).
This may be based upon my own thoughts, but I believe strongly that not only does Nihilism directly contradict itself, but it directly contradicts the world we live in.

We Have No Great War

" I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables—slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war . . . our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."
—Tyler Durden, Fight Club, 1999

Let's face it, it's true.
Kudos to mankind, we have failed.

Instant Karma

Let me start by saying that I am not an overly pessimistic person. My blog may reflect such a vision but that is simply because I use this blog as a means to release frustration on a world that begs for criticism. I, in reality, have much faith in human kind but I also believe that humans choose to reject their ability to be better than they are and they choose to remain in an endless cycle. This leads into, once again, a criticism towards the world we have claimed as our own...

I base the following rant on certain pieces and specifications of the human condition. It does not necessarily rely on pessimism such as Nihilism or, to a certain extent, Existentialism, but the points I choose to focus on today would support such a theory. This is because the "human condition" can almost be considered to be branching off into two directions: there is the positive or almost indifferent side of the human condition, there is also the more focus upon the connotation of the human condition. Allow me to proceed:

We are never happy. POINT BLANK.
The fact is, individuals can be generally content and will undoubtedly still have conflictions with the world they live in. On the other hand, the general human population is pessimistic and will unfortunately always rely on the need for the need for change. This may sound confusing at the moment, but what I am trying to get across is that it is impossible for the world we live in to be one of Utopia. I do not think the world was created with the intention of ever being a Utopian world. We were given a bright red apple and asked not to touch it, we touched it and are forever damned. Hence the beginning of our pain and suffering (mostly caused by our own actions). Because I do not expect our world to ever be pain free, I evidently do not think that the negative connotation of the human condition is necessarily false. I would argue, however, that it is endlessly painful. This has been a longer explanation than I thought it would be but I do believe it was necessary. We create our own pain, then blame any other scapegoat for our problems. We are inherently flawed (see previous posts) and rely on our flaws to be the base of our existence. We then complain that we are not perfect yet. Oh how human kind has "evolved".

All of this begs the question, is pessimism a sin? We created pessimism and pain by going against the greater will. I believe that this was the gunshot that started the race for pain. Now I ask myself the question: Is this the ultimate test of man's redemption? This may be our chance at returning to a Utopian state that is unattainable due to our own actions. We continue to rely on the pain and suffering that we created through the destruction of a perfect world. We are to blame for the lack of peace and we are to blame for the destruction of that same peace.

But think about it, if world peace ever existed, what would we do with our spare time...

Kudos to mankind, we have failed.