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Ramble

Old 10-31-2018, 12:10 AM
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Ramble

There is no getting out of here alive, illness and pain are inevitable part of life for many of us before we die. It is only a matter or time and being happy and content during your life is the best way through.

Those with religion imagine life after death. I am a committed aethist, so have to be comfortable and at peace with the thought of oblivion.

My sadness about death, is the thought of losing the people I love and that past good times I remember are gone forever. I remember my children as toddlers. Watching and being with them was a delight. Though I remember feeling sad when I considered the fact that they too will eventually die.

Spending time drunk and misreable is a terrible waste of your short and precious time on this planet. Stopping is not that hard once you get your head around it.

Tame and train your emotional reactions through positive actions and mindset. Love your family, tell your children what you have learned so they can avoid the same mistakes.

In western society we either have the offer of religion or nothing to put meaning on our lives. It is not surprising there are so many addicts and drunks. We should be taught as children the nature of life and death.
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Old 10-31-2018, 01:18 AM
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You know, even without religion, we have the option to leave our loved ones with the best possible memories Even a little cash if we can build that up.
Yeah, drinking memories are not the ones we want to leave, but we're lucky to have found SR with time to turn all that around.
Have a great life
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Old 10-31-2018, 01:39 AM
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Interesting rambles, Gerard, and I resonate with much of what you wrote.

I think that, for me, I lost track of a search for meaning in my existence, and I was certainly disgusted with how I have handled many of my affairs while drinking over many years. I substituted my own inner world with the perception of reality as a basis for making choices, and alcohol progressively stripped me of my ability to chose. Losing my free will led me to a loss of ability to seek happiness.

Coming to the realization that my time is limited, and that my capacities will only diminish as time goes by due to age, I hope that I now understand that I don't want to drink anymore. I am re-asserting my ability to chose by pursuing sobriety, with the knowledge that I am a limited creature constricted by the bounds of reality. Does this mean that I alone can become a sober human being? No, that's not true for me.

I am just beginning to relearn what it means to be a man in control of my faculties and to determine what living really offers.

But I ramble ...
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Old 10-31-2018, 04:09 AM
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Nietzche explores at great length the idea of finding value and meaning in a life without Christianity as the bedrock of value.

Basically he arrives at the conclusion that a person should set their focus - and the energy of living - toward some goal or achievement that is lofty and virtuous. The goal should be defined by the individual. The attainment of the goal is what makes the struggle and pain of life worth living through. Eccentricities and flaws in character are to be expected along the way - especially the more intense the goal and the path to get there - and can be forgiven in the context of the value of the goal and work being done to achieve the goal. The herd will always encourage and push to the average. But to live and make life worth living we should leave the herd and push toward the exceptional... not just for the good of the individual, but for the good of our species.

I happen to be at a place in my sobriety where I'm struggling a bit with reconciling the time I wasted and the damage I did to my sense of self - to the values I am now trying to define and live by. I feel as though I am a hopeless hypocrite at times - especially when I look at the record of my past.

But I always seem to end up at the same place - that regardless of my past or my failings there's no utility in allowing them - or fear - to dictate my way forward. Only the goals I have set for myself are worthy of providing direction, the rest I have to learn to manage the best I can.

Your post is well timed for some of the reflection and issues I've been thinking about and experiencing. Thanks.

-B
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Old 10-31-2018, 05:31 AM
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Originally Posted by Buckley3 View Post
Nietzche explores at great length the idea of finding value and meaning in a life without Christianity as the bedrock of value.

Basically he arrives at the conclusion that a person should set their focus - and the energy of living - toward some goal or achievement that is lofty and virtuous. The goal should be defined by the individual. The attainment of the goal is what makes the struggle and pain of life worth living through. Eccentricities and flaws in character are to be expected along the way - especially the more intense the goal and the path to get there - and can be forgiven in the context of the value of the goal and work being done to achieve the goal. The herd will always encourage and push to the average. But to live and make life worth living we should leave the herd and push toward the exceptional... not just for the good of the individual, but for the good of our species.

I happen to be at a place in my sobriety where I'm struggling a bit with reconciling the time I wasted and the damage I did to my sense of self - to the values I am now trying to define and live by. I feel as though I am a hopeless hypocrite at times - especially when I look at the record of my past.

But I always seem to end up at the same place - that regardless of my past or my failings there's no utility in allowing them - or fear - to dictate my way forward. Only the goals I have set for myself are worthy of providing direction, the rest I have to learn to manage the best I can.

Your post is well timed for some of the reflection and issues I've been thinking about and experiencing. Thanks.

-B
Nice. Of all the philosophers I have read, Nietzsche has been among the most thorny for me, largely due to the eccentricities you mention. Decoded, they simply mean lie to yourself...be your own superman. this was a benchmark I could never support...my own devil's bargain revolving around virtue. As with many great minds (often arguing against one another over the centuries) there is ample value found in most, and I do not mean to be strident, but I just couldn't ever make the jump into that sort of cognitive dissonance as inconvenient as it has repeatedly been. Thanks too as I have been reflecting on these issues lately too
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Old 10-31-2018, 05:47 AM
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Yeah, as far as we know we are the only species that truly knows we are going to die. I mean, some behaviors in the animal world suggest an understanding and reverence of death and elders, but we're the only ones that can articulate it. And I think we spend the rest of our lives trying to understand why? Or what our lives mean? Or trying to pacify our fear. Why we try to 'shield' children from the idea of death and make it fearful with the idea of 'hell' I don't understand. It just is. And who knows how f'd up I'd be if I had no idea that this will end. I might still be drunk.

Who knows. Not saying I don't have a healthy fear of death. But it is what it is. And without it, how would I define life?
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Old 10-31-2018, 07:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Frickaflip233 View Post
It just is. And who knows how f'd up I'd be if I had no idea that this will end. I might still be drunk.

Who knows. Not saying I don't have a healthy fear of death. But it is what it is. And without it, how would I define life?
The former is great...it implies you have a firm belief that life has value (I won't touch this, lol). The latter, I might answer, just differently. Some don't care, but many do...as they try to achieve immortality through life. Spinoza looks deep into this and crudely put, concludes that everlasting impact on increasingly large numbers of people will secure it.....
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