An existential pit of despair

Atoms for Peace

In the end "all your great hopes and dreams and successes and failures add up to nothing. Everyone you know and love will eventually be forgotten and rot silently in the ground where they will, if they're lucky, help feed the roots of a tree that will rot and die itself, and on and on until the sun someday explodes and swallows the Earth in a fiery, violent, wholly meaningless end."

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wj3wab/conan-obrien-interview-death-nihilism-all-our-graves-go-unattended-vgtrn?utm_source=curalate_like2buy&utm_medium=curalate_like2buy_wasi6ir1__a57a5b69-c3b2-4ecd-a1d8-a51674e1f197

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

It's about enjoying the journey and, after all, the point of all life is to pass on genes. Those descendants similarly experience life and pass on genes until what , to humans, is the end of time.


To despair in advance of that potential death kind of defeats the purpose of life.

Life is not a rehearsal. Make the best of the here and now.

Franz Von Peppercorn

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Life is not a rehearsal. Make the best of the here and now.

I will definitely do that after I pay the mortgage.

mad muffin

I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave. And the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name.

Esel

Elvis is definitely still in the building in that case.

Trigger Happy

Life is great. There is plenty of time to be thinking about your death after you are dead.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Esel wrote: »

Elvis is definitely still in the building in that case.

For how long?

There’s a poem by Shelly about Oxymandius, better known as Ramseses II.

Many of us did it in school. Shelly describes a visitor to a foreign land who sees an inscription on the bust of a ruined statue saying “look on my work ye mighty and despair”. The the poet continues:

“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away”

This is to mock the man’s hubris.

Nevertheless there’s a poet writing about Oxymandius thousands of years later and here’s me talking about him now. So he’s not dead in the second sense yet.

Moral of the story - if you dont want to be forgotten be a famous monarch full of hubris and build loads of statues.

Curly Judge

The protons in your body have been around since shortly after the big bang and some of them have been through at least one supernova.
When you die they will lay quietly at the bottom of your grave unless disturbed by a tsunami, a meteor impact or an property developer.
When our sun finally consumes this earth in about five billion years time, the whole process will begin again.
Try not to be so self centered.

Muckka

Though they go mad they shall be sane, Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion

Esel

Curly Judge wrote: »

The protons in your body have been around since shortly after the big bang and some of them have been through at least one supernova.
When you die they will lay quietly at the bottom of your grave unless disturbed by a tsunami, a meteor impact or an property developer.
When our sun finally consumes this earth in about five billion years time, the whole process will begin again.
Try not to be so self centered.

Just the protons?

punisher5112

Cash and her fella have sowed many a seed ....

Franz Von Peppercorn

Esel wrote: »

Just the protons?

You’d think they get into the ground or flora via some kind of chemical reaction.

Anyway I am more than my protons.

hatrickpatrick

Even when the sun swallows the Earth, the particles from Earth and the energy generated will be blasted into space and contribute to epic stuff happening elsewhere, eventually. We're all basically just groups of particles which came together and built something cool - when they eventually scatter, they'll continue existing in some form or other and continue creating cool things until the universe eventually expands too much to maintain itself and "dies" from its energy being too spread out to achieve anything.

This won't happen for bajillions of years, so even if you don't believe in any afterlife, all the components of you have existed for 13 billion years so far, in different forms, and they will continue to exist for many more billions of years after that.

I've always liked this concept that the reason people have soul mates is because our component particles recognise eachother from the last time they were near eachother, which could have been billions of years ago in a gas cloud in a different galaxy

Fourier

Well as I've said in another thread, things aren't made of particles, they're made of something that shows up as particles in certain experiments, but not all. This means you can't say anything concrete about where "a proton" of your body used to be.

Also the heat death of the universe, i.e. everything spreading out and running out of energy, is unproven and rests on pretty shaky ground. We don't know how the universe will "die" or when or even if it will.

We don't even know where it came from or when or even if it "came from" anything.

NIMAN

Bobby McFerrin got it right I think.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Fourier wrote: »

Well as I've said in another thread, things aren't made of particles, they're made of something that shows up as particles in certain experiments, but not all. This means you can't say anything concrete about where "a proton" of your body used to be.

Also the heat death of the universe, i.e. everything spreading out and running out of energy, is unproven and rests on pretty shaky ground. We don't know how the universe will "die" or when or even if it will.

We don't even know where it came from or when or even if it "came from" anything.

That clears that up.

Your Face

Carson was better.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

NIMAN wrote: »

Bobby McFerrin got it right I think.

When he stole the phrase from Meher Baba?

Church on Tuesday

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

In the end "all your great hopes and dreams and successes and failures add up to nothing. Everyone you know and love will eventually be forgotten and rot silently in the ground where they will, if they're lucky, help feed the roots of a tree that will rot and die itself, and on and on until the sun someday explodes and swallows the Earth in a fiery, violent, wholly meaningless end."

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wj3wab/conan-obrien-interview-death-nihilism-all-our-graves-go-unattended-vgtrn?utm_source=curalate_like2buy&utm_medium=curalate_like2buy_wasi6ir1__a57a5b69-c3b2-4ecd-a1d8-a51674e1f197

Looks like Blue Monday has followed on to at least Thursday for some folk.

fyfe79

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Life is great. There is plenty of time to be thinking about your death after you are dead.

There's no time to think about death when you’re dead, because you’re dead. The only time to think about death, if you want to think about death that is, is when you’re alive.

Bigbagofcans

mad muffin wrote: »

I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave. And the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name.

That's one of the most depressing things I've read in recent times.

Curly Judge wrote: »

The protons in your body have been around since shortly after the big bang and some of them have been through at least one supernova.
When you die they will lay quietly at the bottom of your grave unless disturbed by a tsunami, a meteor impact or an property developer.
When our sun finally consumes this earth in about five billion years time, the whole process will begin again.
Try not to be so self centered.

This is one of the most uplifting things I've read in a long time. Thank you

Franz Von Peppercorn

Bigbagofcans wrote: »

That's one of the most depressing things I've read in recent times.

Is it? Of course there will be a time when you are not remembered.

This is one of the most uplifting things I've read in a long time. Thank you

Is it? A proton isn’t you. And they don’t even exist ** sob **

RobbingBandit

If that's your attitude I'd say to anyone **** off und die every day is a battle be that against illness oppression self pity or self awareness if you find yourself feeling blue ride everything that moves get off your tits on cocaine rob a bank go to the zoo read a book go out and contract Ebola do something with the time you have as it's your time when it becomes someone else's time if you are responsible for them share your time if they are encroaching on your time tell Em to **** off und die.

Don't waste your life it's yours to do with as you please until it's not, me I'm in my 30s my life has been **** for a long time health stuff family breakdown no purpose no way out of the nightmare that just keeps on shirting all over things

But guess what britches I'm still here and you're all GONNA pay for the suffering I have endured I'm gonna go Dark Knight Joker/ Falling Down/ Serial Killer mode when I'm good and ready that is.

Find a drive a reason for existing and grab the **** out of it otherwise WHY, WHY ANYTHING.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Unfollow.

Pythagorean

It can be shown, using mathematical probability theory, that it is virtually certain, that during the course of our life, that we will inhale a molecule of oxygen that was exhaled by Julius Caesar. In this way, our existence on Earth does leave some measurable permanent trace.

oceanman

RobbingBandit wrote: »

If that's your attitude I'd say to anyone **** off und die every day is a battle be that against illness oppression self pity or self awareness if you find yourself feeling blue ride everything that moves get off your tits on cocaine rob a bank go to the zoo read a book go out and contract Ebola do something with the time you have as it's your time when it becomes someone else's time if you are responsible for them share your time if they are encroaching on your time tell Em to **** off und die.

Don't waste your life it's yours to do with as you please until it's not, me I'm in my 30s my life has been **** for a long time health stuff family breakdown no purpose no way out of the nightmare that just keeps on shirting all over things

But guess what britches I'm still here and you're all GONNA pay for the suffering I have endured I'm gonna go Dark Knight Joker/ Falling Down/ Serial Killer mode when I'm good and ready that is.

Find a drive a reason for existing and grab the **** out of it otherwise WHY, WHY ANYTHING.

jesus h...

Noveight

Sometimes it do be like that tho.

sabat

RobbingBandit wrote: »

get off your tits on cocaine go to the zoo ride everything that moves contract Ebola

Dude

Curly Judge

Fourier wrote: »

Well as I've said in another thread, things aren't made of particles, they're made of something that shows up as particles in certain experiments, but not all. This means you can't say anything concrete about where "a proton" of your body used to be.

Also the heat death of the universe, i.e. everything spreading out and running out of energy, is unproven and rests on pretty shaky ground. We don't know how the universe will "die" or when or even if it will.

We don't even know where it came from or when or even if it "came from" anything.

Can you at least confirm that you are posting on Boards.Ie, otherwise I'll have to ignore you as a figment of my imagination.

Capt'n Midnight

Vale of tears , and suffering.

Jessie Belle

So.
Im not coming back as a beautiful butterfly right?

Capt'n Midnight

Jessie Belle wrote: »

So.
Im not coming back as a beautiful butterfly right?

fear-not-ugly-caterpillar-for-one-day-you-will-be...
https://pics.me.me/fear-not-ugly-caterpillar-for-one-day-you-will-be-3764591.png

Outlaw Pete

Reminds of a line from a Bob Seger song.

Youth and beauty are gone one day and no matter what you dream or feel or say it ends in dust and disarray.

Atoms for Peace

The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy always increases with time.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

In the end "all your great hopes and dreams and successes and failures add up to nothing. Everyone you know and love will eventually be forgotten and rot silently in the ground where they will, if they're lucky, help feed the roots of a tree that will rot and die itself, and on and on until the sun someday explodes and swallows the Earth in a fiery, violent, wholly meaningless end."

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wj3wab/conan-obrien-interview-death-nihilism-all-our-graves-go-unattended-vgtrn?utm_source=curalate_like2buy&utm_medium=curalate_like2buy_wasi6ir1__a57a5b69-c3b2-4ecd-a1d8-a51674e1f197

It’s very true. I mean, many of my contemporaries never even knew their grandparents. How quickly we’re forgotten.

And if you’re buried the usual six feet or so under, you’re not even any use as a source of nutrients as you’re too far down.

A very small, select group belong to the ages. That’s it.

So enjoy your sliver of light while it lasts.

Spanish Eyes

Good thread, and not an instagram in sight.

I enjoyed the book L'Etranger. By Camus. Read it again and again. He has nailed it I think.

Life is absurd. Take note now.

Bit cynical

mad muffin wrote: »

I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave. And the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name.

Ideally it happens in that order.

Goodnight now.

Noo

Bigbagofcans wrote: »

That's one of the most depressing things I've read in recent times.

Don't watch Coco.

Sardonicat

Step away from the Sartre.

RobbingBandit

Satre is smartre

Franz Von Peppercorn

Bit cynical wrote: »

Ideally it happens in that order.

Goodnight now.

You’ll get your own coat?

Auguste Comte

mad muffin wrote: »

I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave. And the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name.

Unless your French, then if you are lucky, every day you can have "la petite mort"...

jimgoose

Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their shores; burning with the fires of Orc. I want more life, Father.

valoren

I watched the Snowman again at Christmas. It's a masterpiece.

You listen to people say it's a tradition to watch it, it wouldn't be Christmas without it.
In reality, it has nothing at all to do with Christmas, the scenes with Santa and the North Pole added during the Channel 4 production.
Those added Christmas elements worked brilliantly but the core message seems to have been lost because of them.

It's about death. It was an attempt by Raymond Briggs to introduce children to the concept of mortality.
The lesson from it being that anything we love will inevitably die. Parents, pet's, garden's, snowmen.

We ourselves will die.

My take from it is that we must appreciate the people we love and appreciate that one day we too might be a 'snowman' for people who love us and who will be grief stricken when we too, by analogy, melt.

The final shot of the melted snowman with the boy crestfallen on his knees mourning the loss of his friend coupled with the beautiful melody of 'Walking in the Air' on the piano affects me every time. It was my first time last Christmas watching it with our two year old. I realized I am now a 'Snowman' to her. She will grieve for me and her mother someday but she doesn't understand that concept yet. The innocence of childhood will last a few more years yet. Briggs wanted to use the story of a magical snowman who briefly befriended a fictionalized version of himself as an analogy to explain that inevitability to older children. Snow is fleeting. Snow melts and his magical friend must die.

I think it's great that Channel 4 screen it every Christmas. Looking past it's reputation and regard as a Christmas classic it serves us as an annual reminder to appreciate everyone and everything that we currently love because they really don't last forever.


The melted remains of the Snowman is redolent to that of a grave.

Atoms for Peace

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

In the end "all your great hopes and dreams and successes and failures add up to nothing. Everyone you know and love will eventually be forgotten and rot silently in the ground where they will, if they're lucky, help feed the roots of a tree that will rot and die itself, and on and on until the sun someday explodes and swallows the Earth in a fiery, violent, wholly meaningless end."

I am not seeing the "despair" part of that myself to be honest. I am at peace with all of that - and rather than cause my despair or existential angst it in fact defines what I value and why I value it and why I think it is worth valuing anything.

Or as another person often puts it to me "The Journey Is The Destination". And I am good with that.

NIMAN

valoren wrote: »

It's about death. It was an attempt by Raymond Briggs to introduce children to the concept of mortality.

Everyday's a school day, eh.

Never knew that. Had only ever watched The Snowman once before, but I'll watch it more closely next time.

topper75

"Life is a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness."
Schopenhauer.

I like to remember that one any time I find myself feeling a bit too chipper.

Sabre0001

There's a post to really pick you up on a Friday morning

Bigbagofcans

“We come from this earth and we will return to this earth. The word human is a derivative of the word humus. We spring from the same soil that houses our ancestor’s great sleep. We walk on the fossilized bones and decomposed flesh of all the people and every species that traversed the earth before our time. It is humbling and reassuring to know that I entered this life-giving sphere only after so many good people came before me to consecrate this land with their vitality and knowing that we share the universal story of struggle. It is consoling understanding that after I die Mother Earth will turn my decomposed shell into a new form of life. My decaying body will provide nutrients for life that will rise after I die. Until the soil opens up to receive me as its own child, I must take a stand and make the most out of the sunshine and rainstorms that beat down upon all people alike.”

― Kilroy J. Oldster

irishguitarlad

Once you realise that the sun is going to completely vaporize this planet in a couple of thousand years from now, it takes a lot of pressure off.