I got back from smoking a bowl and got the urge to write down my thoughts because they have been being overwhealming. So I opened up a word document and started writing. Just wanted to hear you guys' thoughts. Tue 1:11am 4/11/06 Well lately ive been contemplating the meaning of life. I've decided that this world is narrow minded and there is something missing from this picture. And I'm one of few in this world who truly know it in their core. It seems that my place in everything has sifted slightly, and my attachment to life has grown unattached. I feel like I've awoken from a dream. A dream of the reality that's portrayed in our perception of reality, being the true reality. I look at the popular media of the past, the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's and so on, and I wonder were people that shallow to think that fancy manners and judgment matter? People either look at that stuff and reject it as ideals of a false society, or embrace it as a romance vision, and they fail to see pass the surface and to question what has been put before them. The media today is just a bad as the media then, and you wonder: with the vast technological advances being made out there, are people just as unsophisticated about the meaning of life as 2,000 years ago? I look at everything around me and I wonder if none of this has any true permanent, substantial value then what's the point? What is it in life that we are supposed to hold on to? If nothing has meaning beyond our notion of emotional attachment then why are we here? I can't accept that this nightmare I've been born into is an inexplicable situation for which no one has the map to, but they all think they do. Does it matter? Lately shit like this have just been hitting me, and I don't know whether to embrace it or to run for cover and forget I've had doubts about reality. The last couple days were pretty bad, but today I feel more upbeat although I don't feel spiritually connected to this reality. It's hard to watch shows with social, stereotypical behavior, like sitcoms and such. That's the end lol. Took me about 1/2 hour to write. I don't know if any of it makes sense or I'm just nuts, but yea I'd like to hear your guys' philosophies.
This totally makes sense man, the past couple of years have brought to me the same thoughts and feelings. I concluded that all I want is peace of mind, even if that means living in a shed in the desert. The whole human society pisses me off. Most of our daily activities are driven by greed, and desire, our consumer society has driven into all our minds that more is better. So you need to go to the best college, to get the best degree, to get the best job, to get the most money, to get the most shit. Life's a big fucking rat race and im saying fuck all of you im gonna go sit on the bleachers and smoke a joint.
Glad to read what you had to say. You sound like me when I quit smoking for awhile. but it's always on more of a depressed slant. hahaha.
capecoder and Lebowski: You guys have just tripped me out! I swear, I have journals from when I was in my early 20's that say pretty much the same things you guys are saying now. Over the years, I've come across people here and there who share this same sort of thought process. I've labeled these people Searchers. It's incredible... I haven't come across a Searcher for quite awhile, and here I find two in the same thread! A deliberate search for meaning in Life can be one of the most fulfilling endeavors one can pursue. When I embarked on my search, I thought of it as a journey to find myself, to find out what really matters. I encourage you both to continue on your train of thought. There's definitely more to Life than the mind numbing media blitz you're bombarded with day after day. It's up to you to find it. Everyone has their own road to travel, so I won't distract you from yours with tales of my own... unless, of course, you ask. I'd really like it, though, if you'd keep in touch with me along the way. Being able to watch your journeys unfold would make my own journey more meaningful.
i know exactly what you are saying. i am caught in a 5 day cycle: M 9-12 school 1-5 work T 9-5 work W 9-12 school 12-7 only rest all week 7-10 night jazz class T 9-5 work F 9-12 school 1-5 work i have never been caught in a cycle,(except for school) and this sucks so bad. i hate it, my life shouldn't be planned out everyday, but it is, and it's mandatory. i guess it's not that bad because i'm getting school stuff out of the way and making some cash, but i'm realizing that this is not going to continue. at least not in my life. i just can't wake up everyday at 9am to go to the same job everyday. it's not so much that i don't even like my job, it's just incredibly boring and repetitive. i do data entry now, and i'm bored out of my skull at work. i've been feeling like i'm working and going to school to just support myself to go to work and school. they take up more than 75% of my time, and for what? so i have money to buy shit i don't need. i have stopped buying expensive clothes, it's pointless. i shop at thrift stores, not because i can't afford to shop other stores, but the thrift store has some great shit, and it's soooo cheap. but i'm getting distracted. whenever i imagine my life more than a year from now all i know is that i'll be smoking and playing music. i'm not to sure where i was going with this, but your thread really reminded me of the past year to year and a half of my life.
I think the worst part about our modern world is that nobody has purpose anymore. It's purpose that drives humans. And nobody in today's culture has one. We're expected to go to school, become intelligent decisive adults, become an integral part of the economic machine, invest our money, consume and die. We lack purpose, we lack identity. We've put ourselves so much above nature and our surroundings that we can't identify our purpose of survival because we live in such a culture of excess and all our needs are meet without any expenditure of energy.
Thanks for responding guys. You know I think spent most of my life trying to figure this out. Back in 7th grade I became punk for a year there, wore baggie pants and listened to racid. couple years later I started dressing like a diva. For a few months I thought body art was the coolest thing ever. I think I thought I was looking for my identity, through learning about myself, I'd discover more about the world around me, and I thought that knowing the world would give existence meaning. I'd figure out who I am and that would give me my place in life. Five days ago I turned 19, which I guess has nothing to do with this but its kind of weird that my newest epiphany occurred around this time. Actually, I guess it isn't weird, because every time something major (relatively) happens or something changes I think about how we're all affected by this force we call time, and what it would be like not to exist. Before, I thought I'd understand more about this world if I look at each piece separately, look at myself, those around me, time, perception, everything. Now, recently I've been looking the huge questions. I'd always thought that my interest in psychology the last couple years was because I wanted to know more about the human psyche and wanted to know how some people can really act the way they do. I know my lose of interest in psychology is because of my growing realization that I don't really care about that stuff, but I had been trying to answer questions, and that its not the pieces that are going to help me, that absorption in details is why people do not question, it's the big picture. My ramble has a point. Tweech's Zone, your observation answered for me a question I had never pin pointed. I used to wonder why I could never be content with picking an interest and staying interested in it. I don't know, just the way you put it cleared up the clouded motivations behind my actions.
That's really profound. Rep + because i've been in a similar situation. If there is one thing i've learned is that we only have a short time on earth and we should make the most of it by experiencing everything we can, learning all we can and just scincerely enjoying life.
It’s so hard to say that we can imagine the possibilities beyond this life. I think it gets simplified too often; will we live on in another life in a certain shape or form? Thinking logically and spiritually, it’s hard to imagine non-existence. Yet, it’s easy to say that we don’t have another existence, this is it. Accept life at face value, you don’t see any of the other animals worrying about this stuff. The world is logical, it’s a cycle of the redistribution of matter. But the thing is, neither of those possibilities answer anything. Why is there a god who created us? Why does this world exist? It seems religion tries to answer the hows and whats, but not the whys. I don’t think I would have a problem accepting no life after death if I knew why. Life in this reality makes no sense except within itself. Even if there is an god and afterlife, that still doesn’t make sense…why is there a god and a afterlife? Rasta man, thanks a lot. It seems basic that our purpose is survival. In this culture our basic needs are well met, so we create new needs. In this world it seems our purpose is survival, and that’s what it is to animals. We are part of a cycle of life. This the scientific model to explain our existence. But why? Haha I don’t expect you to answer that obviously, but it makes me wonder why people fight over the religion vs. science, creation vs. evolution thing because they are missing the point. If we are driven by purpose we should be able to see it doesn’t matter what happened or is going to happen, but it’s a mission to find the true nature and purpose of everything. Edit: Just to be clear, Rasta, I'm not challenging you at all or anything...just thinking
Ive noticed a lot of pot smokers kind of go through phases of life. I went through almost exactly what cape went through, asking those questions and thinking the same way. The thing is about the people of today(at least the U.S.) is that our purpose isnt survival, we dont have to live in a cave and hunt bears for food and skin, we just go to walmart or publix. So survival by means of killing is eliminated from our minds, so what is the purpose of life now? Its basically seeking for happiness, some find that money and its advantages are the key, others family and talking, others finding out why we are here, and of course many others as well as the combinations. This brings me to Tweech's Zone, this guy, is how ive thought of responding being in his age range. I mean, it seems like there arent many people who think this way, as tweech has noted he calls searchers(something i probably would have come up with too), either theyre to oblivious to life, just consuming, scared to think about it, or just to apathetic to do so. But weed, it like it grounds you, or well some people. I dont need weed to think this way, but its a sure way to get me thinking about it. As for cape, you should do some reading, i never really liked reading, really. But know, the search for answers actually easily overcomes my dislike for books, ive read some basic philosophy, plato, nietzche, some online ones. http://www.fullmoon.nu/articles/art.php?id=tal thats ones interesting. Stephen Hawkings " a brief history in time" is good, ive also been reading "paradigms lost" by john l casti, talking about reality, AI, universal language, genes and other "unanswered mysteries of science". Life is funny though, im 18, but this past year has been the year that ive grown up the most i think, ive changed alot, not like physical or even personality wise, but the way i look at the world. As much as i HATE to say it, stuff has been happenening in weird coincedences, so much so thats it almost feels like it was meant to happen. I dont know, i guess i myself am still a searcher, but ide rather be that than oblivious.
oooo this thread looks fun. i was actually going to post something relatively close to what is being said here, how coincedental. coincidence? i think not. oooo i have so many crazy coincidence stories. read 'the celestine prophecy' trust me, its a need to read. but i was going to post how being 18, 19, 20 is such a pivotal time in our lives. i mean we have been told what to do and what to be for our whole lives. and now its the time to choose. but we arent 6 years old, we can think for ourselves and other things come up other than money and jobs. life, love, peace of mind. i was talking to my friend the other day about this, and he said he might join the coast guard just to see the world and be free. im leaving in 2 weeks to go to live at a comune and he was saying thats kind of like going to the coast guard, its the same basic idea of getting away from everything and being free, but im sure a commune is more freedom oriented than the coast guard. "truth needs to be found independent from others, it needs to be found within ones self."
+rep capecoder, those are a lot of deep questions I find that the answers to deep questions like these are always outside of the scope of the question itself. If you're feeling confused, remember not to think of things as the way they should be, but the way they actually are. You don't need to be constantly circling in questions and answers in order to exist, they all come from a part of you that's really just an impermanent think floating in a greater timeless reality... woah I just realized I'm probably not making any sense to anyone. Hahaha sorry I tried, but we're all doomed to never fully understand I think
capecoder, As sort of an exercise to help in your Search, think on these key concepts: Self-awareness Living deliberately Response-ability If reading is your thing, check out 'Don't Push the River' by Barry Stevens: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/09...002-7683878-8599223?s=books&v=glance&n=283155 She (yes, Barry is a 'she') opened my eyes to a different way of seeing things... which started me on my Journey. BTW, it didn't hit me until just now.... Happy Birthday!
nametaken, I took a philosophy course in high school and really enjoyed it. It was a very basic class that really didn't raise questions but simply presented the theories of various philosophers and economists. I started reading the article you posted, its really quite interesting. I feel the same though about the growing up thing, I feel a lot older than when I came here in the fall. I know most people would say thats normal, but my idea of what that would be like and how my perception of the world has changed is much different than what I thought it would be. I don't think I have matured because its one of the steps in becoming a hard working sucessful adult but because I realize that there's more to all of this then that. It disturbs me that most people are born, live and die with little or no true thought to why. "An unexamined life is not worth living." andy, thanks..I was trying to make sense of what you said, not sure I did lol. You saying that you don't need to be conscious and aware, but you part of a greater unknown..something? I've been trying to come to times with that idea..yea I guess I just hate that I don't have the anwsers. It seems weird that I've spent my whole life being told what's the proper path in life, what's right to feel, think, act, dress, everything. You get it from the media, your parents, society. They instill in you not a sense of what's right and wrong, but what's proper or not proper. That's because we don't know what's right and wrong in the true sense of the word, and we don't want to, it would disturb our piece of mind, and most cases we don't know we should. Its funny how people can know so little about the world around them, yet they think they know so much. And they know quite a bit, but its based on this preoccupation with daily life. Collaboration of humankind decide what is important in life based on our existence, not the true nature of reality. We are so preoccupied by our close network of ourselves, friends, family and work that we are too ignorant to attempt explore our purpose. To attempt to understand the mystery behind life would disturb the piece of mind of all mankind. I dont know if that made sense..at all..but I was thinking again lol. edit: tweech, I didn't see your post till after I posted. Thanks a lot, I'll think about those concepts and definitely check out that link. haha thanks lol..got the biggest damn cake ever, half of it is still sitting here lol. But if anyone's interested I'll keep posting as this unfolds in my mind, and if you not, I'll only post it in this thread so you don't have to read my humble thoughts I wonder how much of this world we don't understand and are completely blind to, because we perceive it incorrectly or because we haven't been exposed to it, or we just can't comprehend it.
Wow, thats alot of great thought put to the mystery of life. Came to this boat of the forums to search about the life of God in the flesh(Jesus) an did he smoke pot while he was here? I have alot of thoughts when im high about the way us as humans live our life, Why do we not put ourselves to doing something that each one of us can take to perfection an be unique? I think the answer is simple government controls life today, therefore leading to why we couldn't be what we want to without going threw their system. Anyway, i found this bit of info on a dutchnewz.net site..."Jesus smoked weed and he was a supporter of the medicinal qualities of the drug. This is according to Chris Bennet in the drugs magazine High Times. According to Bennet there was Kaneh-bosem in the ointments that Jesus and his disciples used for miraculous cures. This ingredient is a cannabis extract and was also in the incense that Jesus used. Bennet goes a step further by saying that seeing that Jesus promoted the ointment, people that are against the use of cannabis can be regarded as being anti-christ" I couldn't find any information on the HIGHTIMES website. Also, What about other life in the universe its so big, we havn't seen 10% of it, there has to be another planet out there with earth-like habitations for other life. My 2cents worth.
Awesome thought. I always thought of religion as a way to explain the mystery of life, but it really only provides a theory as to what created us and how we are supposed to live. Why were we created? Why is there creation? Why was there a creator in the first place? Edit: As someone once said, "The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced" <-- might be my next sig Ultimately, we will not be able to answer the "whys" of existance. Philosophy stimulates growth, but reading all the philosophy books in the world will not grant you a universal understanding. As Rasta_Man and others said, living life to the fullest may be the only solution to our confusing lives... it is the only thing that we really know how to do.
I had those same thoughts as well when I was a bit younger...just part of life I guess....p.s. I grew up in Bourne...
well do you older guys still think about metaphysics and philosophy and such? Or was it just a phase in your life? I think i'll be thinking about this stuff for a long time.
a good reversal would be: why did humans feel the need to create the concept of religion in order to hold them stabile and keep their heads pointed upward and cast the things that go wrong in our lives towards a diety's "greater plan". i really like this thread man. capecoder, rasta...i truly advocate the usage of lsd to find your "greater meaning". through extended smoking periods i used to become negative and have VERY similar thoughts on life as yall. But i had the "white light" "ultimate truth" or whatever experience where i was FINALLY at peace with myself and the world around me. yea i still get angered and react to daily petty shit, but thats what makes me human. those two amazing experiences lofted me to a realm of spirituality i will never forget. to this day, i lay in my head to bed and am comforted by the fact of inner peace and tranquility due to lsd-25. but this was my journey, im just advising here.
I set out on my original Journey with the goal of 'finding myself'. There actually came a point where I felt as though I'd found myself. Being aware of who I was laid the foundation for finding my answers to the other questions I'd be asking myself in the following years... metaphysics, philosophy, religion, social concerns, global concerns. It's not as though I have all the answers to those questions, but I've been able to answer them to my own satisfaction in a way that means something to me, a way that seems to give me validation in Life. I don't focus on the answered questions anymore. They've become a part of me. It's like I know what I know. That's not to say that I won't contemplate other answers that are given along the way. I'm always open to other answers... better sounding answers, better fitting answers, answers with a better 'feel' to them. There's always room to better my outlook.
