In my most recent adventure I ran into “Keith.”
Keith was a 44-year-old man, but was in better shape than most 23-year-olds. Riped, handsome, and a participant of jiujitsu, I felt it was more of an honor I met him than he met me. But after much conversation and realizing he and I both made some of the same disastrous mistakes men our age did, he said something common, but profound that I really didn’t appreciate until now:
“Had I known today what I know now when I was 19 the world would be ….blabbity blah blah blah.”
I had heard that refrain before, but it wasn’t until Keith mentioned it did I realize just what consequence and gravity that statement had.
Yes, Keith and I are in our 40’s.
Yes, Keith and I cannot go back in time.
But the hell if these terabytes of digital wisdom haven’t advanced the cause of thousands of young men today.
While Keith and I may not be able to benefit from the wisdom we gained through trial and tribulation, and we can only opine wistfully about “what could have been,” because of the technological advancements of today through the internet, young men of today can enjoy and realize that enviable position.
You needn’t go through the hell we did to gain our wisdom. All you need to do is merely learn from our (and thousands of other men’s) experiences and mistakes.
This, naturally, results in a HUGE and GREAT advantage young men have today over their elder peers. You know not to bother with night clubs. You know not to bother with “born again Christian” girls. And you know how to defend yourself against false rape accusations.
However, the “sage” advice goes beyond women and into life as well. You know to be a minimalist. You know to not breed unless you can afford it. And you know not to gain social status through borrowing money to purchase things you can’t afford, but rather through work and cash-only purchases. All of these things, if followed and adhered to, result in a life of ease, luxury, happiness, and strifelessness.
There’s just one problem.
This line of thought is so revolutionary and cutting-edge, it’s outpacing the genetic and Darwinistic development of humans. So much so, it presents new problems humanity has never faced before.
The problem of the future
While the internet and technology advance at the speed of light (in terms of evolutionary time), our biological and survivalistic brains have not advanced as quickly. And so, if we pursue the philosophy of minimalism, not fucking up, and just merely taking care of ourselves, technology advances so quickly and so much that it takes nearly nothing to support and survive as a single man in society today. You take away women, family, and children because the government has replaced you, and men can get by on a fraction of Star Trek impulse power.
This may at first seem a boon and advancement to male society, but you’ll quickly learn that “success” is merely replacing larger, older problems with newer lesser ones. And the newer but certainly no “lesser” one is “The Void.”
The purpose of man
Really contemplate and consider what the history of man has been. It has been one largely of struggle and survival. One of merely putting food on the table, shelter over one’s head, and defending your children who “may” survive war, famine, plague, and disease.
In other words, you busted your ass all day, only to fall asleep with little to no contemplation of the future or meaning of life. It is always backwards-looking, living in the now, never forward-looking.
However, say you didn’t fuck up. Say you didn’t have children. Say you just played your cards right and waited until you were stable to breed. Whatever the case, technology has advanced so much that there are MORE MEN THAN EVER in the HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE who did not breed, did not fuck up, and therefore have all the time in the world to look into the future.
Their minds are not pre-occupied with “putting food on the table” or “finding a baby sitter,” but instead are forced to look into the cold, dark future of finiteness, mortality, and death, forcing them to consider the truth meaning and purpose of life.
For all the benefits the manosphere has had on men, the male population, and male psychology, an unfortunate drawback is that it is so efficient and effective that men are advancing intellectually “too” quickly. So much so that I predict MILLIONS of men are going to advance so quickly, and so efficiently, they will be forced to face the the “void,” the ultimate “blackness” and the end of life.
And since the human mind and evolution has not had the track record of even getting to this point (as they were too pre-occupied merely putting food on the table or supporting their children), this “confronting the void” will start to become a more common psychological problem truly independent minded men will face.
Is there a solution?
Sadly, I have no solution. Every simulation or “mental model” I’ve run in my mind results in my consciousness being snuffed out. There is no “heaven.” My mind does not “continue on elsewhere” in some kind of cloudy world where I meet all my buddies and reunite with my childhood dog.
In reality, my awareness won’t even be around to acknowledge the void. I will simply end and be at the same state I was before i was born—non-existent.
And it is this that is the truly frightening thing that an increasing number of young men are going to have to face. Because of the philosophical advancements the manosphere has brought you, your intellectual and philosophical life is going to be fast-forwarded through life. And while there will be some IMMENSE benefits (such as avoiding drama with women, lower divorce rates, lives of leisure, etc. etc.) you will be fast-forwarded towards the inevitable conclusion and confrontation of “The Void.”
And no matter how well your life is going, no matter how wonderful your wife is, and no matter how enjoyable your children are, you will unfortunately have to wrestle with the concept of finiteness, the end of your consciousness, and your utter irrelevance in this universe.
It almost makes you enviable of the simpletons breeding kids they can’t afford, and are thus too pre-occupied to contemplate such heavy matters. Their ignorance must be bliss.
Read More: The Next Fifty Years Of Race And Culture In America
ease back man. there’s tons of secular and humanist writing on dealing with and accepting death. and their solutions have been around for centuries.
kant is a decent place to start.
Look into Zen Buddhism and Stoicism for some perspective.
Buddhism, especially Zen, is about detachment. Most people think of this as not being attached to material stuff. However, the goal of Zen is to also learn how to let go of assumptions and biases, our desires, ourselves. People insist on the world conforming to their expectations, but this leads to folly and misery. Instead we should conform our expectations to the world–to see and accept the world for the way it is. (This includes accepting the impermanence of our own existence).
Stoicism is also great for gaining perspective. It’s a common misconception that stoics didn’t care about anything and had no feelings. In reality, stoics viewed the world as the unfolding of the Logos, the rational, organizing principle of the universe. A man has his will and talents, but can gain nothing unless the Logos permits it. That is, a man is entitled to nothing from the universe. Thus, every good thing in your life is a temporary gift; we just don’t know for how long we’ve been given a thing.
Didn’t he write that low-fat cookbook, “I Kant Believe It’s Not Butter”?
The danger lies in when enough of those men decide that there is no “higher authority”, that they are free to act as they wish; there will be a wave of anti societal behavior.
Actually we have a preview in the Black Community.
It’s my belief that the increased incidents of Black crime is because Black men were long ago pushed out of their society to the fringe. Allowed to do as they please most of the time and just stop in now and then to drop off a check or play with the kids. It’s women who run the Black Community, not men. The men are sperm donors for the most part and dispensable.
And they know it.
This leads to recognition that their lives don’t matter so why should anyone else’s? Why should they obey the law, get a job, be responsible when there is no real reward in the long run for them to do so.
Thus a lot of Black Men not only opt out of being MEN but opt out of society and civilization.
And the women and the government aid and abet this result.
Selfishness is the future. Western society does not value competent men simply because their competence and ambitions make the world inequal, and this somehow intimidates them. There is no western nation, collective pride, or any such thing. It is a commune, and should be treated as such.
The solution is to enjoy life for yourself, care not for the ingrates who scorn you, and live what the equalists label a selfish, “anti-social” life. It’s what they thought we were doing all this time, so we might as well actually do it.
Agree. Many try to label this time spent alone as “not healthy” or being anti-social. I say it’s one of the most important “times” in my life to think, reflect, create, plan, expand on ideas, etc…
There is plenty of time to socialize but not many people embrace the “alone time” or use it wisely (especially women).
Most of the alone time for women is catching up on daytime soap operas or reality TV.
What the media calls anti-social is actually an inherent and positive male trait. It’s what drives men to focus on building and achieving things instead of wasting all day discussing hurt feelings and trying to find group consensus before doing anything.
Anti-social behavior can be turned to bad things, but most of the time it’s a necessity for human advancement.
One of the best internet posts I ever read.
Captain, I was nearly killed a couple of times. I may have done some evil things in my past, but my own recollection of the infinite blackness is pretty close to yours. However, I do believe that we, as a legion of forward-thinkers can create some kind of post-life existence, whether it be compliance and acceptance of the end to using our skills as masters of technology to build a way for the mind to continue on after the body expires. That element we are dealing with, essentially, is more of a belief than a fact, the spirit or soul or metaphysical consciousness. In order to do so, there should be a specific group of men who have gone past all the game and MGTOW and such to form a new understanding and cohesion where we can work together to accomplish this. Think of this. The greatest and freest minds in the world, we can figure out the solutions to lifes greatest qualms, perhaps even the end. So many people, men importantly, that I know who were wise, cut from a different cloth, no longer exist, and I would do anything to preserve those minds for the future, their wisdom. There is a way to end the cycle. A friend of mine is writing a book about it. Until he releases it, we can continue to banter here, or start pooling our inventiveness to figure out where to start. Let me know what you think. Go ahead and criticize if you will, but I am already on this journey, and gaming and women are like the little hors d’oeuvres on the side of a plate compared to the rest of the trip in its entirety.
The limit of being human has its horrors and fears, and countless philosophers have argued over this fact for eons. What we can do instead of constant pontificating and talking, is utilizing what we know so far, beginning with biology, engineering, cellular degeneration and so forth, and perhaps eventually we can come to something worthwhile. I myself did mechanical engineering as a younger man, but have been studying genetics and biology relentlessly in recent years.
We live on through our deeds.
Live in virtue, and be fruitful and multiply, Raise up sons with strong bodies, strong minds, and strong spirits.
I dont believe it is about a post life experience or not, but rather whether it will be an artificially induced dead end or the natural movement from the gross to the more “energetically subtle” realities beyond the physical realm.
You both have a point. I still believe there is a way we can outstay the downfall of the current anti-culture, and to that end I keep on going. The energy beyond physical is something that is hard to describe in layman’s terms. There will be more on this topic soon.
So far, given the current (revealed to the masses) state of biotechnology, cryonics seems to be a quite good solution, but it has its cons. To be Methuselah is a challenge to modern day science, but it would be feasible in the future, for the elite for sure. Or maybe it is already possible, again for the elite.
I think a post-life existence is possible on a spiritual level by meditating, challenging yourself physically, as I think we all have unlocked secret superhuman powers.
Damn I was actually reading the other day how a decade of meditation had actually physically altered ( as in grew in size) a practioner’s brain. What do you mean by super powers? I give you clearance, and I think we may be onto something here man.
I think the thing with meditation is true. It definitely has beneficial effects on one’s health and other areas of life.
As for super powers, I think that I liked a lot DragonBall, Batman etc. when I was younger. But I think that meditation, some martial art or a personal, improvised one could maybe convince you more that you are some kind of Ubermensch. I even believe that thinking that you are more than human actually makes you super human. Or maybe I feel I have super powers when I train with weights, when I feel their heavy resistance. Anyway, I think there are some other ways to have super powers, at least that they make you think you have super powers. Whatever the mind can perceive and conceive, it can achieve.
I also almost died twice. Both times there was no long haired bearded God in flowing robes waiting for me. No family waiting with open arms. Most sadly, upon reflection, none of my pets.
Both times, everything just faded to a bright sky blue, and I felt the most amazing peace. I could honestly *feel* my worries leave my mind and body. I feel a tad guilty that I did not give my wife or family a thought through this. I was totally OK with the fact that I was dying, and frankly just a tiny bit gruff and jarred at being pulled back both times. It passed in a moment, though.
Also, this is one of the saddest things I have ever heard:
“Every creature on this Earth dies alone.”
– from Donnie Darko
You’ve taken consciousness to the wrong extreme. When you die you become one with everything. Not dissolving into nothing but integrating with everything. Pure consciousNess… read up on it.
I fear there will be something after life although I couldn´t think of anything better than being non-existent.
Why would anybody be afraid of sleeping for all eternity? The idea alone sounds great to me.
BUT before I´m going to wear my wooden pajamas I will enjoy life on this fucking beautiful planet. Life is awesome, earth is awesome and even some people are tolerable sometimes.
I believe the biggest problem for mankind is capitalism and money.
It´s basically the mother of everything bad we´re having today (e.g. feminism and other mental disorders). Without a monetary system people wouldn´t be so extremely fucked in their heads.
Yeah, you might need to see a shrink
I’m starting to realize this site is mostly about disenfranchised and demoralized German norsemen descendents still crying about their big losses
I’m sorry the big bad German man touched you in your special place that one time. 🙁
What about my comment made you think that? Please explain the details and don´t just point your tiny yellow fingers.
I might fear a useless continuity after this life.
In life we lose things, we let go things, over and over, we die many times in many ways, ultimately we lose ourselves completely, and that is something not to fear. In fact, we could already accept that we do not exist as we think we do.
There is beauty in this, it is limitless.
People should try to ignore their own existence, at least for a few minutes. It is an interesting exercise that strengths your mind.
“I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye”
– Yann Martel
I like that phrase. Though it is a different perspective. Social.
The other perspective I refer, is about your internal self.
Losing parts that once were essential to your mental integrity, to your ego, or hopes, or external happiness. The more it happens, the less suffering you feel in life, the stronger you become, and your perspective of life and the existence of things, becomes a bit clearer.
I don’t know why people want eternal Life? After one billion billion billion years, you’d still have an eternity to live? How long can possibly kiss God’s ass and lick his shoes before that gets old?
I’ve heard people make this point numerous times. I always put it to them that the alternative is eternal unconsciousness. I know which has one I would choose given a choice.
If the all-powerful/all-knowing God of the Bible exists, he just as easily could have made the world a place where everyone was happy all the time. He could have made Adam and Eve in a way where they would have not chosen to eat the fruit.
Instead, he chose the current option which has resulted in an endless stream of misery where there could have been happiness.
The fact that he made this choice makes me think any sort of afterlife is not something I would desire.
When the famous monk Takuon Soho (1573-1645) was on his death bed, his followers urged, pleaded with him to leave one final poem behind, as was customary with zen teachings and practices at the time. Disgusted with his disciples, as if they had learned nothing from him at all, he snatched up a brush and scrawled a single character, the Chinese character for dream, yume. He tossed the brush aside and died on that very spot.
Life is a dream, that is what he meant. You spend more of existence dead than alive so this is all like a dream. Enjoy it while you can, play the cards you’ve been dealt as best you can and try to make peace with it all. That’s about all anybody can really do.
Deep.
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Life may be a dream, but sometimes I think this is the easy path, the shortcut. It is a dream depending on one’s circumstances. If you have a great job, a great paycheck and great fun, then life is a dream, a beautiful one. Why should you care about the ultimate meaning or ponder the question “This is it?”.
But if you don’t have a great life, then life is an illusion/nightmare. An ugly one, or in some cases a beautiful one (a “trials and tribulations” one).
Carpe diem is contextual. It’s “check your privilege”.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the less one traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost
I think you are being more literal than Gen was.
” … took the less one traveled by … ” ?
That’s how the poem was written.
You can’t take what Takuon wrote so literally, it is meant to illicit thought and provoke, to get you to think what it means.
This is it? Do you need more? I fear that there is already too much and I won’t get to experience enough of all the experiences there are to discover before I am dead. I have known hardship and I am better for knowing it, I know I don’t want to go back.
We can agree to disagree.
Oh I am just a nobody on the Internet if I had the answers, I sure as shit wouldn’t be screwing around here.
So am I but I keep searching, keep trying.
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
Keep searching and trying, yeah, that’s it. I don’t want to stop.
Check your privilege? Guys stop using their jargon for Gods sake…
Whose jargon?
The SJWS man, with their “check your privilege” faggotry. I know you didnt mean it that way, but still we are men we should stick to our own jargon. “Come back to reality” much better 🙂
Well, I didn’t know that. I guess lexis gets politically connotated and abused. Thanks for the heads-up.
Welcome my friend.
Wow, Can we get more clickbait for the disgruntled Germanic norse people’s who still can’t get over why they lose every war despite their genetic superiority?
We get it ,dear Aaryans It’s better to be nihilistic instead of thinks of your fates in the face of all the horror you’ve done.
If I were of Germanic descent and unable to embrace objective morality do to the implications it would have on my apparent guilty, I too would beg for nothing after death.
I too would make sure I convinced myself of the iilogical naturalism
But alas , your show your cards in this game when you RAMBLE ON ABOUT THERE NOT BEING A GOD!
Why would you ? If you actually believed there was nothing after death, then why talk about it and think about it constantly?
lol… its funny to fuck with germans.
As a non-Aryan, I’ve always wondered where it was in history that they started to believe they were above everything else on Earth. I will gladly concede that they have advanced humanity in remarkable ways. I’ll gladly admit that the most intelligent people to ever live were western European. However, they’re genius is more of a malevolent type of genius. I wonder why so much political and economic ideology that comes out western Europe is rooted in exploitation.
“I wonder why so much political and economic ideology that comes out western Europe is rooted in exploitation.”
http://www.oodegr.co/english/filosofia/nihilism_root_modern_age.htm
“I’ll gladly admit that the most intelligent people to ever live were western European.”
Hmm. I won’t. But I do give them major props. And at least in the *modern* era, going back to the last 500 years, they have indeed been the most intelligent.
But going back through all of known history, the most intelligent people who ever lived were:
The ancient Egyptians
Vedic Indo-Aryans
The Chinese
The ancient Greeks and Romans
Western Europeans
Did your German “friend” rape you, or why is it that your attitude towards him seems so angry and confused? Does he know he´s your friend?
Just curious because my friends aren´t talking like little bitches behind my back.
Pythagoras believed that this earthly life is essentially a school for your soul. At the end, if you learned the lessons presented to you, you get to graduate to something higher. If you didn’t, you have to come back and do it again (but with no memory of the previous incarnations).
Further, nearly all faiths believe that your soul will face judgment at the end of this ride. The difference is only in whether you will face the judgment of God, or whether you will face the judgment of your own Higher Self. Which many would argue is also God.
What we do have free Will to make a CHOICE in what we believe, and a Mind with which to process that Will…
Nothing spooky happens when you enter the off-state. So it won’t require anything spooky to stop at the event horizon of the permanent off-state and turn it into a temporary and reversible off-state. But it will take the application of a lot of man’s intelligence – man’s intelligence, mind you – to pull this off. Look up the website of the Brain Preservation Foundation:
http://www.brainpreservation.org/
http://www.brainpreservation.org/content/faq
In my 30 years on earth, I have contemplated, and accepted death’s inevitability. The most important lesson I’ve taken from it, is to not waste time on frivolous things. Only very few will achieve the immortal greatness of rulers, philosophers, or great artists. In truth, most of us will be mostly forgotten within 10 years of our demise. I’ve started to believe that much of the decay that has befallen the world these days, is seeded by the illusion that most carry with them. That they will get out of life, alive.
Everything ends. The universe itself may die out from heat death, gives me comfort in a strange way.
Going to use a quote from the Conan books to sum up how i feel about this “I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom’s realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer’s Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.” ― Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast
I almost forgot about that quote. My dad read that to me a few times when I was little even though we attended church every once in a while. Atheist as well as people that live their life according to religion are both wrong. The bible teaches useful lessons as well as a look into the past, but I don’t think it was ever written with the intention of being taken literally. All stories are exaggerated and the bible is no exception.
Seriously, this is one of the most incredible things l’ve ever read. Thanks for sharing.
wow man.Amazing quote. Thanks for sharing that. I gots to read more Robt E. Howard.
Wow. To think the Conan books were sort of considered to be like pulp and not “real” literature. It’s a really unfair label when you can pull quotes like this from them.
It’s defiant old school sword and sorcery writing at it’s best and I think it gets alot of flake for being plup from the movies. The books themselves are totally different.
I know. I’ve got a book that has all the original Conan stories, and also 2 books that make up the collected correspondence between Robert E Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. It’s really interesting.
Pyle’s Solomen Kane stories are also excellent.
That was beautiful…
Well this is depressing.
I thought this was brilliant until the conclusion. Don’t give up on spirituality just because its difficult to wrap your brain around.
My thoughts as well. To say there is no continued existence after one’s biological passing is equally as arrogant as a holy roller insisting heaven is x,y and z.
I would recommend viewing the author’s videos on youtube. I’m not dissing him entirely but, because he is in many ways an astute writer, but one can’t help but think he has a screw loose. His Smith and Wesson retirement plan in his view is for a man to commit suicide instead of growing old. I’m sorry but that’s a bit fucked up.
If you end up alone and old with no money. Atleast it isnt a suicide by cop. Its a cheap way to save oneself of a miserable death. I think Aaron Clarey is a genius up to the point that He cant find God. I point young men to both Cpt. Capitalism and Alan Watts.
Of all the options out there, you absolutely have to go with that boring Jehova guy? What’s he got that gets him all the worship?
Jehova is but one name. The God I pray to is big enough to be every God that has ever been prayed to on every planet in every Universe. Its interesting when religion tries to force God into being only one small finite thing and no other. Everything that is, is God. Even you. Odin is awesome. He took out the Ice Giants.
I wish everybody would admit they are God. How can one exist and not be God? No, theres just alot of gods who are so good at being Human they forgot about themselves as god. But God cant be wrong, so they arent wrong either. Theyre perfectly Human. Lol
If life is but a dream what is the point of life when everything will be gone when you die?
That’s the burden of self-awareness.
Not being able to get our head around nonexistence motivates us humans to the most bizarre coping mechanisms.
If you’re interested I can only recommend Alfred Adler’s “Denial of Death”
The wisdom lies within understanding and learning, that these things you cannot grasp doesn’t matter for a rich fulfilled life.
True. On the one hand its a way to prevent insanity on the other hand perhaps this void may not be as black as you think it is. Or perhaps even the void is an illusion.
off topic: I just read some dating profile of 39 y/o american broad who’d never been married, and said she wanted the same kind of relationship her mother and father had who were high school sweethearts. Like that guy she blew off in high school is going to contact her after 21 years and all the pieces of her life will fall into place. Such is the delusion. There are bitches out there freezing their eggs and getting a cat. Whatever you’re struggling with as a red pill man, thank god you have some clarity of thought.
She’s saying what many (most?) other women doing online dating are saying, though perhaps in different words — I want everything positive that I can imagine, all of the rights and joys to be had on either side of the coin.
They want the benefits of being a stay-at-home mom and the benefits of working. They want the benefits of having an alpha guy and the benefits of having a beta one. They want to consider themselves strong and independent but still expect men to do everything for them when they desire it.
It’s like the feminist movement which wants women to be these amazing creatures capable of anything and decidedly greater than men when it suits their aims and helpless victims who aren’t to blame for anything they do when that suits. They want equality when they see something they think men have better but wish to keep the status quo on anything they have better.
Little, if ever, do they want any of the responsibilities and efforts required to obtain these things.
It’s not just about having the information available, but also about the willingness to listen to it. I young and am so thankful for everyone sharing their knowledge on this website, but my friends do not care at all. Avoiding mistakes has allowed me to get ahead in life, but as I do that people around me get jealous. I probably won’t have any friends in a couple of years because we get along less and less as I learn more and more from web sites like these. I do not wan’t to hang them if they always have to bring their girlfriends along.
I relate with them less and less as each year goes by. For example, Not one of them knew anything about the Ukraine crisis. How can you be so out of touch about when it comes to the news? Showing them about the federal reserve should blow their minds, but it is a non-issue. So It is easy to see why the last thing on their minds would be to seek out people with wisdom.
I’ve gone through this as well. I’ve had to give up on certain friends in the past because I realized they were dishonourable and holding me back.
But be wary of discounting your friends completely for the reason that they are not “red-pill” enough… I will tell you, loyalty and shared experiences with friends count for everything in the end. Even if a friend is “blue-pill”, if he is a loyal and true friend, you would be foolish to hold spite for him.
Friendships need a little bit of sensitivity and care… If you are making your friends jealous it could be either that they do not care about what is best for you, or it could also be that you are not being understanding enough of their differing point of view.
Jealousy is an ugly human emotion… but it is unavoidable, even with the people that love you… There are rare exceptions, for example your parents, because your success is their success.
Even if you have to move on from old friends and forge new relationships with people that reflect your changing values, do not misunderstand the value of true friends if you have them… Loyalty and the love of a friend could save your life.
Sometimes it is a pearls before swine situation.
Completely agree with CK.
They might be blue-pill now but chances are they’ll eventually they’ll be red-pill after suffering through poor treatment at the hands of numerous women. Try to be around for them when that happens. You’ll be worth more than gold to them when their minds are ready to hear.
It is tough. You can lead a horse to water but you can not force it to drink. On the other hand, Capt. is right in the article where he states that “their ignorant must be bliss”.
I’ve thought about that one, often. It was nice (at times) to be young and naive but in the long run it can trip you up. You’re doing the right thing by reading and taking up some advice offered on here. But, don’t forget to “let go” at times and just live life.
You can drive yourself up the wall if you’re thinking “too deep” all of time (see Jack Nicholson – The Shining – for a reference).
All work and no plays mmakes Jack a dull boy.
Actually the saying in the military in my day was, “You can lead a horse to water, but sometimes you have to apply a 200 pound suction to their ass to make them drink.”
The beatings will continue until moral improves.
Just curious, what makes you so certain there is nothing after death?
The problem with the author of this article, is that he is writing this article from an atheistic point of view. And it does not surprise me he is feeling this way. One common element I notice in athiests is that they have no soul inside, they are empty and void and this article, once again, reinforces this characteristic.
As a man who embraces God into my heart, it gives me real pleasure to know that this is not the end- that the ones who I loved and have passed on, I will see them again in the afterlife. The concept of God and religion, is one which transcends logic, science and reason, where it requires faith and belief, in order to see heaven and God.
Learning to embrace God and Jesus into your heart, will help you to see the light, and make you realise, that no matter how bleak this life and world is, there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel (after death.)
It is never too late to change.
What about those who can’t buy the Jesus or Mohammed juice? We just are too smart to believe in hocus-pocus magical stories from 2000 or a couple of hundred years ago. We are intelligent and well versed in science and understand that all human religions are human creations, and imbued with the incomplete and incorrect view of the natural world and reality that people living before the scientific revolution had of reality and the universe.
I believe you are right though.. that believing in an after-life and in God helps soothe and exorcise the existential demons that every thinking and intelligent man has to face. But I cannot bring myself to believe in what seems clear to me is a lie and wishful thinking…. as soothing and comforting as they are. Reason, careful consideration, scientific knowledge and thought makes it very difficult for me, and skeptics and atheists like me, to believe in the supernatural or in any kind of personal God of the type that the major monotheistic religions believe in. As comforting as may be to believe in a personal God who cares about individual people, I cannot bring myself to believe in it when I see no evidence whatsoever to support that view, and in fact, see plenty of evidence to the contrary.
They are different points of view….not really a problem.
I don’t know why so many people who “practice” religion on a regular basis always see a problem with people who don’t practice one. I believe the article to be something (one passing thought) and nothing more.
I don’t think the author wanders through life, aimlessly, because he is “god less”.
Enjoy your Kool-Aid. Religions are spiritual Ponzi schemes with megalomaniacs at the center, relishing the servitude of their minions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A4Km5PTu5o Made me think of this song
The lead singer looks a bit like a heavy metal Ringo Starr.
Cool song.
What’s wring with night clubs? I get all the numbers and ONS I want, except ONS is gross so I rarely go for that !
This reminds me of the Hemingway quote:
‘Happiness in an intelligent person is the rarest of things’
Yeah, and he put a shotgun in his mouth in the end, too.
+1 Kurt Cobain
well, two plane crashes left him a virtual cripple…I understand why he did it…
Two? Damn. That second time has got to be some real “oh really?!”
Hemingway was a horrible depressive made worse by his alcoholism. He then got “treatment” for his depression at the Mayo Clinic and they did shock /ECT treatment on him which zombified him. He could no longer write so he offed himself. The hemingway children all have mental illness ie bipolars/manics etc. Shit runs in families
Fools are happy, wisemen are sad.
Wisemen who take action are the happiest in the most authentic sense of the word.
“”In other words, you busted your ass all day, only to fall asleep with little to no contemplation of the future or meaning of life.””
I find the irony here is through contemplation you eventually come to realize the inherent lack of objective meaning forcing you into an existential mindset where meaning becomes defined through subjective experience; despite the acknowledgement of an irrational and absurd existence.
This in effect removes all belief in meaning beyond yourself. And places you at the centre of your existence, entirely responsible for your experience of life. The greatest freedom and heaviest responsibility. You know nothing matters beyond your own ability and means to appreciate it, and are as free as you allow yourself to be.
Good article i enjoyed reading it,
I share Captain Capitalism’s nihilism. However, rather than focusing on the individual, I’m looking at the society and civilization.
The human mating model was designed for hunter-gatherer tribes, worked okay for agricultural societies, with a helping hand from organized religion, but then broke down once individual rights were recognized and reproduction became an option.
Herbivores … sub replacement birth rates … androgyny … transgenderism … fetishism … LBGTQSTUVW alphabet soup of sexuality … I’m not taking a position on homosexuality or any of the preceding, but rather pointing out how for every man that comes out of the closet, that’s one more potentially breeding male that doesn’t; for every man that idly wonders how great it would be to be a hot chick and get free attention and so decides to live as a female, that’s another potentially breeding male that doesn’t … every man that veers away from taking bold steps out of fear of rape hysteria … and of course for every woman that indulges her career, her cock carousel, her passion for travel, her vibrator … every month is another egg that could have been another human being and isn’t … soon her body can’t bring a baby to term anymore and it’s game over for yet another branch of the human family tree.
This is it, folks. End game. We are at a truly remarkable point in human history, where we can actually see over the hill.
Talk me out of this. Please. Otherwise, I’m just going to enjoy the fucking decline. Fuck this gay earth.
I’d disappoint you but the statistics tells us it’s always been like that – since the inception of human existence, only 40% of male humans have managed to reproduce; whereas, 80% of all females have reproduced.
You’re right: Men have been cut out of the breeding pool for a long time, either through early mortality, or displaced through female infidelity. Now, however, they’re voluntarily excluding themselves from reproduction.
In the advanced societies, I’ll bet that a higher percentage of women die childless now, even though far fewer are falling to early mortality. Many, many more are effectively choosing to not have children. A childless middle aged woman used to be the object of sympathy.
Furthermore, the number of children per mother has dropped. For every woman that has zero children, another has to have 4. A family of three children is a respectably busy household these days.
I should probably shut up about this before Roosh or Tuth bans me for concern trolling, but I am honestly wondering what the solution is, if there is one.
In the meantime, I enjoy how strong I appear against a population of increasingly pussified men.
I don’t know what the message of this article is. Life is meaningless? Ignorance is bliss? Get money, f*ck b*itches? This feels like that pseudo intellectual, #firstworldproblems type thing. A crazy philosopher/homeless bum once said, ‘no matter how important you are, no matter how great you life’s achievements, you WILL BE FORGOTTEN’. Over thinking life can have its drawbacks. Try to be happy. Try to do good. Try to love someone. Try not to hurt others. That’s about as much as there is, imho.
A few of my fellow Marines died in Iraq in their early 20’s. that taught me how quickly it can all be over and how little time you have.
I think the point is a prediction that existential angst and the terror of death keeping you awake at night is going to be a big thing among successful red-pill men. No solution, but just pointing it out for consideration.
This post makes more sense than any single statement on this website.
Not a shred of evidence exists that life is serious.
So what is the problem? You are worried about nothingness? Have fun en enjoy while it lasts. Life is too short to take it serious.
This gets at a critical issue in the manosphere. Society is poisonous and shitty, and so the urge to remove oneself from it is natural. However, men are social creatures, and something gets lost when we turn away from others and worry only about ourselves. Giving the middle finger to society, eschewing fatherhood, and living only for yourself and your own needs–is this what it means to be an alpha? Or is this what it means to be a lone wolf?
It’s being a “rake”. One who projects alphaness to women in order to bone them. Me til I was 35.
And after 35 a roué….heh,heh…
Or/and a blasé!
The first song I learned to play on the guitar was “rake” by Townes van zandt. Check it out. It is all about that transition.
It’s not about living for yourself; it’s about sharing. In my case, it’s about sharing the sperm in my balls with as many willing cum rags as possible–because I’m such a generous bastard. I give ’til it hurts.
Having been there and done that (contemplating the Void) for decades, I
can chime in with some pointers that *might* be of help to *some* of you
who are interested in this sort of thing.
After accidentally ingesting a way-too-large dose of psychedelic drugs
in my early 30s, I discovered, through that experience, that
consciousness is something well beyond the brain/mind/body.
I then went on a spiritual search to learn more. After eliminating all
the BS (and there is a TON of it out there) I discovered the following
teachers, all of whom can direct one back to one’s True Nature and do so
with great integrity.
Not for everyone though. Some people just aren’t ready for this sort of
thing. It doesn’t make sense to most people. However, if you have had at
least one strong psychedelic or spontaneous spiritual experience of
some kind or another – then the journey of discovery might be for you:
Mooji
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpw2gh99XM6Mwsbksv0feEg
Rupert Spira
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxXWjjtATq3OM545gMh9PUg
Gangaji
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuu1iS63Zl-57fceuzoPzZw
John Sherman
https://www.youtube.com/user/lookingatyourself
Tony Parsons
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0tz7Ul3KSlExXT32c8pOdw
Eckhart Tolle
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ4XquXZswWr5rK9UYyJcBg
Adyashanti
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFsaf1Rdhg5XmuEoY7jRbCg
Bentinho Massaro
https://www.youtube.com/user/BentinhoMassaro
Papaji (deceased, teacher of Gangaji, Mooji
and many others)
https://www.youtube.com/user/HarilalPoonja
Sri Ramana Maharshi (deceased, the Great
Saint, fountainhead of modern truth)
Adyashanti played a major role in my early twenties in helping me understand and integrate an extremely powerful psychedelic experience that left me shattered..
Awesome. Watched a lot of his videos on YouTube, DVDs and read his books. Never attended a meeting in person with him. Managed to meet a few of the others in person.
neuro-digital interfaces and storage will let you upload your consciousness into a computer. Not today, not tomorrow, but it’s coming. Read some Iain Banks (culture series) or Dan Simmons (Hyperion series) for the idea. Big question then becomes do you elect to end your consciousness, and, apart from that, what do you do in a post-scarcity world.
Sci fi is the future, we just don’t know when.
Even if this is true, the void still beckons.
What you are talking about is prolonging the confrontation with the void.
No getting around it in the end.
Whatever happens… happens…
Sorry to ruin your shit-taste expectations, but the decadent-degenerative forces that act upon an advanced civilization will never let a shitty sci-fi world become reality.
This article was kind of a downer. I’m going to be forty in a couple months. I haven’t banged that many hot girls and I think it’s going to be harder once you are further away in age from the girls you’re trying to get. The last thing you wanna be is the creepy old guy at the bar
Cerv, you’re approaching your age all wrong (mentally). You’re coming into (and you are in) the prime years of your life.
You should be in good health (exercise, workout, eat right) – so you physically should be in better shape than many younger guys. Plus, your life experiences (and age) will carry weight with a lot of people in conversations on a variety of topics.
I’ve always looked forward to reaching this time because I knew it would bring “balance”.
Always remember…..you are the prize. (now get to work)
This and watch the booze…I went on a bender over the new year…2 days full on….fukin heart palpitations for a whole weekend…. its an eye opener and one I don’t want to repeat and I’m in good shape….. plays hell with your cock too…
Right. Nothing wrong with drinks just have to moderate it (you’re getting older, Cerv….you old guy). Welcome to the club.
Plus, too much of it will screw up your workout routine.
That’s some very good points, Driver. It seems I’ve overlooked the wisdom in lieu of the age number.
Yeah, I’m in decent shape, have cool talents (art n music) and degrees but have horrible self esteem.
Hey, man…use that shit to your advantage.
Dress well? If not, then get to work on it.
Drink? If so, then learn about whiskey, beer, wine, etc…
You seem to have some of the equation…just missing a few others.
You are the prize, man….live it.
I’m 35, but hang out with a bunch of guys in their mid-40s. We do Vegas trips a few times a year, and no one has any problem pulling younger chicks.
If you think you can’t get young chicks, then you’re right. If you think you can, you’re also right. It’s all in your mind. 40 is not even that old. My group puts younger guys to shame because we act like hungry alpha wolves when we get together, and the girls love it.
That’s an interesting point you brought up, CJ. Maybe I should be living life according to my own specifications.
Of course you should be! The only reason you think you’d be “the creepy old guy at the bar” is because you’ve been brainwashed by fat old feminists that like to call guys creepy for going after younger hotter girls.
I’m open about preferring young women, and the single 30+ year olds in my social circle love calling me “molester”, “creepy”, “pedophile”, etc. I told them a story about how I made out with a 17 year old in Spain and they looked at me in disgust lol But their thoughts don’t bother me at all because I know how illogical they can be, plus why would I care about what old women think?
That’s awesome advice, my friend. Thank you.
Creepiness dissipates with a couple of well-placed Franklins.
Passport, man, passport. Go to Cuba, Phillipines, Venezuela, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Mexico. Don’t let the hell of American women define you.
“Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain – This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies –
The Flower that once has blown forever dies.”
― Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
“Walter Sobchak: Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.”
Thought-provoking, in the present context about the path technology is taking us down. However, I disagree with how this article paints our ancestors as complete idiots without a reflective braincell in their heads. Even going back 100 years ago the Victorians were a lot smarter than this society currently is (they did some sort of measurement of average IQ recently). Going even further back than that, they did things like build pyramids which our current civilisation can’t accomplish (Japanese engineers failed to construct replica pyramids 1/25th the size of Egyptian ones).
And if anything, they had more opportunity to contemplate their existence without so many ‘comforting’ distractions (mobile phones, email, etc), noise and entertainment.
The solution is to seek out to explore that void.
You know where this leads. To space.
Make it so.
Jean-Luc….. blue pill? Shoulda had every alien slime pussy slobbering all over his captains log…. but he ended up with the ginger doctorb……
Alright..just to confirm, you know evolution acts on populations? Not the individual’s sex, right?
I once thought like that. It was the time after I’d rejected my Roman Catholic upbringing and, I can tell you, such thinking destroys one’s sense of purpose and saps your energy for life.
Later, things changed. I had some strange experiences, met some extraordinary people and developed a set of insights into the working of life and death that has been a powerful ally in dealing with the vicissitudes of life. I am convinced that there is much more to our lives than we can normally see, that there is meaning and pattern to it all and that every single one of us matters. Bollocks to nihilism.
I wrote a book about it. It’s called The Divine Sea. There’s a lot of naval adventure, drinking, sex, the supernatural and what I now recognise to be Red Pill truths about the nature of women when they deal with men deluded by Blue Pill ideals (as I had then). Give it a try.
Good article… I think an atheistic world view leads one to that depressing and nihilistic world view.
I posted this lecture before but it seems appropriate to respost here. It’s an excellent lecture with lots of interesting ideas and thoughts. The main take-away from it is that life is suffering.. everything thinking man has to wrestle with existential demons. So how does one live life knowing nothing but the void awaits at the end.. how can you be happy and fulfilled given that as conscious beings, we are aware of our mortality and that is a cause of great suffering and anxiety for most people who don’t believe in a God and fairy-tale notions of an after life and Heaven and Hell and all that ? According to Jordan Peterson in this lecture, the answer to find something between “order” and “chaos”… where you feel intellectually, emotionally and spiritually fulfilled.. In those moments of life, life and suffering of our existence becomes eminently bearable, and that’s the best one can hope for really given that life is suffering and difficult and will be full of obstacles and pain and hardships.
Jordan Peterson on Reality and the Sacred
http://tvo.org/video/163287/jordan-peterson-reality-and-sacred-q
The other thing is that when you are “busy” with life.. with having a family. with raising children… you are way too busy and don’t have all the time and energy to spend bemoaning your existence and mortality. So perhaps there is wisdom in the tradition of pushing people to have families and raise chidren.. rather than spending t heir lives on their careers and living solitary lives. Because when you’re alone.. you have to face these existential demons constantly and every day and night.. and that is hard. Having children and having a family are also great sources of joy and consolation. So be careful about the kind of elitist attitude you seem to have when it comes to those “simpletons” who have children and families. Maybe they know something you don’t.. and are relying on tradition and wisdom of past generations.
Also.. is it really that difficult to accept your own mortality? I”m an atheist. I don’t believe in the afterlife. in Heaven or Hell.. I believe nothing but the void awaits.. but death doesn’t scare me. There is no suffering when you’re dead. No lusts for women that are unfulfilled.. no pain.. no hardships. Life is what is difficult and painful.. not death. And having suffered the last few years from an illness let me tell you. there are worse things than death.. far far worse things. If you’re lucky never to ever had to suffer an illness and have your body break down on you and not function, you would understand that. No, death doesn’t scare me one bit. Living in my current condition and thinking how I’m going to cope with it in the future is what scares me.
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
I wrestle with this concept a lot. My fiance, sister, mother, all of the women in my life are devout Christians and will have the benefit of optimism when near death. As for me, I do believe in the void and it brings mixed feelings. On one hand, my consciousness is done, over, kaput. I’m not going to be enjoying anything or meeting anyone. But on the other hand, does it matter? Death means no problems forever. No rent to pay, no shit to do, no comprehension of the fact that I lost my life. Is it really that bad? I mean I realize dying is usually not pleasant but is death really that bad? To quote the Twilight Zone. “This must be death. No fear, no terror, only peace.”
the concept of God does give one hope, while alive, that there is an afterlife. Atheism does not. Both sides of the debate can agree on that.
And that’s why many people of faith are envied.
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …”
―
Marcus Aurelius,
Meditations
“Every day above ground is a good day.”
—
Tony Montana
Scarface
Some family provider betas will be blissfully ignorant and reap some benefit of ‘love’ or ‘companionship’ from their kids/wife. Or, the more likely alternative is that they will end up like my uncle. A late 50s miserable alcoholic twice divorced, paying for the education of his second wife’s kid that isn’t is, viewed only as an ATM machine by his biological kids. Doesn’t know what he did wrong.
why did he get married the second time? my rule is, you only do it once. I did it once, then after the divorce i got a vasectomy and been pumping any pussy that i can get my hands on.
he’d been conditioned to believe that his role in life was to provide
poor guy. he needs to date a stripper asap or hire a few hookers.
If you’re getting your “hands on” pussy, you’re doing it wrong. Thanks to the vasectomy, at least, you won’t be creating any more “confused” kids. Does your ex have a bruised belly button, BTW?
Dear Internet Warrior, my kid is not confused but thanks for the parental lesson. I do not teach him to do what I did. I hope he has a solid family one day. I’m sure you’re a certified expert in marital matters. You suggest that men who are divorced, by no fault of their own, keep reproducing with other women?
Dear Whacking off Next to Women’s Changing Rooms Warrior, it was a joke. I’m sure that due to my prodigious vocabulary and flawless syntax, you believe that my words carry the weight of Solomon, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and a joke is just a joke. If you don’t believe me, just pull back the waistband of your pants and look down.
so you’re one of those guys who likes to hear himself talk? probably a “Safety” guy in your profession or a”Consultant” or “motivational speaker” . I do not need a fancy vocabulary as a penis extension. I am sorry you have to compensate for your lack of performance and size by talking a lot.
Ah, the reverse psychology gambit: someone has been reading the back of cereal boxes again. Freud is your hero, eh? As it happens, yes, I AM a well-compensated consultant. Your feigned disdain cannot hide your jealousy of well-educated, respected professionals. Do you dream of being one of us while you’re whacking it? Does your “retirement plan” have a column with the heading “Win the Lottery”? Given you predilection for dismissing those of us whose daily work routine doesn’t involve pushing a mop, emptying trash, etc., I’d say that you feel unimportant and disrespected–and deservedly so. I say that not because you do manual labor for a living–there’s no shame in that–but rather because you’re so resentful and dishonest yourself.
Speaking of compensation, you write, “I do not need a fancy vocabulary as a penis extension. I am sorry you
have to compensate for your lack of performance and size by talking a
lot.” That’s easy for you to say, because you don’t have it and you know it’s beyond your reach. Of course you would make that comment; what else could you do, but admit that you lack so much? How’s that for reverse psychology, bitch?
Go back to your unimportant job, your miserable life and play with people who are more comfortably in your intellectual league; I’m sure there’s a support group for the disenfranchised dregs like you somewhere.
I didn’t bother reading 3 paragraphs of babble but now I know I was spot on !!!
“I AM a well-compensated consultant”
Ah, you didn’t read the comment you just quoted. Got it.
BTW, how many people pay you just for the act of sharing your knowledge? Probably fewer than those willing to get a prostate exam with a hand mixer.
There was an insult on penis size, bro that commentator is an old hag who got pumped and dumped.Plus she seems bipolar too haha.
Excellent article, and excellent comments !
Lighten up Francis….. This article and the article “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” have something in common…..I’m just not sure what it is…. yet….
I’ve been put under twice for surgery…. both times the anesthesiologist told me to count backwards from 10. I think I make it to 6 before I’m knocked out. While under anesthesia, you do not dream. Your consciousness is gone. It’s not darkness, it’s absolute nothingness because you’re not even aware of the darkness.
This is how I imagine death. Once your heart stops beating, your lungs stop breathing and your brain stops functioning, then life is over. There is no heaven or hell, no afterlife; just nothingness.
I don’t see why it’s so hard for people to accept this. Live a good life with no regrets. Don’t live a shitty life on earth, expecting to have a good life in heaven.
Being unconscious is probably the closest to being dead people will feel without actually being dead for a minute or two.
Last time I got knocked out – I fell and hit my head on a stone – I noticed the same thing as you did – nothing. No thoughts, no feelings, no darkness and no light. Woke up on a bench ten minutes later like no time had passed with no memory of being unconscious.
I’d prefer to have a good life here and a good life after here.
aren’t you encroaching on religion and God here? If you take the Biblical perspective it is real simple. “Be fruitful and multiple” Your purpose is to serve God and His purpose, which is to have “dominion over animals, the elements, the Earth and space.” Isn’t that statement alpha enough for you ? Now I am a Christian but I do not have a problem with atheists or those who think the end is dull, or as you say, nothing but a void. However, to satisfy the human ego, God stated that it really does not get any simpler than what is in the written word. Your purpose is to serve God. When man was perfect, man did just that. When man defied God, he chose sin instead, which is the destruction of His purpose. Everything after the sin are the details written within the perspective religions and have been argued/fought over since human beings have inhabited the world.
I think swallowing the red pill makes one become more cynical, skeptical towards life and the meaning of things. When traditional values are no more absolute but relativistic, one starts to feel betrayed, not really in control of what he wishes and wants. Nonetheless, one has to make some choices in this changing environment and values and thus adapt somehow. But this implies paying a price, and that’s maybe this feeling of not really feeling 100% sure that what you are doing is meaningful and gives you lasting satisfaction. Perhaps this may be the void, an empty feeling at the end of the day, when you lie in bed before falling asleep and you still ask yourself all sorts of existential questions. Because you are looking for ultimate answers. Metaphysics.
Another whiny blue pill article. What’s been going on with RoK lately?
An interesting read, the comments even more so, there is a huge variety of beliefs already and the article is only a day old. I would like to throw in my own voice.
My views came into sharp focus after witnessing the unbelievable corruption in Christianity and coming into contact/conflict with Christians who were abusers of power and hypocrites. My faith was gone (It still is). Searching for something I lost myself in History, especially ancient history. History seemed far more real than God or any religion because these were only men that had lived and died, but were still remembered for their achievements and the impact they had on history and their respective civilizations.
One day after reading an historical fiction story of the battle of Cannae (Hannibal’s famous victory over the Romans) and realizing that 80,000+ Romans had died, I asked myself if that was considered a huge number or just a small fraction of the population? I then asked myself how many people have existed on this planet? The answer according to most population models is: 108 Billion. 108 Billion people total, that includes the dead and those alive today (the number is likely higher now).
Upon realizing this I came to a sort of peace about my existence on this planet. It really is statistically insignificant what I do with my life. Only a tiny percentage of people manage to make their lives transcend their own time, good or bad. Caesar oversaw the collapse of the Republic of Rome before being assassinated at 55 and Augustus saw the beginning of the Empire and the Golden age in Rome. These two men will be remembered because they changed the course of history so dramatically. But the average Lucius, and his sons and grandsons and great grandsons are long dead and forgotten.
We place far too much value on our lives as we live them, we worry far too much on the consequences of living thanks to organized religion, when in reality the consequences tend to be lost in time, unless you truly are in a position to make a real impact.
I have personally come to a place where Heaven does not appeal to me, eternal subservience is not in my nature and I would despise half the folks up there. Hell would suck, but I’d deal with it, although all of my friends would be there. Nothingness I wouldn’t know one way or the other yeah? Coming back to earth in the form of reincarnation or otherwise appeals to me far more. I’d like to see what happens to us Humans.
In the end it simply does not matter. The day that last person that knew who I was dies is the day that I will be completely forgotten.
Yes, you probably won’t succeed in changing the world, and you won’t affect the statistics significantly. We will be forgotten. Even historical figures will be forgotten eventually they just get to be talked about posthumously for longer than other people; which does them little service when they’re dead.
Even Julius Caesar was just a manifestation of larger forces, the Roman Republic had already been in a downward spiral for a few generations before he was born.
However, if you act as if everything is meaningless, you are sure to end up destroying what is likely the one life we get.
There’s billions of others out there alive right now, but you’re just one of them, your one life is infinitely valuable to you since there’s no you without it.
And it behooves us to embrace meaning, purpose, duty in this life. It’s an observable natural law that living things that embrace this principle thrive and those that do not whither and perish.
It’s a problem I’ve explored in blogs of my own.
I appreciate the response, I would like to explore these blogs of yours, however, the link you shared does not work.
I fixed it. That was from a few years ago, mostly blog at Forward Base B now and have a few guest posts on RoK under this same name.
This post was a great exploration of nothingness. It said absolutely nothing.
The last decades of my life will be spent surprising myself. Eventually those surprises will be confined to my own thoughts as my body withers away to nothing. If you can’t entertain yourself with your thoughts, the void will be all-consuming.
Alan Watts does wonders for me on this topic. He says, Tat Tvam Asi. Means, “youre it”. I cant speak for others but Ive never stopped being the Universe. The atoms that make me are included in the word Universe. I grew out of this Universe the same as everyone else. Its a closed system, nothing escapes it all gets recycled. Its all literally the same thing. When I die Ill stop being this Human, Ill hopefully wait awhile before I begin being another.
reincarnation is a comforting belief system. One can use the experience of past lives, as evidenced by musical prodigies like mozart or a genius like shakespeare.
Consider it, it makes life more meaningful than the materialist viewpoint.
There are figures of genius in western history who wrote about reincarnation, like Origen, and Pythagoras. And Henry Ford has a quote that he believes in reincarnation. So it’s not just a Eastern viewpoint.
Reincarnation is a comforting belief in the face of death and nothingness. It’s not just for Eastern people, some great Western thinkers thought it was true, such as Pythagoras, and Origen in the christian church. And Henry Ford believed in reincarnation. Genius is the fruit of experience in past lives. Think about if it makes sense.
I have heard rebirth compared to a candle flame burning. It’s not the same candle from moment to moment, but there is a continuation of the flame.
Also consider celibacy as a viable life choice for men.
You only have to read the comments to conclude that most people can and will not accept nothingness.
There just has to be more. It seems to be never enough, even this wonderful life here on a beautiful planet just won’t do. Period. As if they are entitled to more, more, more, just like feminists these days.
They keep deluding themselves with stories about reincarnation, making yourself immortal by leaving some work of art behind, reproduction so they live on in their children, God & Heaven and so on and so forth. The only logical conclusion can be nothingness. The rest is wishfull thinking. Try and be humble and appreciate this life here and now, make the best out of it and make it worth living (not working) and enjoy it while it lasts. There will be nothing after it.
Midlife crisis and the onset of middle age. And yes it does kind of suck.
I’ve got a solution, pray (maybe the rosary and breviary?) – this will eat up a ton of time (divinumofficium.com I use Divine Afflatu setting)
Well, the soon-to-be-launched World War will give some meaning to those that desire a battle to fight.
When you finally depart this world….I think you’re in for a surprise.
No worry, average man are stupid, they will breed. Not me 🙂
Yeah….this article is just one mortal man’s opinon on what wise men have been pontificating for millennia. To think that this author, who proclaims, we all go to “nothingness” is the be all end all say of the matter, is rather limiting.
Maybe nothingness is it, maybe there is more. But this article doesn’t solve that age old riddle.
Hedonism is the answer. Moderate Red Pill hedonism.
This is an issue I’ve been thinking of also. Though for me it’s more ‘And then what?’ as I’m just in my early 20s.
– I finish my education, get a decent paying job if I’m lucky, and then what?
– I start a successful business, and with a minimalist lifestyle I live relatively easily, and then what?
– etc etc
Maybe it’s due to the 20+ years the education system demands you wait until ‘life’ starts. This ‘life’ being earning money, buying crap, then paying taxes. This leads to the problem written in the article.
I love how the fuckwits who dismiss this as “blue pill” or “questions men have ask fer millinea” don’t come up with solutions.
It’s ironic that Captain Capitalism bemoans his lack of solution when I’ve never realized how beautiful his motto, “Enjoy the decline!” has always been. I don’t envy the simple-minded child-breeders, because they’re violent towards their children and society. They become so angry when someone reveals an ultra-simple Red Pill truth that their happiness is revealed to be a veneer. (And good luck getting them to accept complex, harsher Red Pill truths like “Taxation is theft”, and that their woman’s (supposed) loyalty is created through his credit card purchases…) We confront the Void and it makes us peaceful (but not necessarily happy; we can be bitter assholes about it); they avoid the Void and it makes them violent.
Nihilism on display. Sad and pathetic.
The only solution I can think of is confronting the knowledge over and over until it bores you. But I still haven’t gotten to that point, and have to personally doubt if it’ll ever work.
My dad has cancer (of the inevitably lethal kind, couple of years), and he told me how he used to have the worst mortality anxiety, but eventually got bored and accepted death without fear. I can only hope that’s not something he said simply to comfort me, so I wouldn’t be too sad for him.
Seems like we’re all becoming economists and programmers now
Not all of 20-somethings are ignorant, and those who are are learning from their mistakes thanks to information being readily available online. We’re seeing millions of young people , especially on sites like Reddit and 4chan, take a keen interest in economics, libertarianism, human biodiversity and other topics and point of views that could be deemed taboo by the liberal MSM. There’s reason for hope.
Drive it till the wheels fall off
Excellent post and the closing brought to mind a powerfully true quote from one of my favorite authors:
“Happiness in intelligent people is one of the rarest things I know.”
– Ernest Hemingway
Ignorance really is bliss. There are times I wish I didn’t know things about the world. Often I wonder if my life would feel more complete, more satisfied and ultimately more fulfilled if I was just an ignorant American nobody whose main preoccupations were the wife/kids, 9-5 work and Sunday football on the sofa.
Unfortunately, when you learn the truth about the world we live in; that it is mostly lies, fabrications and a front, and that we are racing to the Void…you feel this ever present depression. Like a rowboat caught in a maelstrom with no land or vessels in sight. Just swirling black water as you fight to row against the current.
As much as I’d like to “enjoy the decline”, I can’t help but detest it.
I think it’s a tad morbid but this reality serves to explain why the post apocalyptic storyline in film and media has seen a resurgence lately (the Walking Dead, World War Z, Mad Max:Fury Road, etc etc). A lot of people are starting to feel this way and fantasize about a world wide “Do Over”. A reset button where the modern world in all its corruption, degeneracy and emptiness in torn down in a catastrophic manner. More and more people are beginning to view a future dystopia as a better alternative to our futile attempts at current utopia.
While it looks cool on the big screen, I doubt anyone has really thought the whole thing through. Such tectonic shifts in civilization are inevitably preceded by death and destruction not seen since WWII.
In summation, I think such a tectonic shift is what will eventually await us on the other end of the Void. Nature abhors a vacuum. If there is a Void, it won’t last long. I look at the red-pill as our heads warning to what that Void may have in store for mankind.
Well there *is* a heaven and there *is* a GOD and there *is* a continuation of consciousness after you die. This question of an unyielding void is not new and people have asked “What is the meaning of it all” since before civilization. And that void if filled with only the things in this life will never be full and can never be filled with anything on this or any other planet.
Game every girl on Earth, stuff every penny there is in your bank account, and achieve super man status in the gym and the void is *still there*. Nothing you do on this Earth will last in an Earthly sense that is the doom of man. Yes you can distract yourself with sex, and toys, and video games but ultimately we’re food for worms and if that was the end we should logically kill ourselves today because why bother with anything? It isn’t the end and no one dead remains an atheist but even the devil believes in a higher power greater than himself.
If you have only yourself to hold onto what you do here won’t matter – that is true. There is only one answer to the void and if I flat out tell you I’ll be a preachy, bible thumping, (insert insult) so I won’t say that you’ll have to figure it out for yourself. Good luck.
So we are one giant Cosmic Accident, our loves and hates, our red pill/ blue pill philosophies, ultimately the lives we are building, are meaningless, the product of matter+energy+time. We all need to sit down with Quintus’ friend Cui Pertinabit. I think he can ably and convincingly address this subject.
If you cant wrap your head around the idea of intelligent design or the idea that our electromagnetic energy could continue in a distinct state after death of the body… then maybe you dont have as much philosophy time as you think.
Also, while I have fought for survival for me and my sons, I have given enormous amounts of time to considering these matters.
Your premise is shit, and your hopelessness here helps no one.
Garbage article.
“our electromagnetic energy could continue”
Your science is shit, and your cluelessness here helps no-one.
your science is shit. I have specifics I did not share here, leaving it in the most general possible terms for the sake of overall speculation.
you stupid dipshit.
Oh please share your secret wisdom with me, teacher.
I had to embrace the fact that I was going to die after I was burned in an industrial explosion at age 20.
It took time to come to grips with that, and I had to heal my own psyche; no shrink can do that. All they can do is listen and prod you in the right direction.
Part of being a man is knowing that you are going to die. That knowledge helps in deciding just how many fucks to give to anything under consideration.
Time is an illusion. Information cannot be created or destroyed. I don’t think our consciousness continues on, so much as integrates with the whole. What this is like is unknowable, and will require the obliteration of the individual, yet our individuality will live on as a memory of times past. At least that’s my best guess.
Fuck
What idiotic, historically ignorant claptrap. Men have been contemplating this matter for ages. What the heck does CC think the legions of monks of various and sundry religions do??
Just because CC chooses the path of selfish hedonism (to take as hostile a view towards his mental paradigm as he takes towards the religious) and finds that none who have gone before him have grappled with The Void doesn’t mean that none have grappled with it. It simply means that they took different paths. Given that selfish hedonism is often pursued as a form of DENIAL of The Void, ’tis no great wonder that those on it’s petal strewn path haven’t left much on the subject for CC to ponder.
Buddha and St. Augustine both trod the path of hedonism, and coming upon a fork in their path, chose another….
Is this really such a big deal?
Or is this more an American thing where their self centred way of thinking causes them to be unable to even comprehend a world without them in it?
Excellent article expressing the logical conclusion of nihilism. Fortunately, nihilism is not the only philosophy logic might dictate.
I have found there are two things materialistic science and the philosophies based upon it never address. They are: Life Itself and the reality of human consciousness. These are two things neither science nor materialism can tell us anything definitive about. As much as it understands what matter is made up of and how it is pieced together, both life and the mind remain inexplicable to the materialist mind.
Yet every single thing you can think of that gives life joy and meaning and purpose and fulfillment, including those very words themselves, exist only because of life and the mind that can experience it.
Nihilism says there is nothing beyond, above, or after this existence we call human life. Yet the very existence of both life and consciousness calls that assertion into question, challenges its arrogant presumption.
I experience hunger. Thankfully, there is such a thing as food. I experience lust. Thank God there is such a creature as woman. Everything in our physical existence has a correspondence in the real world else we could not survive.
And what about our intellectual desires? We have the desire to understand our existence, our world and our place in it. We have desires for justice, for fairness, for beauty and truth and love. Well, thankfully again. there is such a thing as intellect, an attribute of mind that appears to be able to not only perceive the world, but to also conceive about it. So it takes all those things it perceives, both objective and subjective, and attempts to integrate them into wider understandings it calls science (all branches) and philosophy (all branches). Then, from perception and conception, by and by, eventually, back to perceiving it more and more correctly; and with this new perception, to use it for its temporal benefit. Voila! By the functioning of the attributes consciousness we are made fit to live in this world. We belong here!
But then what about our other conscious desires? The desire for meaning? The desire for purpose? The desire for Truth and Transcendence? What we know as spiritual longings and lustings and obsessions? What of these desires for which we can find no correspondence nor corollary in this material, temporary world”? What then? What can this mean?
Have you ever considered the absolute impossibility that is the human mind? The human mind is capable of conceiving things it cannot perceive but which its materialistic science say must exist. Dimensions more than just the four (some would say only three) we can perceive. Yet as demonstrated in the classic book, “Flatland,”a two dimensional being can never conceive of a creature existing in three dimensions? Yet he does. How?
In Flatland it happens only because a three dimensional creature visits and reveals himself to one of its citizens – with disastrous results for the recipient of the visit, as I recall. In mankind’s case, it can be argued that the mind is capable of conceiving these higher dimensions because it is a product of those higher dimensions it cannot perceive directly, but only infer.
So. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation, which takes into account the super-conceptual ability of consciousness and the concepts it has created, is that I was made for another dimension. Another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy these desires for transcendence, for permanence, for meaning and purpose, if the very existence of these desires in my mind contradicts this material reality as I have conceived it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud and in fact, strongly implies something else. It logically implies that earthly pleasures and experiences were never meant to satisfy them, but only to arouse them, to suggest the real things. That they can only be satisfied to the degree we conform our consciousness to their truth.
There are one of two choices you can make about life and the unfulfilled and unfulfillable desires consciousness ahs created. Either life has meaning, purpose, and transcendence or it doesn’t. But to believe it doesn’t you must embrace the conclusion the character Rust Cohle in the television drama, True Detective, does when he says so famously:
“. . .I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself – we are creatures that should not exist by natural law [You mean miracles, Rust?]… We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, that accretion of sensory experience and feelings, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everbody’s nobody… I think the honorable thing for our species to do is to deny our programming. Stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction – one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal.”
Yes, he sounds so cool. So hardbitten and real. So alpha even. And if he is right then his conclusion it right. The conclusion demanded by nihilism but avoided in absurdism: suicide. Step right up, ye kings and fools.
“Six diving boards means there’s never a wait at the Empire Handcock Building. Your $100 non-refundable fee includes your last meal at our revolving restaurant at the top, a splatter-proof plastic bag with metal I.D. tag for easy identification and counsel with the clergy of your choice. Free parking with validation. So don’t delay! Take that big leap today. At the Empire Handcock Building.” (With apologies to Cheech & Chong)
Yet Cohle’s position is patently illogical even within his pessimistic, materialistic frame. He believes in evolution. Well, when evolution makes a mistake it acts quickly to correct that mistake by wiping it out. Organisms only survive if they have evolved attributes which add to and increase their survivability. Therefore, human consciousness of itself, our everyday laboring under the illusion of having a self, our every experience of life which proclaims to us and confirms to us that we are each somebody, must have survival utility. It cannot be a mistake.
Which means life as expressed in human consciousness, must have transcendence, meaning, and purpose because they contribute to our survivability. It logically follows.
Or does it?
It can be denied. Every logical truth can be denied. People deny truth and reality every day. Which, if there is a God and He created us to exercise free choice according to the light we receive, might just explain why He doesn’t overwhelm our free will with His reality. He needs us to choose freely.
And wisely.
Very true cap’… and quite depressing.
I always said “don’t lament what you can’t change” but I can’t do it with the void yet, so for now I just try not to think about it.
Ignorance is bliss and while I won’t fuck up on purpose to keep my mind occupied, I envy religious people who genuinely believe there’s something after life.
So Nihilism. This article was devoted to young men “awakening” to the very real truths nihilism posits: the realization of what death and finite-ness mean: non-existence, “the abyss” (Nietzsche), “blackness” and “void” as your article calls it. The realization that you will die and the universe will move on, as if nothing circumstantial was lost. Ultimately, life had no purpose, no end goal, and the only thing that made life bearable was the means of gathering, producing, procreating, and raising children — the pleasant distractions — who would continue the means to no end — an endless distraction. Remove the distraction, remove the survival instinct, and existence becomes “nothing more than a hiatus between two non-entities” (Nietzsche).
If that is what you meant to write in this article, Captain Capitalism, then I’m glad we see things eye-to-eye.
P.S. Can you imagine the social reaction nihilism will have when the majority of the population “wake up”? Ho-ho-ho! Things will get fun.
I’m a Christian who’s open minded to the idea that we just “end” and won’t go to some heaven place.
If that is the final truth, what’s the big deal? It’s not like you’re going to remember anything. Do you care about anything when you are sleeping? Most of the time that’s 8hr basically lost to you. So if death is a sleep you just don’t wake up from, why so scared of it? who cares? live life and when you die it won’t matter anymore.
Shitty, conclusion less, badly words article
Psilocybin helps a ton with mortality. I am no longer worried. Understood I am bound to wake up *somewhere* even if a million universes in the future. And it’ll be instant.
This is the single saddest excuse for a journalist I have ever seen, in my entire life…..
I just have no words.
“There is no “heaven.” My mind does not “continue on elsewhere” in some kind of cloudy world where I meet all my buddies and reunite with my childhood dog”
Supposing you might be wrong? You’re a smart fellow and you think logically. But logic cannot explain everything, including possible evidence of the after life.