I know I am not the only that feels like my interactions in the world are empty. In my case it is because I see the world the ruling class has setup for what it is. Often people use the movie The Matrix to describe this phenomenon and in general, I get this, however it is often common to start thinking all of life is an illusion or that we are in a simulation. This leads to thinking nothing matters which is far from the truth and dangerous for your health. This is why I personally don't say the matrix.
The ruling class keeps us distracted with fictions so we don't see each other or the real world. I can't remember the exacts but I read an article where the author described this phenomenon like a wild west movie set. It looks like a real town, with a salon, bank, and general store but you walk on the other side and you see that the buildings are not real. I find this analogy much better. We don't have to stand in the fake town square, we can walk off set.
The real kicker is that this illusion is built and maintained by those under the "elite". Us. Our family. Our friends. Those around us. And we don't have to participate, we can build our own town we just have to learn how. The world is very different from what we were taught. I am not going into the particulars in this blog but I will say this information is out there.
I have to go to Wild West movie set 5 days a week, and it bogs me down. It eats me up. I feel unseen, neglected, and uncared for. I always keep my eyes open and search for those who feel trapped that are just waiting for me to notice them. Those around me are only interested in participating in the rat race and then distracting themselves with movies, TV shows, alcohol, etc.
I recently started a philosophy meetup group in the biggest town near me. The idea was to have real face to face conversation. Everything online is divisive and curated and it adds to the loneliness. I wanted to create a space where it wasn't about distractions but exercising our thinking and communication. But no one ever shows up. A couple of people occasionally but everyone is always busy. I am busy too. I am at a lose of what to do.
I will never give up, I may get tired and feel defeated but as hard as it is to live in an illusion where others think I am the crazy one, there is something so powerful and beautiful holding me up. The goodness is stronger. I was made for this and I know if I can, then others can. Maybe it is you. I am here to find out.
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Will
The Western movie set is truly soul-sucking. Much of it can be blamed on the online infrastructure, but that's a reflection ultimately of our postmodern culture, which has diminished individuality and good character in favor of personality and grandstanding, thereby eroding human connection. Really, the only solution to this is a genuine engagement with philosophy and introspection, but these sorts of things have been deemed "elitist" and "selfish" and so-on because improving the individual, which poses a threat to the personalities of others because of comparative value. Philosophy, that is, which provides the individual knowledge and pride and purpose, is treated as a threat to the persons of others, who believe themselves to be harmed by any inequality, including that between virtue and vice, an inequality that moves us forward. This is a fundamental error that is ultimately psycho-spiritual in nature, and so relies on introspection and self-reflection to get out of.
When I was younger I had a preconceived notion of philosophy. I thought that everyone could do philosophy and I didn't understand why everyone always brought up famous philosophers instead of thinking for themselves. I avoided using the term for what I did, I just thought "I like to think". I thought it was pretentious.
But now that I have grown more, I think I was self conscious and thought I was undeserving of doing philosophy. I didn't want to look into philosophers because it showed how less I was. I was scared to admit how much developing I needed to do. It is ok to learn from others. You need to be secure in who you are as an individual to be able to learn from others, otherwise you just regurgitate. I was all kinds of mixed up. I wonder if others have this same problem.
by AnarchRizzy; ; Report
Everyone can and does philosophy. But that is different from engaging with philosophy consciously and with effort. The problem is often that people confuse feeling for thinking, such that they feel that when they feel they are thinking, but that is not the case. Thinking is of a higher order than simple feeling is, and it takes time and concentration to do well. Everyone can and does do it, but not everyone engages in it deeply. This is where is it useful to learn from great thinkers, and it is also the cause of jealousy. But that jealousy can be defeated by becoming a great philosopher for oneself, something that everyone can do, insofar as there is nothing external keeping them from doing so.
by Will; ; Report