Dave,
This is kind of what I've been saying, or thinking, for a while. Truth does not bring happiness. There's nothing in it for you. Thanks for stating this so clearly. You've been very direct here.
Good to see we're on the same page, Dave.
If you want the good, seek the good. Truth is just truth - "beyond" good and evil. If the good is your goal, then truth is just a tool. But - don't you need some wisdom to know what is good and what is not?
When you have the most absolute wisdom, and absolutely no illogical thoughts...then you are beyond good and evil, like you said. So you can't have some wisdom to know good from bad. It will destroy those two things.
To know good and bad, it takes emotion. What makes you feel bad, is bad. Truth denies everything human in us, including emotion.
But it's impossible to hold back emotion. We are all human, and no one is any greater. No one is perfectly enlightened, at least in my opinion.
Haven't Zen masters said that complete and total enlightenment was "nothing special"? (Mountains are mountains, it turns out.)
They say a lot of shit, and most of it means very little to me. I don't know why they're praised for their wisdom.
I must say that I have central heating and plumbing, and spend very little time chopping wood or carrying water. But I go about my daily routine; I do what is necessary, and try to do it with mindfulness.
As a means to truth? Because trying to do something is totally based in ignorance, and being based in ignorance is not a good way to truthfulness.
I don't see it as a desire to dispel ignorance... more like, when the attachment to delusion drops away, truth is what's left. Delusion actually takes a certain amount of energy to maintain. The truth goes on, on its own, with or without you.
This is true.
If you take it seriously, eventually it is reflected in how you live. It may take a while.
I can't take it seriously anymore. Sure, it's a part of me to follow this course of thought now. It's a natural thing, and it encompasses all of my day without my trying...but to take figuring out the truth seriously is pretty ignorant.
How can you NOT live your life?
Of course, this is just a way of saying something else. Living your life, in the sense that I meant it, was to not be stuck in a rut.
Anyway, this forum (in various incarnations) has had tremendous influence on how I actually live my life - in particular, in breaking free of Woman.
Yes, it took a long time.
Same for me, but now I don't see a need to break free from Woman anymore. I talk to a bunch of them now. I'd date one. We are all human.
Perhaps you meant your mental attachment to Woman...yes this is probably a good thing to break free of, as long as it's done healthfully. Not the way it's been done in the past at this forum.
Recently, the discussions on this topic have been pretty sane and reasonable.
I have less friends than I used to. Generally I put less and less work into maintaining those relationships. Same with family. That stuff has kind of been falling away. That's what happens when you lose your attachment to Woman. It falls away. You can't push it away.
Clearly I'm turning into the cranky old man that lives by himself, has no friends and is considered kind of wierd. (I'm okay with that.)
When you let things fall away, you're being feminine. Your personality has turned into a barren landscape, or a gigantic vacuum. Masculinity is making something of yourself.
Our lives are totally in our hands, and if we throw up our hands in the air, and say "Truth controls it all, I don't!" then we stop being in charge of who we are and we become whatever way the world wants us to become...which usually turns out to be a boring, pessimistic asshole.
Philosophy should be a means to an end, rather than the end itself. Because then the philosophy is taken in a masculine manner, rather than a feminine manner. It should enrich one's life, and not suck it dry.
By the way, I've seen myself going in the same direction as you. I am asking myself if that's what I actually want to become.
I've been reading some Lovecraft-style fiction lately, and I think it's an interesting metaphor here. The way things are structured in the Lovecraft universe, the more you learn about how things actually are, the more you go insane. You are safe from the horrors lurking in other dimensions, until you can see them. Then they can see you, and it is too late; and the horror of it drives you insane. This is acted out again and again in the Lovecraft mythos. There is always someone who is seeking out this forbidden knowledge, and generally ends up being destroyed by it, one way or another.
This was probably an unconscious attempt at defending himself from the truth. The truth is, though, that the truth isn't so bad. It's what you do with it that can be devastating and horrific.
I feel kind of like that guy, continuing on, seeking after knowledge, knowing that in the end it will destroy me. How can the ego seek out the death of the ego?
Then we have been riding in the same boat. I'm sick of being taken, so I'm jumping out and swimming where I want to go.
It's easy for the ego to seek out the death of itself...when it reaches the point where it's sought everything else out and it's still dissatisfied.
But will it ever die? I don't think so. It would take some great honesty, which is very rare.
But, somehow, that is who I am, that's how the story goes. Is that better, or worse, than a story where I get married and have kids? Have a life like most Americans? I'm no longer capable of doing that.
If it's better or worse is all determined by what you would like to do with yourself. Being at this forum makes it hard to come back to our old selves. We build up so many barriers against certain things...like being wrong, or like getting married. This place can make a person argumentative and pissed off all the time. It doesn't have to, but it seems to do that.
Is this what we want for ourselves?
The only way I can see it, is that it is wise to be wise (and to seek wisdom), and it's foolish to be foolish (unwise). Kinda by definition.
Depends on your values. I say it's wise to do what you want, and foolish to do what you hate.
Beyond that, it's a matter of values. What do you value, and why? If you value, say, being in good health more than you value understanding metaphysics, then maybe your time is better spent researching nuitrition and doing pushups.
Philosophy is not for everyone, and in fact it is for almost no one.
Not to disagree, but I think philosophy is for everyone. Just not in its current state. Everyone acts out of the same impulse as the philosopher.
There's also the issue of mental health. Constantly questioning your most basic understanding of reality puts a certain strain on your mind that's unhealthy. The human mind wants to have a certain understanding of the world that it can take for granted, as beyond doubt - that's part of the human need for religions. To keep pressing in that direction is unnatural. For most people, it's better to have some story, even if it involves Zeus or Jehovah or whatever, than to have no story and say "I don't know," or realize your understanding is partial.
But when you've gone this far - can you find a comfortable story, and stop there? Maybe one based in science, with a Big Bang and so on? Or will you just continue to question, always?
When you become wise (stupid) enough, there's no more questioning. You're just like, "Yes, I don't know." People are stupid because of their delusions, but when you have none, you also have no intelligence or anything by which you can be said to be wise.
You're just a human being. Living your life.