To achieve nothing or a shadow of a substitute of the goal? I wish a house with a swimming pool, and I come from a lower class, do you really think it is achievable for someone earning lower than mediocre salary?
How big a house? And how big a pool? I know you said it’s just an example, but just thinking you have to save up and buy a pool on a meager salary then yeah, probably impossible. But a modest house near a lake? Now the whole lake could be your “pool”. Or what someone else said maybe a public pool close by.
I agree that some things are just “not in the cards” for most people. But if you change your perspective maybe you can have the things your after in a different capacity. Or else you can resign yourself to a depressing existence with the only thing you ever look forward to is the end of it.
Or else you can resign yourself to a depressing existence with the only thing you ever look forward to is the end of it.
This summarizes my mood in the recent years pretty well.
I still believe that – in the objective sense – we have very limited control and leverages in our life compared to the rich elites and as individuals we have negligible power to counter the horrors as genocides, climate collapse or lunatics like Trump or other neoliberals. However, subjectively, I am trying to think more optimistically, along the arguments you wrote, but nevertheless I still have noted in the back of my mind that this might be just useful, pragmatic self deception calculated to make the life more pleasant.
I find myself staring down that same road. Less and less things to look forward to. More bad news everyday. The people who could actually take action are busy enriching themselves. The weight of our objective reality is crushing, no doubt about it.
I’ve heard it’s not our environment that defines us, but our reaction to it. Like in LotR when Frodo says “I wish none of this had happened.” I’m always reminded of Gandalf saying back “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us.”
Maybe just acknowledging the world is fucked up and there’s not much one person can do is all we can do right now. Maybe we can find happiness despite the horrors around us. I don’t know. I hope you find some peace tho.
I’ve heard it’s not our environment that defines us, but our reaction to it.
I am not saying this is untrue, rather improbable. I believe we are products of our environment with some (small) freedom to behave differently – most people born in disfunctional environment would not achieve their full potential and exceptions are just a small fraction.
Let me add, what might be useful for you, that I think that in dealing with depressive thought the physical health or conditions are very important. While exercising did very little help to me, when the spring came and the short, cold winter days ended I stopped to have suicidal thoughts and most my days are relatively positive. Maybe my ‘optimistic self deception’ programme is successful because of that? Or the succes might be a purely psychological cause as well, I don’t know. I even thought that my good mood is unreasonable, given all the evil in the world. But I told myself to not look for reasons to not embrace these moment of joy, I just fucking need them (even if that would be dishonest to the more objective reality).
In summary, the only attitude which seems both honest but not totally depressing to me is acknowledge all the cruelty of the world, but at the same moment to keep a set of positive thoughts to the degree of self deception (e.g. that we have a bright future). These two seems contradictory, but in a dialectic or for Hegel it is common and still produces a sensible output. For some people it might help to share their thoughts or do some actions like supporting UNICEF, volunteer, or having YT channel enhancing class consciousness or highlighting injustice (this not work very much for me and people who do it frequently have doubts, but the more I respect their work).
Why do you wish to live with such a high footprint? Why not a modest apartment and a public swimming pool nearby? (Still unachievable for many, sadly, but much more realistic for anyone except the super wealthy.)
Not trying to bash on you, I really want to understand where you’re coming from.
This is my hypothetical wish for the sake of argument – an example of a common dream which is plainly unrealistic. Personally I do not have such consumerist whims.
To achieve nothing or a shadow of a substitute of the goal? I wish a house with a swimming pool, and I come from a lower class, do you really think it is achievable for someone earning lower than mediocre salary?
How big a house? And how big a pool? I know you said it’s just an example, but just thinking you have to save up and buy a pool on a meager salary then yeah, probably impossible. But a modest house near a lake? Now the whole lake could be your “pool”. Or what someone else said maybe a public pool close by.
I agree that some things are just “not in the cards” for most people. But if you change your perspective maybe you can have the things your after in a different capacity. Or else you can resign yourself to a depressing existence with the only thing you ever look forward to is the end of it.
This summarizes my mood in the recent years pretty well.
I still believe that – in the objective sense – we have very limited control and leverages in our life compared to the rich elites and as individuals we have negligible power to counter the horrors as genocides, climate collapse or lunatics like Trump or other neoliberals. However, subjectively, I am trying to think more optimistically, along the arguments you wrote, but nevertheless I still have noted in the back of my mind that this might be just useful, pragmatic self deception calculated to make the life more pleasant.
I find myself staring down that same road. Less and less things to look forward to. More bad news everyday. The people who could actually take action are busy enriching themselves. The weight of our objective reality is crushing, no doubt about it.
I’ve heard it’s not our environment that defines us, but our reaction to it. Like in LotR when Frodo says “I wish none of this had happened.” I’m always reminded of Gandalf saying back “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us.”
Maybe just acknowledging the world is fucked up and there’s not much one person can do is all we can do right now. Maybe we can find happiness despite the horrors around us. I don’t know. I hope you find some peace tho.
I am not saying this is untrue, rather improbable. I believe we are products of our environment with some (small) freedom to behave differently – most people born in disfunctional environment would not achieve their full potential and exceptions are just a small fraction.
Let me add, what might be useful for you, that I think that in dealing with depressive thought the physical health or conditions are very important. While exercising did very little help to me, when the spring came and the short, cold winter days ended I stopped to have suicidal thoughts and most my days are relatively positive. Maybe my ‘optimistic self deception’ programme is successful because of that? Or the succes might be a purely psychological cause as well, I don’t know. I even thought that my good mood is unreasonable, given all the evil in the world. But I told myself to not look for reasons to not embrace these moment of joy, I just fucking need them (even if that would be dishonest to the more objective reality).
In summary, the only attitude which seems both honest but not totally depressing to me is acknowledge all the cruelty of the world, but at the same moment to keep a set of positive thoughts to the degree of self deception (e.g. that we have a bright future). These two seems contradictory, but in a dialectic or for Hegel it is common and still produces a sensible output. For some people it might help to share their thoughts or do some actions like supporting UNICEF, volunteer, or having YT channel enhancing class consciousness or highlighting injustice (this not work very much for me and people who do it frequently have doubts, but the more I respect their work).
Why do you wish to live with such a high footprint? Why not a modest apartment and a public swimming pool nearby? (Still unachievable for many, sadly, but much more realistic for anyone except the super wealthy.)
Not trying to bash on you, I really want to understand where you’re coming from.
This is my hypothetical wish for the sake of argument – an example of a common dream which is plainly unrealistic. Personally I do not have such consumerist whims.