Fear and Self-Loathing

[Rumckle]

You! Yes, you! All of you down there! God is watching and He knows. Oh yes, He knows. He knows your sins. From the tiniest to the largest, He knows your sins. The sin of obsessing over the meaningless. The sin of going to crappy bars playing the same crappy forty songs every week. The sin of staring at that screen, the screen that repeats the same shit over and over. He knows.

And you! The people standing in the back, looking smug. Do not think that you have been overlooked by the almighty. He knows of your sins, too. The sin of continually repeating the same argument, and not listening to the reply. The sin of reading just to spout some bullshit quote that you do not understand. Your addiction to the lies and rhetoric of silver tongued daemons. The sin of continued discontent without attempting to initiate change. Oh yes, God knows.

You are all guilty. God judges you all harshly. Yes He does, repent sinners, lest you taste his vengeful wrath. You are all guilty, you all have sinned. And it is a grand sin, under which all the above fall. The deadliest sin of all; the sin of contentment. Yes, contentment, my friends. The sin for which you shall all burn, the sin of which you are all guilty.

But do not fear, my friends, no do not fear, for saviour is at hand. Oh yes, repent dear friends, but listen closely, for I have the answer that you seek. I have the answer to save your souls from eternal pain. Fun! Yes, that is the answer friends, fun.  Only through fun can you be saved from the sin of contentment.

It is simple my friends, yes, but it isn't as easy as you would think. You see, you need to be serious about having fun. It isn't always easy to have fun, no, but it is necessary. So you need to try my friends, you need to be serious about having fun. If not for yourselves, then for your eternal souls.

Hallelujah!

[ThatGreenGentleman]

God is watching and He knows. Oh yes, He knows. He knows your sins.

Sooooo...... I'm guessing we all should get restraining orders now? 

[Cramulus]

Interesting...

here's what I find so interesting about it, though it may not be what you intended


the title immediately reminds me of Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling

in it, Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. You'll recall that Abraham always wanted a son, and he finally got one, and God told abe to go up to the mountain and sacrifice the kid.

So Abraham walks up the mountain with his son, debating whether or not he should do it.

It raises some interesting questions. Like---

Does God's Will supersede ethics? If God wants you to murder your son, does it matter that this is considered wrong by all humans?

It touches on stuff like certain religious serial killers. Or David Koresh. He thought he was the reincarnation of Christ, he was doing what he thought God wanted him to do -- so is he in hell? If I believed in hell I'd certainly wonder about that.

How can you know if it's Gods voice directing you, or just other forces you're mistaking for God? (see also: the Nafs)

Kierkegaard's answer is that you just have to have faith. If you believe that God is speaking to you, you've just gotta do what he says.


But most of us around here are markedly agnostic. "God's Will"? To a Discoridan, isn't that just the imperative to have fun? To ride the sacred chao down in a blaze of glory?

If fun will save our souls, what if we find it fun to do horrible destructive things? What if the drive for fun makes us nasty, brutish people? It's kind of a selfish way to go, right? Is fun enough of a divine imperative that we should put everything else on hold for it?

[LMNO]

It appears that, as with most things Discordian, there are unwritten commands.

In this case, it's "Have the Fun you want to have, [but accept the consequences]. "

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Hmmm.

While it was an interesting rant, I have to say that I am rather a big fan of contentment. It seems very spoiled to deem it a sin. Kind of like having the luxury of boredom, or the safe, comfortable vantage point of thrillseeking the ugly, dirty dangerous underbelly when you can go home to a nice house in the suburbs.

I do, however, agree that Fun is Important.

[East Coast Hustle]

to quote a band I hate, "satisfaction is the death of desire". Not that there's anything wrong with someone who wants to be/is fine with being content, but I've never been privileged or spoiled and I can get down with LGS's program. Some people are really just THAT driven.

[Rumckle]

SNIP

If fun will save our souls, what if we find it fun to do horrible destructive things? What if the drive for fun makes us nasty, brutish people? It's kind of a selfish way to go, right? Is fun enough of a divine imperative that we should put everything else on hold for it?

I'd think that if you really did get happiness from being cruel and horrible to everybody, there may be something wrong with you (not saying that sometimes this may be normal, ie revenge, but that is a very difficult kettle of fish). Maybe at the point in time you may get a rush from kicking a kid in the face, but the guilt you feel later will probably get rid of an happiness you feel from the act. The other option, if someone does have fun doing horrible things they are probably a sociopath, and it is hard to expect a sociopath to act in the same way as everyone else. (That is not to say that sociopaths are exempt from our rules, just that they don't understand them, and are rather unpredictable in that sense.)

Regarding God, well I always found it funny to think of God as omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent. Really, God's a bit of a dick.

Though in consideration of God's Will and ethics, people who think of the two as related, would say that morality stems from God, as God is the pinnacle of goodness. And if God commands something of a person, I'd say that is akin to God himself doing it. So the question is, can God be unethical? (Given that He is the pinnacle of goodness, and ethics stem from His goodness).

I always saw the best way to reconcile this apparent problem in taking a Nixon-esque argument. It isn't ethically wrong when God does it.

[Rumckle]

Hmmm.

While it was an interesting rant, I have to say that I am rather a big fan of contentment. It seems very spoiled to deem it a sin. Kind of like having the luxury of boredom, or the safe, comfortable vantage point of thrillseeking the ugly, dirty dangerous underbelly when you can go home to a nice house in the suburbs.

I do, however, agree that Fun is Important.

I guess the point I was trying to make, is that contentment isn't really happiness. I mean watching TV for 10 hours a day may make you feel content, but it is nothing compared to how you feel when you doing something like going for a jog, building something, or whatever. Even though those activities are harder than just sitting watching TV.

Also, I'm not trying to say that lazing around being bored is bad, per se, but if you spend your entire life doing that there may be something wrong with you.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'd love to consistently experience contentment. It's just not really in my grasp at the moment. I can't help but wonder about those who are able to achieve it, but decide it's too boring for them. If it were true contentment, it wouldn't be boring, because boredom is a form of discontent, right? So it sounds like you're saying  that only unhappiness makes you happy? Sounds so angsty. Maybe we're talking about something else entirely.

I don't see what being driven has to do with being discontent. You seem to be implying that high achievement cannot exist at the same time as contentment. How are you defining contentment? What does it mean to you?

Merriam-Webster defines "contented" as "feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contented

Wikipedia calls contentment "the experience of satisfaction and being at ease in one's situation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contentment

If you're not contented, you're dissatisfied. I don't really get off on being dissatisfied, plus chronically dissatisfied people are a pain in the ass to be around... like my ex. What makes you feel pleasure at your lot in life is different for everyone; you can't really pit a pin on contentment and label it as one particular way of life.

As for satisfaction being the death of desire, why do we need to go around inventing new things to WANT, anyway?

[Placid Dingo]

On contentment: It's worth reading (struggling) through the Hindu text of the Bhadgvad Gita (<Inevitable spelling mistake in there.)

Within that philosophy, contentment is fairly high up, to the point where ambition is seen as one of the great undesirables, and readers are warned to avoid fruitive (productive) action.

[Rumckle]

I'd love to consistently experience contentment. It's just not really in my grasp at the moment. I can't help but wonder about those who are able to achieve it, but decide it's too boring for them. If it were true contentment, it wouldn't be boring, because boredom is a form of discontent, right? So it sounds like you're saying  that only unhappiness makes you happy? Sounds so angsty. Maybe we're talking about something else entirely.

I don't see what being driven has to do with being discontent. You seem to be implying that high achievement cannot exist at the same time as contentment. How are you defining contentment? What does it mean to you?

Merriam-Webster defines "contented" as "feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contented

Wikipedia calls contentment "the experience of satisfaction and being at ease in one's situation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contentment

If you're not contented, you're dissatisfied. I don't really get off on being dissatisfied, plus chronically dissatisfied people are a pain in the ass to be around... like my ex. What makes you feel pleasure at your lot in life is different for everyone; you can't really pit a pin on contentment and label it as one particular way of life.

As for satisfaction being the death of desire, why do we need to go around inventing new things to WANT, anyway?

Maybe contentment is not the right word.

I'm trying to say why just go through life feeling just OK, when with a bit of effort you could feel great.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'd love to consistently experience contentment. It's just not really in my grasp at the moment. I can't help but wonder about those who are able to achieve it, but decide it's too boring for them. If it were true contentment, it wouldn't be boring, because boredom is a form of discontent, right? So it sounds like you're saying  that only unhappiness makes you happy? Sounds so angsty. Maybe we're talking about something else entirely.

I don't see what being driven has to do with being discontent. You seem to be implying that high achievement cannot exist at the same time as contentment. How are you defining contentment? What does it mean to you?

Merriam-Webster defines "contented" as "feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contented

Wikipedia calls contentment "the experience of satisfaction and being at ease in one's situation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contentment

If you're not contented, you're dissatisfied. I don't really get off on being dissatisfied, plus chronically dissatisfied people are a pain in the ass to be around... like my ex. What makes you feel pleasure at your lot in life is different for everyone; you can't really pit a pin on contentment and label it as one particular way of life.

As for satisfaction being the death of desire, why do we need to go around inventing new things to WANT, anyway?

Maybe contentment is not the right word.

I'm trying to say why just go through life feeling just OK, when with a bit of effort you could feel great.

Or things could go south in your pursuit of happiness, and you end up miserable and fucked-up, as is often the case.

[BadBeast]

Well fuck my old boots!
You mean Ceiling Cat really is watching me masturbate?

[BadBeast]

Well fuck my old boots!
You mean Ceiling Cat really is watching me masturbate?

Anyway, I wasn't masturbating! Just having a bit of a scratch. (And, what a man does in the privacy of his own car, is his own business!)

[Doktor Howl]

Why the fuck are you talking to yourself?