(March 10, 2022 at 12:51 pm)Ahriman Wrote: Why is life trying to keep me trapped in high school forever? I am 30 years old (almost 31) but I can't move on from high school. I've had many dreams about being back in school, and the dreams have a feeling of not being finished with school yet. I never smoked weed in high school, but I smoked for years after graduation, but now, life has made sure I can't smoke weed anymore, so I'm back to not smoking, ala high school. YouTube has created personalized playlists for me, without me doing anything, and I am now addicted to the playlists, just like how I was addicted to listening to CD's in high school. This has left me feeling unfree. There was a brief period several years ago when I had just found out about a particular genre of porn, I would smoke weed and watch the porn and have a really great time. That was probably the freest I've felt since graduating high school, but that's over and done with. What kind of game is life playing here? Life wants me to listen to music (constantly) and not smoke weed. This isn't what I wanted.

I believe it was Sam Harris who remarked that every moment we're engaged in trying to change the contents of our consciousness into something else. If we're sad, we are trying to be happy. If we're happy we're trying to find that special something. If we find that special something, we want to fill the hole we have from a lack of purpose. And on and on and on. Change is the only constant. Look at it this way, if you weren't constantly changing, trying new things, seeing if the grass is greener over there, then your species probably wouldn't exist. It's our capacity to change and adapt which is what makes us such a successful species.

When a person goes to college and gets a "good job" that pays decent money, or a lot of money, then you know that person is a fundamentally greedy person. They could've chosen to live on welfare, but they wanted (not needed) the money. They trade their freedom for money. What do you think nurses, doctors, lawyers, psychologists etc. all are? Wage slaves. A person who lives on welfare is (clearly) not as greedy as the college educated person, and also, the former has more freedom than the latter. The welfare person is effectively saying they don't care about having lots of money, and there is wisdom in that.

Some people train for, and do what they have a passion for. Being able to make a comfortable living is icing on the cake...not necessarily greed.

Enough now with trying to convince us that being a lazy person, such as yourself, is some sort of morally superior position.

(March 10, 2022 at 10:35 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Some people train for, and do what they have a passion for.  Being able to make a comfortable living is icing on the cake...not necessarily greed.

Enough now with trying to convince us that being a lazy person, such as yourself, is some sort of morally superior position.

If someone offered me a million dollars in cash, I would burn it in front of them. How many other people would do that? I might be lazy, but I am far wiser than most people.

Or, perhaps, a wiser person might donate that money to a worthy secular cause.

(March 10, 2022 at 10:43 pm)Foxaire Wrote: Or, perhaps, a wiser person might donate that money to a worthy secular cause.

Not a wise action.

(March 10, 2022 at 10:42 pm)Ahriman Wrote:

(March 10, 2022 at 10:35 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Some people train for, and do what they have a passion for.  Being able to make a comfortable living is icing on the cake...not necessarily greed.

Enough now with trying to convince us that being a lazy person, such as yourself, is some sort of morally superior position.

If someone offered me a million dollars in cash, I would burn it in front of them. How many other people would do that? I might be lazy, but I am far wiser than most people.

You most certainly are not wiser than anyone.  You are a troll...and becoming more annoying with each passing day.

If a blind evolutionary impulse, and only that, was responsible for "creating" humanity, why do we ponder such things as love, truth, justice, beauty......and beauty is especially important, why would there be beautiful humans? There didn't need to be beautiful humans......cave people were ugly as fuck. We could've stayed that way forever. I find it impossible to believe that mere "evolution" would've allowed for such beautiful humans. Even if mankind started out as the product of blind evolution, God must have seasoned the bland meal of proto-humanity with everything in His cupboard, and voila. Beautiful humans.

It's like a theist, only less intelligent.

(March 10, 2022 at 10:32 pm)Ahriman Wrote: they don't care about having lots of money, and there is wisdom in that.

I won't pass judgment on "wage slaves" or people who get degrees in order to get a job. If the world is set up in a certain way, it's rational to fit into it to a certain extent, even if we can imagine much better ways to set it up.

I will agree with you, though, that there is wisdom in not caring about money, or about aiming at things other than money. Accumulating more money is seen as such an enviable thing that we may not even think about how wise it is. There is certainly also wisdom in paring back one's desires, and living in such a way that the acquisition we need money for is held at a minimum.

There's a very common idea that when people "advance," they get more complicated. Like if you ask what an advanced civilization would look like, it might well involve rocket ships and extreme high tech. Very few people would say that if we were truly advanced then we could sit still on a rock in the garden for a few hours, enjoy the sounds and the smells, and not have any sort of emotional or mental disturbance disrupt our peace. 

Insofar as money alleviates suffering, then it's good for people to get money. But lots of suffering is probably alleviated better in other ways.