They beat the speed of light?

[Dogg Thang]

Nothing depresses me more than the idea that I've peaked, because if I have what's the point in continuing my existence. If I don't bring something useful/unique to the table what good am I, what have I done to justify my existence? At the end of the day we're still animals and have an in-built need to conquer and cope with adversity to feel alive, you never feel more alive than after a trialling/dangerous experience. Constant comfort leads to a content live but it also removes the highs as well as the lows in my opinion. In the old days through natural selection we praised the strongest and the fittest, and as the importance of strength has disappeared technological advancement has replaced this as our means of improving the human race.

The challenge, stretching oneself, discovering the unknown, improving that which came from before is the end goal in and of itself, regardless of the end result. I don't think you ever truly know yourself until you push yourself to breaking point, be it mentally or physically. Merely being a nice person, raising good children, etc. to me isn't unique. It's necessary but also doesn't demonstrate any creativity, ingenuity or any of the things that make us different from other pack animals.

I totally agree. I think this is excellent.

I can't yet quite reconcile it with the way you discard quality of life (which you seem to be equating only with comfort) or even quantity of life and can't really reconcile it with this either...

In a hundred years time I'll be dead and gone, as will everyone who ever knew me. If I am nothing but my physical shell that means everything I was, everything I represent is gone, dust.

...as that will be the case regardless, making those struggles and advancements worth no more than the comfort (death is a great leveller). I still don't feel I've reached the end here in terms of finding the aim.

Nevertheless, I agree with you and I love people taking on challenges, motivating themselves and others to do better, not accept things as they are, to push boundaries. I think all that is excellent.

[Fader209]

Neutrino. Knock knock.



Best CERN joke ever?

[Brad]

Sorry mate we don't serve neutrinos.
A neutrino walks into a bar.

['Press Start']

It's necessary but also doesn't demonstrate any creativity, ingenuity or any of the things that make us different from other pack animals.

Because if we do not change the world the children will if we give them the tools, thats what seperates us. Great post though.

[kryss]

A photon dated a neutrino once, but broke it off as he was moving too fast for her.

I'll get me coat...

[Dogg Thang]

A photon dated a neutrino

A dated neutrino is an oldtrino.

If you hadn't already said 'I'll get me coat', this is where I'd write that.

[Charlie]

Nothing depresses me more than the idea that I've peaked, because if I have what's the point in continuing my existence. If I don't bring something useful/unique to the table what good am I, what have I done to justify my existence? At the end of the day we're still animals and have an in-built need to conquer and cope with adversity to feel alive, you never feel more alive than after a trialling/dangerous experience. Constant comfort leads to a content live but it also removes the highs as well as the lows in my opinion. In the old days through natural selection we praised the strongest and the fittest, and as the importance of strength has disappeared technological advancement has replaced this as our means of improving the human race.

The challenge, stretching oneself, discovering the unknown, improving that which came from before is the end goal in and of itself, regardless of the end result. I don't think you ever truly know yourself until you push yourself to breaking point, be it mentally or physically. Merely being a nice person, raising good children, etc. to me isn't unique. It's necessary but also doesn't demonstrate any creativity, ingenuity or any of the things that make us different from other pack animals.

Sounds like you're struggling with existentialism. Over-thinking your personal role in the great scheme of things. You don't need to be useful, that's Western culture, Western bull****, seeping into your consciousness. You just need to be.

With regards to control and mastering nature. There's one area mankind has the right to master, to have dominion over, to shape to his will, and that's inner space: our minds. You're talking abour mastering nature, we don't even have mastery over ourselves. I'll wager almost every human being on the planet wishes he could change something - something within his power - about himself, be it to exercise more or eat less or be braver or learn to keep his mouth shut, a little bit more caring, more generous with his time, and so on and so forth - but most can't. And yet that more than anything improves our life. Why are we so focused on the difficult and complex ways of making life better, why do we overlook the simple? Maybe because we don't like dealing with ourselves? Maybe we don't want to face our real selves?

As for highs and lows, it's all relative, highs create lows, extreme happiness creates extreme sadness, thinking something as beautiful immediately means you will find the opposite ugly, and so it is with good and bad, once you label soomething as good, bad immediately pops into existence, and so on and so forth. Opposites often amount to the same thing, have their roots in the same thing. It is Nature's nature to seek the middle ground and, as you pointed out, we are nature. You don't see the raven or the bumble bee or the horse struggling with existentialism, you don't see them trying to be what they aren't, chasing happiness, trying to be useful, interfering with the way of things, they're content to simply 'be'. They follow their nature. And in that sense they are wiser than most people.

As for pushing yourself to breaking point to discover what we are, again it's a difficult way of arriving at an easy destination. There's a far easier way. Sit down in a room alone, close your eyes, empty your brain and search yourself. You'll soon discover who you are, what you want, whether you like yourself. Your conscience, your silent inner voice, will soon let you know. And once you hear it you'll have no choice but to live according to it's (which is really 'your') true nature. Everything is at it's best when it follows it's inner nature. If a plant cannot live according to its nature; it dies, so too a man. Hence most men being seemingly dead inside.

Struggling to improve, make wealth, be important, be popular, have power, impress, these are all of limited value compared to learning to 'be'. There is no happiness like that which wants for nothing. That's true contentment. That's what we should be aiming for. Why do we want to improve everything but ourselves?

['Press Start']

This thread is full of brilliant points of views. What other video games forums contains such wealth!

Great post charlie.

[Super Grover]

Liking your post Charlie.

Certainly the post, and topic in general, is not something you usually come across on a gaming website.

This place is all the better for it I feel.

[Dogg Thang]

I love much of what you say Charlie. But the search (if it even is a search) for happiness from within has bugged me in recent years. The reason - if we're happy while those around us are living in hell, that sort of makes us assholes. At least, that's what I think it would make me. For me, I do want to improve the world. I want to make things better, if even in small ways, for those around me and those even nowhere near me. And I mean real improvements, not just finding inner happiness or contendedness because I think that's a trap - that allows awful stuff to happen to us and others, even if we're so blissed out we don't notice. It allows others who aren't on our happy trip to take advantage of us. And we won't act when they do because we want for nothing, which lets others take everything.

I'll give you an odd example of how I started to feel this. I got a flashback to the Muppet Babies (remember those?). It was all about the great things you could do in your imagination and I thought, well kids don't need help with imagination. That comes naturally to them. So who is this aimed at? And then I pictured a kid living in the worst conditions, maybe even captive. For that kid, the imagination can be an escape. Just like our contended wanting for nothing - it reduces the importance of the external world.

Well I reject that.

If our situation needs to be better, I don't think retreating into our own heads is the thing to do. Oh, it may well make us happy but it allows that situation to continue. Not just to us, but others. It feels like self-induced blindness. No. That's when we need to face the external world and resist the **** and make it better for everyone. That Muppet Babies kid needs to get out of that situation. And, to be honest, this world has a hell of a lot of improving to do before we get to a point where I'd think I had any business feeling content.

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of what you're saying but only in a sort of small slice of our life amount. Like, we can use it to help us, get us through our days and understand ourselves better. I think that's all great. But when it becomes a replacement for facing the world and improving it, for me personally I think I'd feel all sorts of wrong about it. Good thoughts though.

[Rossco]

I've missed alot of this conversation and will read it later but I'm just commenting on what Charlie said about breaking point because I disagree with it personally. I don't agree that sitting down in a room alone, and searching yourself to know who you really are is any replacement for pushing yourself to breaking point mentally or physically. How can you possibly know what kind of decisions you will make without being in such a situation.

An off topic example I like to use for this kind of discussion is when I go up the hills in severe weather such as freezing cold temperatures, 100mph+ winds, thunderous rain and snow up to your knees not being able to see 10 metres in front of you. Alot of people wouldn't even get out of bed knowing thats how the weather would be but I thrive on it. I love pushing myself through the pain of various injuries over the years. I love testing my mettle, seeing how far I can go, how much a beating I can take from the elements. I think it's character building. That will to stand up against what most others would not just to achieve something, just to say I got to the top of that mountain that day in those conditions.

Now before I done that kind of thing, I had no way of knowing that's how I'd tackle such a situation. I thought of myself to be a wimp and that I'd bottle it or give up before I even started. There's no amount of time I could have spent in a room alone working out that I would love pushing myself to breaking point. So my point is, you have to experience life and difficulties to actually know how you deal with them and what kind of person you are. This inner voice and conscience stuff doesn't sit well with me for that type of thing.

IMO.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah that all sounds good and all Rossco but I once put a whole pack of Fishermans Friends in my mouth in one go so, you know, you've a long way to go before you're as hardcore as that.

[Rossco]

Touch

[Brad]

Yeah that all sounds good and all Rossco but I once put a whole pack of Fishermans Friends in my mouth in one go so, you know, you've a long way to go before you're as hardcore as that.

This but with Victory Vs!

[dataDave]

Try snorting Olbas Oil then get back to me.