Do you think things are going to get better or worse?

SO YOU DO THINK THINGS WILL BE BETTER THEN

win

the tendency of chaotic systems (weather, plate tectonics, vegetation growth, Everything) to form imperfect fractals, or to sort of circle around a "strange attractor" fractal state into which the system never entirely settles but which it's always, like, romancing, always kinda cheers me up w the idea that it's in chaos that you find the shadow of the deepest order. it's enough to make me a theist! nothing to do w my life getting better, of course; my destruction will just be part of the pretty shape. but still.

I've always been drawn to this solace as well. it's certainly a kind of mystical stance, in some ways. Emerson is the king of it, to the point of self-abnegation:

So when a man is the victim of his fate, has sciatica in his loins, and cramp in his mind; a club-foot and a club in his wit; a sour face, and a selfish temper; a strut in his gait, and a conceit in his affection; or is ground to powder by the vice of his race; he is to rally on his relation to the Universe, which his ruin benefits. Leaving the daemon who suffers, he is to take sides with the Deity who secures universal benefit by his pain.

hard to answer - for me personally i don't know. it seems a foolish thing to think about. except like, things will get better when i drink this cup of tea or after i finish work tomorrow.

definitely better

wow @ that emerson quote. i need to read more emerson.

it's from "Fate"--a very moving and vital essay, still.

ty

In a lot of bad situations acceptance is the key. You need to accept that bad times are ahead and you absolutely have to become strong enough to deal with them. Things not getting better is not a viable option. I know it sounds a bit Dudley Do-Right but I have been running this shit through my head for the last year, since my wife became ill.

it's from "Fate"--a very moving and vital essay, still.

thanks for that too. Here it is: http://www.emersoncentral.com/fate.htm

emerson is a bad motherfucker, yall need to get familiar

after three years of being sick I have finally forgotten what it feels like to be healthy, so things are getting better I guess.

1 day left people

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Worse :(

mind says better, heart says worse

I think worse, too, as I mentioned earlier. And I feel perfectly ok by saying so. Yet when someone else says it with sincerity, like Tera here, I feel a tug at the heart strings.... Just wish you all a 'better'.

Getting older is one of the biggest reasons for me to say worse. I don't care for age as a number, but I see nor experience any benefits. Sure, teenage angst is a thing of the past, but it sure wasn't followed up by a calm, or gentler, more peaceful life. Everything gets harder, more complicated with age, in my experience. Jobs, money, relations, work, seeing a new youth and generation arise I will slowly lose touch with.
I gain bad memories and regret every year, my perfectionism gets worse, and it is a struggle at times to keep up with life's pace. There are good memories, occurrences, for sure, but they don't outweigh the bad ones. I don't believe in a god,I don't believe life has any goal or meaning. It is pure chance. Which is something quite profound in itself, but quite mundane all the same.

I am not depressed (any more), I enjoy things, I do my best, and would say I am doing moderately ok. But I'm a pessimist, a sceptic, a struggler, a nihilist. I thought I would shake it off after my teenage years, that it was just a flight, a pose, a flaw that could be overcome. It wasn't. Life is such a wonderful cosmic fluke, best roller coaster ride ever, something I can definitely enjoy. But it remains so so.

I am just not that good at being a human being, I think. Which is unfortunate, since I am one. I am enjoying the ride so far, sometimes, but have little hope of things getting better, as every single thing has gotten worse or more difficult. And I am a lol adult.

Tl;dr: tmi.

death is an illusion, so is suffering. and i have a lot of faith in the inherent goodness of humanity. so yeah, better all the way.

death and suffering are not illusions.

I honestly admire your stance on this. But can you explain why 'death is an illusion'? Do you mean that from a religious pov, believing in reincarnation? Or in a metaphysical way?

Because for me, death is pretty much the opposite of illusion. It is all too real.

Xp

There have been greet surprises in my life, but there are other aspects of my life things have been on a serious decline and just don't see it all improving.

*great

sorry guys i didn't want this thread to be a bummer

Yes you did Treeship, you set out to accomplish just that.

;-)

Nah, I'm cool with it. It's just the way it is. Big hug to Tera.

Thanks, I'm okay...

Hope you aren't just saying that. Do wish you the very best, you are a much loved and appreciated ilxor imho!

wish i could vote twice in this one

AWWW Thank you, I am though...

death is an illusion, so is suffering

I have a large sturdy stick you might want to meet.

Bateau eau t m

if anyone has any ideas for how things could possibly not get worse, please do share

things only ever get better because of 'er indoors, fact

i wonder how she feels about things

The big problem is that it is only human to look at the past and say "Oh i wish things had gone _this_ way" and get terribly upset at it, whereas you hardly spend any time worrying about the future. The past seems so real and meaningful and concrete and the older you get, the more past there is, adding more and more layers to what could easily be seen as the great towering disappointment that is your life so far. You can't be disappointed in the future cos it doesn't exist yet.

Before it occurs in time, a moment is full of endless possibilities. After it occurs, that moment is dead. All your memories are nothing but death.

Memories are recalled in the present moment, so that memories, no matter how well or poorly they correspond to the actual past, are not dead as they are remembered.

i spend lots of time worrying about the future and the present, p much everyone does, im sure.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

You optimists make me sick

otm

treeship voted several dozen times

the past is dead, the past is dead, the past is dead....

I feel like things are better already

well did they

hope for fred west, plan for fred durst

― mundane peaceable username (darraghmac), Monday, 22 July 2013 14:03 (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink