A Brief History of Madness (659 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.9 on 27 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by S.O.S. (View user info) at 2006-01-24 11:57:44 EST
"The earth is a space station and we're all here to go." ~William S. Burroughs
If you've never looked up at the Milky Way on a clear night with no streetlights, no cars, and miles from all signs of civilization, then I apologise, but this post is not for you.
Every day, we run around on the surface of this sphere we call earth - consuming or just senselessly destroying everything in our path. First of all, just THINK about that...
We are walking on a ball in the middle of a seemingly ENDLESS ocean of NOTHINGNESS that is only broken up by mysterious spirals and smudges of matter all moving away from each other and expanding into god knows what, and all we can think about half the time is what's on TV, how this skirt will look with that blouse, or why people always insist on blowing each other up.
It's madness. And if that's not reason enough to blow your brains out, I don't know what is.
The harsh reality is, we're so hopelessly isolated and insignificant, there isn't a number small enough to express this insignificance in relation to the rest of the universe...but somehow we are able to get by. How? How are we able to forget the parts we need to forget in order to maintain a semblance of order in our world? How do we keep from running ourselves through everyday, spilling our guts on the floor for everyone else to slip on?
It's called DIVERSION. The only reason humans have been able to deal with their extraordinary level of intelligence is their mastered ability to forget just how insignificant they are. To this end, nature has provided us with the useful little tool - The Ego.
Thinking we are somehow special or important makes it a bit easier to forget that we are perched headlong on the edge of cosmic destruction at any moment, that any number of rougue, floating objects in our solar system are more than enough to wipe all trace of us from the universe in a matter of minutes like an anthill in a sandstorm. On second though, put that anthill somewhere in the middle of the Sahara desert and you can begin to grasp the extent of our isolation.
All these things we grasp onto, to assert our importance in the face of a nature that is overwhelmingly oblivious to our presence, are like the security blanket of a child, or the pacifier on which they suckle. It is designed specifically to distract us from something we're not ready to see at this juncture in evolution.
What do you think of when you think of madness? Do you picture men that are somehow inferior? Do you see their raving and their systematic activities as involuntary acts or a fractured mind? Have you ever considered the possibility that some of them might be mad because they have simply lost the ability to fool themselves any longer and now lie naked and exposed to the full force of universal isolation, struggling to manually distract themselves since their automated process is simply not functional for some reason?
You tell me who's higher on the scale of evolution... You tell me what comes next for us. Are we meant to live in this form forever and ever? Will we continue to mutate into some unrecognizable monster? Will we eventually slip back into the ocean? Will we continue to refine our minds until we become gods who can exist without bodies?
What comes next for us?
Someone once said history is written by the winners. Evolution is no different. The species we see in existence today are only there because they were the ones that managed to overcome the odds against them. In our case, we've gotten to the point where WE'RE our biggest enemy. Hell, we're practically our ONLY enemy, save for miscroscopic bugs. It's not like we haven't killed off all our natural predators long ago - hunting them to extinction, or suppressing them so much they are no longer a big threat.
In the act of survival, it's easy to forget we're floating out here on this remote ball in the endless nothingness. We can occupy our minds with what comes next, where our next meal will come from, but in the bored moments beside the night fires, our ancestors created language, stories, myths, legends, art, and religion. All the things that make human life worth living were invented out of necessity to fill the hungry vessel of a mind in danger of thinking too much of its own insignificance. Looking at the stars, they saw creatures and gods, animals and men... They explained it to themselves in terms of things they were familiar with.
What happens when science breaks down all the myths that have served us for so long? What happens when the full force and expanse of life?
The answer is: as long as we find a useful need to be distracted by something, we'll invent something by which to be distracted. And as we continue to hack away at the walls of ignorance with our pygmy chisels, the things that distract us grow proportionally elaborate and sophisticated.
Personally, I'd rather be a madman.
User Reviews
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 15:29:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 15:20:06 (#)
Ranking: 0
You're not picking the post apart, you're trying to pick me apart, bringing up shit I said yesterday because you think it's contradictory. I honestly don't give a shit if you tear this post apart. I'll be the first to tell you it's a piece of shit and not one word of it is fresh or original. Neither is your reaction to it. Besides, if this post is typical, then so is your reaction to it, which is neither new nor clever nor interesting nor free-thinking. So there you go. You become the very thing you hate.
Chew on that, goatboy. Get back to me when you finally understand it.
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First off if I was becoming the thing I hate I would be a fast food place with no free refills, or a fat dyke with a hot chick, but not someone being a dick on the internet, I like that.
Secondly I am a goatman, not a goatboy.
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 15:20:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Nothing is new to everyone, but a lot of things could be new to me. There are also new or at least interesting ways to present ideas. This was neither.
You put a post up on a site where people can pick it apart. I wouldn't call my day empty, just boring today, but if it makes you feel better to think so go right ahead. If that hurts your feelings then stop posting, or at least stop posting crap like this. It isn't clever, you aren't a rebel or a free thinker
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You're not picking the post apart, you're trying to pick me apart, bringing up shit I said yesterday because you think it's contradictory. I honestly don't give a shit if you tear this post apart. I'll be the first to tell you it's a piece of shit and not one word of it is fresh or original. Neither is your reaction to it. Besides, if this post is typical, then so is your reaction to it, which is neither new nor clever nor interesting nor free-thinking. So there you go. You become the very thing you hate.
Chew on that, goatboy. Get back to me when you finally understand it.
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2006-01-24 15:19:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Besides, this is the same shit my friends and I were spewing, stoned in the living room, when I was nineteen. I'm apathetic about it BECAUSE it's pointless. I mean seriously, if nothing we do matters in the "grand scheme" why the hell should I care what your opinion is? Or anyone else's? The real irony lies therein, buddy.
Let people create distractions. Let people have their joy. I'd rather read a good book that someone created to distract me than hear someone's rehashed theories.
"If nothing that we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2006-01-24 15:10:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:04:21 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:50:59 (#)
Ranking: 0
Dime a dozen.
Somewhere down the line apathy wrapped it's gentle, smothering fingers around my neck. Sorry, but it killed the part of me that used to pay attention to existential bull, prolly cuz I've heard it over and over again. It is usually spewed by egotists whose own actions generally cast their words in a light that is less than flattering, rendering everything that they say meaningless to me. This isn't a comment on you personally, though.
Sorry, I began to feel this way long before you posted this.
I guess I'm just a bitter, bitter lady, and I just don't give a fuck anymore.
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Am I the only one who sees the hilarious irony in this review?
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No, but you are probably the only one who is patting himself on the back for it.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:54:38 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:17:00 (#)
Ranking: 0
Here's the thing...
There is no such thing as something new. The very fact that you're looking proves the very point I was making in this post.
You're an asshole because you seem bent on trying to nitpick people apart for seemingly no reason but to fill in the emptiness of your day (again proving my point). In short, you just don't seem to ever shut the fuck up.
I don't care that you don't find what I've said here interesting. According to what i've seen of your reviews, I'm actually pleased you don't find me interesting or original. That means I'm doing something right.
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Nothing is new to everyone, but a lot of things could be new to me. There are also new or at least interesting ways to present ideas. This was neither.
You put a post up on a site where people can pick it apart. I wouldn't call my day empty, just boring today, but if it makes you feel better to think so go right ahead. If that hurts your feelings then stop posting, or at least stop posting crap like this. It isn't clever, you aren't a rebel or a free thinker
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:17:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:09:29 (#)
Ranking: -2
Just wondering what made me an asshole, because I took the time to ask you about this, or because I don't find this clever or original or free thinking, and probably wouldn't since say freshman year in highschool when an idea like this just might have been new to me.
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Here's the thing...
There is no such thing as something new. The very fact that you're looking proves the very point I was making in this post.
You're an asshole because you seem bent on trying to nitpick people apart for seemingly no reason but to fill in the emptiness of your day (again proving my point). In short, you just don't seem to ever shut the fuck up.
I don't care that you don't find what I've said here interesting. According to what i've seen of your reviews, I'm actually pleased you don't find me interesting or original. That means I'm doing something right.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:09:29 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:03:24 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:50:02 (#)
Ranking: 0
you're fighting with indo!! ets?
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Someone else said that on my last post, I think. I don't know who that guy is/was, but if he argued with this asshole, he's probably all right in my book.
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I smell an alter, but who cares I am bored.
Just wondering what made me an asshole, because I took the time to ask you about this, or because I don't find this clever or original or free thinking, and probably wouldn't since say freshman year in highschool when an idea like this just might have been new to me.
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:04:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:50:59 (#)
Ranking: 0
Dime a dozen.
Somewhere down the line apathy wrapped it's gentle, smothering fingers around my neck. Sorry, but it killed the part of me that used to pay attention to existential bull, prolly cuz I've heard it over and over again. It is usually spewed by egotists whose own actions generally cast their words in a light that is less than flattering, rendering everything that they say meaningless to me. This isn't a comment on you personally, though.
Sorry, I began to feel this way long before you posted this.
I guess I'm just a bitter, bitter lady, and I just don't give a fuck anymore.
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Am I the only one who sees the hilarious irony in this review?
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:03:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:50:02 (#)
Ranking: 0
you're fighting with indo!! ets?
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Someone else said that on my last post, I think. I don't know who that guy is/was, but if he argued with this asshole, he's probably all right in my book.
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-01-24 14:00:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
If they stopped teaching the blasphemy that is evolution, you would know better than this load of crap. Intelligent design now there is the way, the truth, and the light.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:54:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Someone's been reading Lovecraft.
Submitted by Anansie (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:50:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Dime a dozen.
Somewhere down the line apathy wrapped it's gentle, smothering fingers around my neck. Sorry, but it killed the part of me that used to pay attention to existential bull, prolly cuz I've heard it over and over again. It is usually spewed by egotists whose own actions generally cast their words in a light that is less than flattering, rendering everything that they say meaningless to me. This isn't a comment on you personally, though.
Sorry, I began to feel this way long before you posted this.
I guess I'm just a bitter, bitter lady, and I just don't give a fuck anymore.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:50:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
you're fighting with indo!! ets?
Submitted by Drone_of_Industry (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:43:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I felt pretty insignifigant this past Sunday.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:38:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:13:38 (#)
Ranking: 0
Statistically, it's more likely there is life on other planets than not. It's vain of us to think we're special in all this as far as I'm concerned.
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We have no data to prove this. We can roughly guess how many planets there are, but we have no idea how likely life is to evolve in an environment like ours, or much less in any environment. So you can't really have statistical proof.
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Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:42:39 (#)
Ranking: 0
"So drugs are only a distraction, not a way to understand the secrets of the world or cross a bridge to prepare us for the afterlife? Ok."
I never said anything of the sort. Don't put words in my mouth.
Cudious? I've never read either of those books, and I resent the implication that ideas that one person can find aren't available for everyone to be plucked from the air independantly. I don't need anyone to tell me what I think, and don't you ever patronize me again.
I'm 33 years old. Do you really think that age is supposed to stifle wonder? You are a perfect example of what I'm talking about in this post. Like I said in the first paragraph...this post isn't even meant for you. You'll obviously never understand it - not because you can't, but because you don't want to. That would be too painful because you'd have to reorganize a few of your more convenient beliefs for that.
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Look at your arguments in you last post, and here. YOu did say both those things.
You are on the internet, I will patronize you as much as I want. It makes my day go faster.
Age doesn't stifle wonder, but I don't often see adults going gaga over ice cream. It is an old idea that I was amazed with as a little kid. It is still amazing, Carl Sagan's book "Billions and Billions" was one of the better ones I have read on the subject. I questioned your age because the ideas presented here didn't seem too mature or developed on the subject. I brought up Hitchhiker because the idea of driving someone insane by showing them how insignifigant they are in the universe was used in that book. I am notsaying you stole these ideas, I am just saying I don't find them that original or interesting.
Submitted by MyTeeOne (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:37:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I grew up in the middle of no where and had a breathe taking view of the night sky. I followed this completely. Seeing the stars is very humbling and it does make you realize the pointlessness of...well, all the crap in the world. My "city" friends don't often understand that.
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:13:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by ubetidid (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:49:56 (#)
Ranking: 0
let me ask you something: Do you believe there's life on other planets?
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Statistically, it's more likely there is life on other planets than not. It's vain of us to think we're special in all this as far as I'm concerned.
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Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:42:39 (#)
Ranking: 0
"So drugs are only a distraction, not a way to understand the secrets of the world or cross a bridge to prepare us for the afterlife? Ok."
I never said anything of the sort. Don't put words in my mouth.
"I am still cudious if you just read the "Hitchhikers giude to the galaxy" or "billions and billions"?"
Cudious? I've never read either of those books, and I resent the implication that ideas that one person can find aren't available for everyone to be plucked from the air independantly. I don't need anyone to tell me what I think, and don't you ever patronize me again.
"And if you already started looking for a date to the prom."
I'm 33 years old. Do you really think that age is supposed to stifle wonder? You are a perfect example of what I'm talking about in this post. Like I said in the first paragraph...this post isn't even meant for you. You'll obviously never understand it - not because you can't, but because you don't want to. That would be too painful because you'd have to reorganize a few of your more convenient beliefs for that.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:06:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I was mildly distracted from my own insignificance while reading this.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-01-24 13:01:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
good thought process and all. just couldn't care though. but i like the way you write.
then again maybe real madness would be trying to wrap our tiny little insignificant brains around all that info, every moment of every day. or something else slightly existential.
Submitted by RenTheUnsightly (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:53:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
i didn't read all of it, but my take is this: what the fuck else is going on in the universe?
I mean, sure there's matter spiraling about, and stars undergoing their fusion cycle, but so what? Sex and drugs are infinitely more interesting than a bunch of iron floating around in a vacuum.
Submitted by ubetidid (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:49:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
let me ask you something: Do you believe there's life on other planets?
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:42:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
So drugs are only a distraction, not a way to understand the secrets of the world or cross a bridge to prepare us for the afterlife? Ok.
I am still cudious if you just read the "Hitchhikers giude to the galaxy" or "billions and billions"?
And if you already started looking for a date to the prom.
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:36:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Indoninja - I don't see how anything could ever possibly distract you from your insignificance, as, to me, it is blatantly obvious.
The whole point of exploring the mind with sacred plants or otherwise is to deepen and enrich, not to distract. Although, now that you mention it, the obvious point I was making here is that pretty much everything is a distrtaction still holds true, even if I'd prefer to be distracted by something ancient and revered than something bright and shiny neon that screams "BUY ME".
There is a difference... At least to me. And it boils down to it, my opinion is the only one that really matters.
Submitted by leilani (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:15:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
you think good
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:14:48 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
"The species we see in existence today are only there because they were the ones that managed to overcome the odds against them."
I think you mean they are the ones who managed to avoid being exterminated by Chuck Norris roundhouse kicks.
Did someone just read billions and billions?
If the universe is so mind-boggling big and we are so insignificant, why do the primates on this out of the way ball of mud have the magical power to bridge the spirit world? Why should we respect the "ancient" traditions of people who believe in the power of drugs if they are less then a blip in the universe? Isn't that just another tool distracting us from our insignificance?
http://www.ubersite.com/m/82759#1797489
Submitted by seasofseems (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:14:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Oh yeah. I forgot to make this entertaining.
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2006-01-24 12:06:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Evolution is no different. The species we see in existence today are only there because they were the ones that managed to overcome the odds against them
And were very, very lucky. Its a sad fact for most zoologists that a big part of Evolution is blind chance, rock falls here:Humans rule the Earth. Rock fallsother way:Hyper-Lobsters rule the Earth