Underpinning all this, very erudite, very well-reasoned piece, are your solid axia, viz., that there is no reliable promise of relief, or rescue; that the dissenters from your view are in the grip of some rote or involuntary psychological defense; and that you can, must, and should adopt these axia to become honest. You do not allow for an honest, straightforward differing view, not controlled by defense mechanisms - indeed, your views can be attributed to defense mechanisms with the same ease. All these can easily be challenged, once expressed. Ourobouros comes to mind.
I have come to appreciate your Substack, it has helped me understand what has been happening within me the past few years, decades really. Could not have come up with a name for it, and Deconstruction is exactly right. As for this, on the question about birth? Well. As an adoptee, believe me, this unwelcome question has been lifelong. As an elder, I now welcome grappling with it. I could say more, but this is enough for now.
Whether life is good or bad seems a better question than whether it was a good idea ... if only because it wasn't an idea, an abstraction, it was a fact. Once you ask about it as an idea you have to ask whose idea, and whether the being in question had an individual consciousness before existing.
How would you respond to those people who believe we do choose to be born and have the option of choosing which life we will live and who will be our parents?
Jim, this is one of the most interesting articles from you recently!
Regarding Cioran, I am well acquainted with insomnia (I had Central Sleep Apnea for 30+ years). Now that I know what that does to mental functioning, I have to ask: does it make sense to trust Cioran's point of view, when he had a similar problem?
I was parent of a daughter who had non-verbal quadriplegic CP for 29 years. She was possibly the happiest person I've ever known, completely non-judgemental, always smiling except when in pain. But as her parent, I gradually came to realize that society does not want her around (based on the non-response of most state programs that allegedly support DD people, and that is getting much worse under Trump), and the #1 worry of most parents who are not wealthy, is worry about whether their child will be supported after they are gone. So whose opinion takes precedence? The happy person with a developmental disability, or the worried parent who is usually in some form of distress?
I left Christianity because I found that it has no interest in people like my daughter. But beyond that, I have known some very wealthy parents who had disabled children and were able to setup trusts to support their children well beyond their death, but even these wealthy parents still experience the pain and distress of the situation.
I can't help wonder how Cioran would have reacted to a situation where the person who is born is quite happy, but the people who have to take care of her aren't!
While my daughter was alive, I found a certain meaning in the situation. But that feeling gradually went away. I came across far too many people who like to use that idiotic slogan "everything happens for a reason". There was no reason, other than the ignorance and incompetence of the doctor who caused this; and I am a firm believer in the randomness of the Universe. I don't think I'm being bitter, I just think I am being realistic. And especially when you realize that society is not interested in helping you when you find yourself in this situation. Yes, I do have problems with existential health. Decades of disability and personal health problems do make me ask the question of myself, "why am i still here"?
Just as I suspected....I do think there is a life force however unconscious and needless of what it inhabits and that it is accumulating lived experiences much like AI which may turn out to be the tower of Babel.
The demand that suffering justify itself feels like a hidden pressure point. We suffer, then we’re required to make it “hold up” afterward.
Fascinating. Lots to ponder here
Underpinning all this, very erudite, very well-reasoned piece, are your solid axia, viz., that there is no reliable promise of relief, or rescue; that the dissenters from your view are in the grip of some rote or involuntary psychological defense; and that you can, must, and should adopt these axia to become honest. You do not allow for an honest, straightforward differing view, not controlled by defense mechanisms - indeed, your views can be attributed to defense mechanisms with the same ease. All these can easily be challenged, once expressed. Ourobouros comes to mind.
I have come to appreciate your Substack, it has helped me understand what has been happening within me the past few years, decades really. Could not have come up with a name for it, and Deconstruction is exactly right. As for this, on the question about birth? Well. As an adoptee, believe me, this unwelcome question has been lifelong. As an elder, I now welcome grappling with it. I could say more, but this is enough for now.
Is the problem with being born similar to the problem of jumping off a cliff? The sudden stop kills.
Whether life is good or bad seems a better question than whether it was a good idea ... if only because it wasn't an idea, an abstraction, it was a fact. Once you ask about it as an idea you have to ask whose idea, and whether the being in question had an individual consciousness before existing.
How would you respond to those people who believe we do choose to be born and have the option of choosing which life we will live and who will be our parents?
Jim, this is one of the most interesting articles from you recently!
Regarding Cioran, I am well acquainted with insomnia (I had Central Sleep Apnea for 30+ years). Now that I know what that does to mental functioning, I have to ask: does it make sense to trust Cioran's point of view, when he had a similar problem?
I was parent of a daughter who had non-verbal quadriplegic CP for 29 years. She was possibly the happiest person I've ever known, completely non-judgemental, always smiling except when in pain. But as her parent, I gradually came to realize that society does not want her around (based on the non-response of most state programs that allegedly support DD people, and that is getting much worse under Trump), and the #1 worry of most parents who are not wealthy, is worry about whether their child will be supported after they are gone. So whose opinion takes precedence? The happy person with a developmental disability, or the worried parent who is usually in some form of distress?
I left Christianity because I found that it has no interest in people like my daughter. But beyond that, I have known some very wealthy parents who had disabled children and were able to setup trusts to support their children well beyond their death, but even these wealthy parents still experience the pain and distress of the situation.
I can't help wonder how Cioran would have reacted to a situation where the person who is born is quite happy, but the people who have to take care of her aren't!
While my daughter was alive, I found a certain meaning in the situation. But that feeling gradually went away. I came across far too many people who like to use that idiotic slogan "everything happens for a reason". There was no reason, other than the ignorance and incompetence of the doctor who caused this; and I am a firm believer in the randomness of the Universe. I don't think I'm being bitter, I just think I am being realistic. And especially when you realize that society is not interested in helping you when you find yourself in this situation. Yes, I do have problems with existential health. Decades of disability and personal health problems do make me ask the question of myself, "why am i still here"?
Just as I suspected....I do think there is a life force however unconscious and needless of what it inhabits and that it is accumulating lived experiences much like AI which may turn out to be the tower of Babel.
Wow, what an amazing post! So much truth in it that is hard to face...that I don't want to face.