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Very much identify with this. The banality of everyday Life is soul-crushing leading to ennui. I think it is in large part due to our consumerist/distraction-f

Very much identify with this. The banality of everyday Life is soul-crushing leading to ennui. I think it is in large part due to our consumerist/distraction-filled society (itself a product of Technology) and catering to the lowest common denominator in everything. Questions plaguing me: - Why do i need to conform to social mores? - Why must i accommodate myself to "popular culture"? - Why don't people stop what they are doing, take a step back and ask themselves "Where are We and How did We get Here"? - What have we "Gained" and What have we "Lost"? - What exactly has "Progressed" and what "Regressed"? - Why don't people want to face "Reality" but are willing to live in any "Fantasy" of their making/subscribing? - Is this all there is to my Life? - How do i cope with the utter meaninglessness of it all? My answer is to shut myself away from Society and live within my Head, alone and lonely. But Books provide a coping mechanism by getting me out of my Head and providing me new experiences through that of the author.

phist_mcgee 5y ago
- Why do i need to conform to social mores? - Why must i accommodate myself to "popular culture"? Grow up. Worrying about these questions is not unique, nor special. You're trying to find an escape hatch to reality. Those do not exist. If you want to really effect change, stop focusing on the why, and start focusing on the how. We have enough armchair philosophers to last a lifetime.
- rramadass 5y ago
  A rather flippant and presumptuous comment (i am already middle aged :-). As Krishnamurti said; "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." The point is not that the questions are special/unique; it is that they are fundamental, perennial and plague everybody (the "me" is just a placeholder). The tragedy of existence is that there can be no settled answer to them and each of us have to find out for himself or subscribe to somebody else's answer. But then again as Camus said; "Beginning to Think is beginning to be undermined". Your start with realizing something is not quite right but unable to place your finger on it, begin asking questions each of which only reveals the rest of the layers of the onion and before you know it are starting to suffer from cognitive dissonance. You then abandon looking for answers and start to focus on learning to cope with the non-answers and getting on with your Life.
vorpalhex 5y ago
Social mores are a chesterton's fence - they exist for a reason. That may be a terrible reason, but there is _some_ reason. Identify the reason and then reject it, but until you identify the reason you can't form a meaningful response.
- rramadass 5y ago
  Social Mores/Popular Culture all exist to bind oneself to a "Group Identity". The problem with today's hyper-connected society is that it has become so pervasive that it is impossible to escape it completely. You have to learn to live both within and apart from it.
  - vorpalhex 5y ago
    You grouped all social mores into a single reason and provided a criticism at the same time. That suggests you have entirely failed to consider them deeply; we did not gain our social mores in one fell swoop. I don't think even the social mores of breaking bread or offering your guests food and water came from the same place.
bcherny 5y ago
Read more philosophy! One existentialist view: https://philosophynow.org/issues/45/The_Last_Messiah https://philosophynow.org/issues/45/The_Last_Messiah
- rramadass 5y ago
  Yes of course! Great essay (i had known of it earlier as "The Last Man") and i do subscribe to some of its viewpoints. For anybody who wants a quick overview of the main points the wikipedia page does a great job: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Messiah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Messiah
missedthecue 5y ago
- Why do i need to conform to social mores? - Why must i accommodate myself to "popular culture" My response to this is because people who conform to social mores and have at least a little accomodation to popular culture are more interesting and relatable people. People who don't are grating and can be very difficult to live with and be around. Being able to relate to and get along with others makes life a whole lot more fulfilling.
- rramadass 5y ago
  What you point out is a coping mechanism and not the answer to the questions themselves. The questions are about the dichotomy between the need for Individual Identity vs. the need for Group Identity.
vfinn 5y ago
Create an alternative, lead the way, show that there's a different kind of life out there that can exist. No-one else will do it for you. Actually, there are a lot of people who do that, but they are not the majority. They are these people you probably look up to; they are these people who have said: "Ok, enough is enough. I gotta try this, I gotta face my fears, and just take the leap of faith, because it's the only viable way for me to live my life fully". Anyone who tries to do things a bit differently has to be able to stand alone, I would think, but not in isolation, but as a negation to whatever they are trying to fight against.
- rramadass 5y ago
  Right. My comment in the context of this thread was to shine some light on the causes of "Intellectual Loneliness". It is not as some people have argued here, a desire to show off one's intellectual superiority nor self-aggrandizement nor lack of social skills etc. etc. Instead it is the consciousness of these unresolved questions which gives rise to the dissonant mental state.
Lio 5y ago
"There's more to life than books you know" ...but not much more. - The Smiths Say what you like about Morrisssey[1] but he's had some great social observations. 1. And you really should for many reasons.
saberience 5y ago
This comment says a whole lot about you, but nothing much profound about our society. If you think life is banal and soul crushing, then this is a reflection on you, not on life. I suggest you get counseling.
soueuls 5y ago
You don't really need to conform, nobody is forcing you. You will just get different things out of conforming or not. I live like a complete stranger where I am, I spend 99.9% of my time alone. Read alone, eat alone, walk alone, sleep alone. Most of my life is about coding, reading and walking long distances accros countries. And I am pretty happy about my life right now. I get to have a life where I make almost no compromise, I live so cheaply that I don't really even need to work anymore. But then you are missing out on having kids, spending time with friends, family, having stability, a dog, a hobby you can pursue, chitchat, routine, etc. Again, nobody is forcing you to anything, it seems like you just need to take a few days just by yourself, facing your own thought and exploring what you really want to do. The thing I find stupid in this article, is that the author goes to a party and leave early because he does not like partying. Well, I don't either. But I have learnt that I don't a long time ago. So I don't go to parties. I don't need to make up excuses about why I am leaving.

phist_mcgee 5y ago

- Why do i need to conform to social mores? - Why must i accommodate myself to "popular culture"? Grow up. Worrying about these questions is not unique, nor special. You're trying to find an escape hatch to reality. Those do not exist. If you want to really effect change, stop focusing on the why, and start focusing on the how. We have enough armchair philosophers to last a lifetime.

rramadass 5y ago
A rather flippant and presumptuous comment (i am already middle aged :-). As Krishnamurti said; "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." The point is not that the questions are special/unique; it is that they are fundamental, perennial and plague everybody (the "me" is just a placeholder). The tragedy of existence is that there can be no settled answer to them and each of us have to find out for himself or subscribe to somebody else's answer. But then again as Camus said; "Beginning to Think is beginning to be undermined". Your start with realizing something is not quite right but unable to place your finger on it, begin asking questions each of which only reveals the rest of the layers of the onion and before you know it are starting to suffer from cognitive dissonance. You then abandon looking for answers and start to focus on learning to cope with the non-answers and getting on with your Life.

vorpalhex 5y ago

Social mores are a chesterton's fence - they exist for a reason. That may be a terrible reason, but there is _some_ reason. Identify the reason and then reject it, but until you identify the reason you can't form a meaningful response.

rramadass 5y ago
Social Mores/Popular Culture all exist to bind oneself to a "Group Identity". The problem with today's hyper-connected society is that it has become so pervasive that it is impossible to escape it completely. You have to learn to live both within and apart from it.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  You grouped all social mores into a single reason and provided a criticism at the same time. That suggests you have entirely failed to consider them deeply; we did not gain our social mores in one fell swoop. I don't think even the social mores of breaking bread or offering your guests food and water came from the same place.

bcherny 5y ago

Read more philosophy! One existentialist view: https://philosophynow.org/issues/45/The_Last_Messiah https://philosophynow.org/issues/45/The_Last_Messiah

rramadass 5y ago
Yes of course! Great essay (i had known of it earlier as "The Last Man") and i do subscribe to some of its viewpoints. For anybody who wants a quick overview of the main points the wikipedia page does a great job: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Messiah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Messiah

missedthecue 5y ago

- Why do i need to conform to social mores? - Why must i accommodate myself to "popular culture" My response to this is because people who conform to social mores and have at least a little accomodation to popular culture are more interesting and relatable people. People who don't are grating and can be very difficult to live with and be around. Being able to relate to and get along with others makes life a whole lot more fulfilling.

rramadass 5y ago
What you point out is a coping mechanism and not the answer to the questions themselves. The questions are about the dichotomy between the need for Individual Identity vs. the need for Group Identity.

vfinn 5y ago

Create an alternative, lead the way, show that there's a different kind of life out there that can exist. No-one else will do it for you. Actually, there are a lot of people who do that, but they are not the majority. They are these people you probably look up to; they are these people who have said: "Ok, enough is enough. I gotta try this, I gotta face my fears, and just take the leap of faith, because it's the only viable way for me to live my life fully". Anyone who tries to do things a bit differently has to be able to stand alone, I would think, but not in isolation, but as a negation to whatever they are trying to fight against.

rramadass 5y ago
Right. My comment in the context of this thread was to shine some light on the causes of "Intellectual Loneliness". It is not as some people have argued here, a desire to show off one's intellectual superiority nor self-aggrandizement nor lack of social skills etc. etc. Instead it is the consciousness of these unresolved questions which gives rise to the dissonant mental state.

Lio 5y ago

"There's more to life than books you know" ...but not much more. - The Smiths Say what you like about Morrisssey[1] but he's had some great social observations. 1. And you really should for many reasons.

saberience 5y ago

This comment says a whole lot about you, but nothing much profound about our society. If you think life is banal and soul crushing, then this is a reflection on you, not on life. I suggest you get counseling.

soueuls 5y ago

You don't really need to conform, nobody is forcing you. You will just get different things out of conforming or not. I live like a complete stranger where I am, I spend 99.9% of my time alone. Read alone, eat alone, walk alone, sleep alone. Most of my life is about coding, reading and walking long distances accros countries. And I am pretty happy about my life right now. I get to have a life where I make almost no compromise, I live so cheaply that I don't really even need to work anymore. But then you are missing out on having kids, spending time with friends, family, having stability, a dog, a hobby you can pursue, chitchat, routine, etc. Again, nobody is forcing you to anything, it seems like you just need to take a few days just by yourself, facing your own thought and exploring what you really want to do. The thing I find stupid in this article, is that the author goes to a party and leave early because he does not like partying. Well, I don't either. But I have learnt that I don't a long time ago. So I don't go to parties. I don't need to make up excuses about why I am leaving.