lifeisbrutallyunfair.com - just how much trust can we place in the supernatural?

just how much trust can we place in the supernatural?

_POSTED_BY desik

Wednesday, 03 December 2008

Comments

Tortured Animal

|2008-12-03 12:57:13

It makes evolutionary sense to go with the flow and take that great leap into
life affirming faith but whenever I read religious, philosophical or scientific
texts which set out to convince us of the wisdom of doing so the recommended
pathway to Nirvana always seems to lead to the same fucking corner the author
has painted himself into.

I dont suppose Amazon do Divine Revelation do
they?...

differentiated loner

|2008-12-03 16:31:35

I really do think that Becker would say that those who can't achieve
complete transcendence are the only ones that can cheat death, because any
kind of desperate human attempts to transcend suffering often avoids
the act of getting pulverized by the self/ego in the charnal
ground......perhaps one must spend all of birth consciousness immersed
in the blood and guts of neurosis; the constant raw deal, in order to
transcend death and the horror of rebirth.

It's complicated! And many could put their own twist on what I just said.
If I had more time, I would elaborate more.

I guess it all depends
on what you mean by transcendence......anyone that makes transcendence
look easy is definitely cheating and telling him/herself all sorts
of lies, as a way to get through life easier.

It all comes down to
absolute surrender, and generally only those that dedicate every
waking moment to the painful act of surrender achieve it.

In other
words, transcendence is only possible if you are willing to get your ass
kicked every day. Are you willing to become totally obliterated and
learn what it's like to live without fear? So maybe Becker would say that
if you confront your ever present neurosis to the point where it no
longer has you living in fear, then you can cheat death.........but as you
know he often talks about transcendence for the sleepy masses, which
is all about lies, denial, and multiple layers of comfort zones, the
illusions that keep people alive.

2 very different kinds of
transcendence.

Anonymous - the cloud of unknowing

|2008-12-04 05:35:12

the transcendence that becker speaks about is pretty much tied into the terror
management theory: whatever lies people need to tell themselves in order to get
through life count as transcendence.....in order to avoid neurosis, or possibly
even suicide, he also believes that these are the ones that can't cheat
death.

and maybe when he talks about cheating death, he's referring to those
that have confronted their fears to the point where neurosis and the monkey mind
no longer have the power to intimidate
or hospitalize.

most people are at
peace with the world for what it really isn't, but I have a responsibility to
try and establish inner stability with the world for what it really is. Am I
just reading into things, or did Becker say this is the only way to cheat
death...........knowing that we all die anyway!

C Darwin

|2008-12-04 15:27:57

I havent read Denial of Death and have no intention of doing so but it seems to
me that there's a small group of TMT academics out there who simply live in
terror of research funding running out.

Thomas Merton

|2008-12-04 16:45:04

well....you can see why can't you? They haven't found any further solutions on
how to manage the terror of life and death if you aren't already able to
presecribe to any of their methods...they sure as hell can't talk about suicide
as a solution. Maybe they should just tell people that if all else fails to
embrace Buddhism.

Ocean BeachSurfer - My Parents Forced me to be a Secular Humanist !

|2008-12-04 18:37:42

Suicide is not very cool and I'm afraid psych and related depts in most
educational institutions in the US would find it difficult to tap into funding
streams to push it as a viable mainstream alternative to life . On the other
hand, I'm sure if Becker were alive today he'd be a Buddist .

frank

|2008-12-05 23:29:38

Perhaps our unique conscious evolutionary path is one nature is about to
discard as being too fucking destructive .

Amir	\|2008-12-06 11:09:04

Right , so I guess there's no chance of anyone overdosing on optimism around
here ....

peter laughner - Aint It Fun

|2008-12-06 13:37:07

Well you adjust your Jimmy Choo shades and drive off into the Hollywood sunset
buddy but just remember that smug fucking grin of yours is gonna be set in bone
one day and no-one will give a fuck that you were ever here.

bram - For Seekers

|2008-12-06 14:21:55

link:http://****sacredscience.com/store/commerce. cgi?page=SeekSanc.htm

autotelic

|2008-12-06 14:54:14

thanks for the Dears Cd! The lead singer sounds like a friend.

If Becker
were to meet me today, he would probably say that I used to an artist that had
the resources to channel the neurosis, but now he would say that I'm a high
energy neurotic that doesn't know how to channel the neurosis.

Some would say
that it's good to be devoid of a will..........what happened? why can't i pick
up a paintbrush or turn on my synthesizer?

Love the
Dears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pablo - the lived life

|2008-12-07 01:39:46

autotelic,

you're probably mistaken about Becker, dont think he would have
taken such a negative and static view of where you're at, you're not devoid of a
will at all you're just temporarily devoid of a motivational focus vis a vis
creative trancendence but there's no lack of courage to face life or any
deficit in your natural ability.

but of course there is still fear - and
that can still our hand in lots of ways, not just with paintbrushes and at the
keyboard . the enemy is not self-expression, its extinction.

most people
though just unthinkingly and compliantly embed themselves in the dominant power
structures to survive, convenient and sufficient but hardly admirable or they
just go completely fucking crazy or worse if they cant find a survivable space
within the culture to distractedly belong in. you've struggled to pull yourself
out of a hat by your ears as an artist and person and that's the tortuous lived
life but yeah it fucking hurts and seres and as you say it probably is the
usual apprentiship served by the time honoured cynical guru but i dont think
the journey necessarily stops there.

glad you liked the dears, knew you
would as many of the songs touch on familar themes. the dears are getting well
played here too.

autotelic

|2008-12-07 03:55:16

hey Pablo, i'm just so mesmerised by my interactions with others in the charnal
ground that no creative activity that I can emabark upon now could possibly
express the overwhelming humanity that I experience with others. I'm just so
spellbound with the truth of our collective vulnerability; writing a song, or
making a painting can no longer capture the essence of what it's like to
communicate with really naked people, naked people that are trying to manage
their fears about love, loss, ageing, and dying. Making art is not about
imitating life anymore. Overdosing on humanity is currently my mode of
expression.

bjorn - mode of expression

|2008-12-07 15:59:47

Overdosing on humanity , that cuts to the core , the bloody skin and bones of it
.The planet is going into digestive cramps and convulsions from too much
humanity as well and will no doubt heave and viloently vomit us away from
itself soon enough.

So how do we reconcile the denial of death with our
apparent deathwish to be the last few generations of great apes to walk the
earth?

In the 70's Ernest Becker would probably have been spared this
question , sure, the first oil crisis was looming around then but there was no
real concern about the planet being pushed to tipping point, the survivability
of our problems was taken for granted. Today people walk round with the
conscious weight of our collective predicament etched on their faces. its become
commonplace for complete strangers to have discussions like this in the street.
We've all got walk on roles in a mass extinction event .

Anonymous - raw art anyone?

|2008-12-07 16:13:16

"We've all got walk on roles in a mass extinction event."

WELL
SAID!

Art can't save the planet.

jordi

|2008-12-08 02:23:30

"Art can't save the planet."

Sad but true.

pablo - save the planet from vanity publishing now!!!

|2008-12-08 03:01:29

You're right, art cant save the planet worse, through services like Flickr art
and artists may actually be harming the planet as more and more people consume
scarce resources to create and print out their work on a wide range of
materials.