Would you die for your convictions? (Part 1)

sprinkles said:
@Anywhere But Here

Also I see life as kind of like a tasty cake. You can either eat it, and then it will be gone, or you can save it, and it becomes stale and moldy and goes to waste.

Purpose is in the moment, not in the future. If one is only concerned about what happens later then of course their life has no meaning. The flavor of life is for now. Try to save it beyond its time and it will be stale like cardboard.
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Eat enough cake in the now and you'll experience diabetes in the future.

I think all the now centric world views are why the planet is choked up with pollution, resources are spent and the rights of future generations are bunk or spent.

I can understand why people would choose the now centricism and how it could sound like a great idea, Keynes did say that in the long term we're all dead, however I prefer a different approach which recognises the rights of past and future generations or the importance of perennial things.

You can go all spiritual or all naturalistic in looking for reinforcement or evidence or whatever you like, I tend to think is just what is practically reasonable within traditionalism or conservatism with a small c (I'm not that comfortable with any sort of conservatism but conservatism has co-opted to itself a lot of things which are common sense or culturally in tune with my thinking so what can you do).
 
Lark said:
Eat enough cake in the now and you'll experience diabetes in the future.

I think all the now centric world views are why the planet is choked up with pollution, resources are spent and the rights of future generations are bunk or spent.

I can understand why people would choose the now centricism and how it could sound like a great idea, Keynes did say that in the long term we're all dead, however I prefer a different approach which recognises the rights of past and future generations or the importance of perennial things.

You can go all spiritual or all naturalistic in looking for reinforcement or evidence or whatever you like, I tend to think is just what is practically reasonable within traditionalism or conservatism with a small c (I'm not that comfortable with any sort of conservatism but conservatism has co-opted to itself a lot of things which are common sense or culturally in tune with my thinking so what can you do).
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That has less to do with being now, and more to do with being excessive.
 
[MENTION=4115]Lark[/MENTION]
Extreme present centrism can lead to an intolerable future.

Extreme future centrism can lead to an intolerable present which leads one to question the point of it all.

This is due to the fact that what you experience is always now. You don't experience the past and you don't experience the future so if you try to live in those places, you have no life and ultimately end up in existential despair. Why do you think nihilism became a thing? Why do you think people feel that there's no purpose without an afterlife, all their hard work is meaningless because it's going to be erased some day? It's because they're trying to live in the future which is impossible.

If you try to subsist on what is yet to come, you eventually starve because what will be is never now.
 
In the words of snow white in the new movie "I would rather die than live another day in this death! " indeed the way some people would paint the world death doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
 
[MENTION=4115]Lark[/MENTION]

Moreover I would argue that excessive nowism is a side effect of future syndrome. People become despondent and instead of living in a responsible now, they rebound and live in a "fuck all might as well abuse everything because there's no point anyway" now.
 
Additionally, living in a healthy now shouldn't lead to excess because one doesn't desire more.

Pollution arises from production which is future centric, and consumption is often future centric as well, because it always starts from a standpoint of wanting something that you don't have which is looking to the future to make things better. i.e. "I'm not happy enough but I want this new smartphone so if I get it maybe I'll be happier" which is a future oriented perspective. You don't have something, and you want to get it. Once you have it, there will be something else you want to get.

Consumerism is actually future centric and that is the driving force behind the destruction of the planet.
 
I wouldn't die for my convictions. What good is my death if my convictions die with me? Perhaps my sacrifice would be in vain. I would prefer to live another day to continue my fight.

The only time I would ever lay down my life would be for someone I love or for a young child.
 
Wht will part two of this thread consist of?
 
Eventhorizon said:
I search to know. Knowing what you indicated yes it would change my life. I would spwnd all my time and energy figuring out how to live forever and then owning the universe.
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Have you ever considered Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence? Time being cyclical instead of linear? It's a fascinating concept. If there were a repetitive cycle of dying and being born again into the same body, it might explain ones feeling a déjàvu and the ideal of a karmic cycle.
 
Anywhere But Here said:
Have you ever considered Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence? Time being cyclical instead of linear? It's a fascinating concept. If there were a repetitive cycle of dying and being born again into the same body, it might explain ones feeling a déjàvu and the ideal of a karmic cycle.
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I have heard that name repeatedly and vow to one day read Nietzsche because of it. To date I have not though.
The idea of reincarnation, being born back into ones body over and over disturbe me. It could be likened to a hell for me. So as you can guess I hope this is not the case.
 
Anywhere But Here said:
Have you ever considered Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence? Time being cyclical instead of linear? It's a fascinating concept. If there were a repetitive cycle of dying and being born again into the same body, it might explain ones feeling a déjàvu and the ideal of a karmic cycle.
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What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.”

I felt knocked up when i read that, like 2 years ago in Gay Science, that book is one of his finest works, imo.
 
Yes. I feel if I die protecting what I think is right, I would gain much more than I could ever ask for.


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No. Quite frankly I hardly have any convictions dying for. I am nihilistic in the sense that I neither believe in objective meaning or objective morals. If I die for something it would be because of what I wanted, not what I thought was right. With this in mind I can only see myself dying for people I love.

Maybe I'm splitting hairs though.
 
Nah, I'd rather kill. More fun.
 
Simply, yes, if necessary. I would hope for a better way, or that it accomplished something.
 
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i like how kierkegaard looks at convictions.

basically he said that how we believe matters much more than what we believe. so it's better to believe something false with passion and engagement than to believe something objectively true half-heartedly and without engagement. so upholding traditions that people don't care about any longer is pointless, and we should come up with a new tradition that people truly care about instead.

"it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you sincerely believe it"

i don't believe that care enough about anything to whole-heartedly want to defend it with my life. so the answer to your question must be no. i wouldn't die for my convictions.
 
i will not die for my convictions. it's not worth it; not that i don't value my convictions buti don't deem is so important. but then again is that the same as sacrificing? i will only die for the people i love and care about.
 
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