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Originally Posted by sleepy jack
I don't really understand why people are getting so upset by Ron Paul. He's never going to win the Presidential election. Besides, even though I fundamentally disagree with him on every single issue, I'd rather have him as President because at least he appears to stand for something other than violence and corporations.
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Well, he does stand up for corporations.
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woah, nietzsche is really not about rejecting the self. i mean, 'existential egoist' pretty much sums up nietzsche's whole philosophy. ultimately though, i think the way to happiness is by balancing the interests of the ego with all that stands against it... jung would talk about reconciling the individual ego with the collective unconscious or a buddhist might talk about the 'middle way' of not resisting the ego but at the same time not letting it get out of control... because if the ego's desires and drives get too big its disappointment will only be that much greater.
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What is too big of an ego though? I agree that one has to control it. In other words, I consider a man arrogant if he believes that who he is in the past is better than who he really is in the past, (using actions as the form of identification). That will not lead him to happiness because he will not know his true self and therefore never be able to acknowledge who he truly is. On the other hand, a man whose ego is controlled to become the fountainhead of his success is not arrogant. Michael Jordon would not at all be arrogant to say he was the greatest competitor of his time on the basketball court. What drove him to be the best in the first place? It was his ego which said that he could become the greatest basketball player on his time and it paid off because he believed in his true self. The middle way is not denying yourself what you can truly earn.
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at some point you have to come to terms with the fact that you can only be who you are through others, so you naturally rely on others.
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I rely on others, but others rely on me. Those who wish to rely on me will allow me to rely on them for a trade. Therefore, we have both earned that reliance and we are able to show ourselves who we truly are. I will not have someone rely on me who will not reciprocate. There are people who believe that they should not have to trade, that they should have to have it by right. It is not better off to give myself to those who don't want to give back. That isn't acknowledging myself.
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it's hard to make that 'trickle down' sense of morality big enough to encompass starving kids in third world countries...
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I shouldn't care about other people that will not care about me if I am struggling to live. These are hard economic times. If I believe I have an extra ten dollars, I really don't because in the next minute I will probably have a need for it.
I am for philanthropy if one knows who he is giving to and sees value in that person. I would never give to some random African child in Somalia simply because he needs it. Especially when I know there are people in America who I can trust to use the money wisely.
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I can say that helping out strangers will ultimately make this world a better place to live in for everyone but that 'ultimately' might be a few centuries after you die.
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"Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be left waiting for us in our graves—or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth."
That sums up my view. Why believe in a heaven I can never feel when I know that I can have it right now.
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how do i make someone care about what happens beyond the scope of their life? how do i convince someone that the soul is eternal but that there is no beyond to this world? that might be tricky. but you should probably consider that it is possible,
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Everyone considers those questions. I have thought about whether they could be possible and whether I would have any benefit in believing in them. I never notice the benefit though. No one is ever able to communicate to me a sound answer of why I should believe these things. If I have no reason to believe in them then can you really blame me for not believing in them. It is not that I have not found the reason. It is the fact that in my world there is no reason that I have found. I have talked to many people and they give me the same gibberish where they repeat circular arguments. That is all it is. It is a circular argument that has no rationale behind it. If there is no reason behind it, I want nothing to do with it just like I want nothing to do with eating an cheesy apple filled burrito sprinkled in hot fudge and hot red peppers when I am not hungry.
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after all, what do you know?
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I know. That is the first truth one must believe in this world. No one gets anywhere without believing this truth. One might say he doesn't but in his actions he believes it.