I read a portion of what mistyrider7 wrote, and I find myself agreeing. This whole idea of "living it up" wouldn't even be a thing if our lives were actually okay—if we were in some kind of balance, for instance. I mean, is everyone supposed to sleep around once just to check a box? That’s nonsense. I say this even though I went through my own phase of "living life to the fullest"—doing things my own way—but I’m still here, or at least, I’m trying to live with both lungs full.
If you look at the semantics of the phrase, everything becomes a bit clearer. It’s like saying you "live it out" for a certain period, and then, once that's done, it's as if you stop living entirely. You "live it all out," and then for you, life is over; there's nothing left but—I don't know, what?
Actually, I recently had a thought about a guy telling a girl—or vice versa—that they aren't ready for a serious relationship because they haven't "lived enough" yet. 😁
I see many people pushing this thesis regarding "experience."
However, that argument is mostly meaningless in this context, because the core of this supposed search for "experience" really boils down to searching for a "feeling of being alive."
The only "experience" one truly gains from all these pursuits is learning that life isn't found there.
Or, perhaps one doesn't gain anything—especially not finding the "source of life"—but simply grows weary of the futile attempts and eventually "settles down."
Most of those experiences are complete nonsense. Is getting wasted and being hungover the next morning really a great "life experience"? Doing stupid things a hundred, two hundred, or a thousand times? Or maybe just five times, for the more intelligent—or rather, wiser—people. 😁
I maintain that I am much more stable now than I would have been if I hadn't gone through those things.
My take is this: If I had been more stable, I wouldn't have spent so much time "living it up" in the first place.
@mistyrider7For most, however, the cultural factor is vital; if the entire culture is sick, it leads to a frantic searching that usually yields poor results, producing only an initial explosion of misguided seeking, followed by a frequent sense of numbness.
Yes, so I think you're quite right. For example, I always look at—not that I dwell on it constantly, mind you—but I think of young people drinking. Everyone says, "Look how reckless they are," or "Look how they act," acting as if things weren't this way before. The cause lies precisely in the environment, or as you put it, the culture or society.
Education is a mess, completely unsuited to the essence of young people; the family unit is struggling; and honestly, our society as a whole has been pretty much a disaster over the years. And so on. Well, you're looking at this from a more philosophical angle, but there's truth in it. After that misguided search, for the vast majority, comes a state of numbness.
vecomes a sort of stagnation.
Everyone seems to be just trying to survive until tomorrow, moving from one vacation to the next, from one paycheck to the next, working jobs they hate (the result of that misguided search), and so on.
I don't know how many people actually work jobs they love. Maybe 20%, if that. But then again, "loving a job" is a very broad concept.
@EGO"Wise people learn from the experiences of others; everyone else has to learn from their own."
It’s not just about learning from other people's experiences—it’s specifically about learning from their MISTAKES. That’s the real truth, though such people are incredibly rare, mostly because truly wise individuals aren't exactly common. (And even they weren't always this way—not necessarily in the life they lead now)
Of course, we all progress and grow by overcoming obstacles through experience, and life itself is an ongoing lesson—if I don't veer too far into the esoteric side of things.
But surely we possess discernment—a sense to distinguish right from wrong—so we aren't necessarily condemned to stumble through every single possible experience one by one. Besides, one really ought to differentiate the core essence of an experience from its superficial qualities.
I completely disagree with you. You can have such incredible hallucinations or trips from smoking a joint that they actually force you to view certain things differently—they don't necessarily have to be unpleasant or bad experiences.
Well, you make a fair point—you can certainly have good hallucinations or "trips," and I suppose you could call them pleasant illusions, but those things aren't inherently valuable or desirable on their own.
You won't gain any real insight into reality, yourself, or your surroundings (aside from perhaps recognizing some of your own negative traits—though that’s a whole other complicated issue that just occurred to me)—that's my firm stance. Certainly, anyone using marijuana might feel like they're receiving profound revelations, but objectively speaking, they usually aren't; it's mostly just a heightened *feeling* of having gained insight—it's largely just the "high" talking.