Living? Or merely surviving?

[Samantha Rinne]

Genesis 3

The fall describes a decision. Most of us haven't really examined this but I've examined it to death. Particularly lately. Particularly in regards to this movie.

Let us suppose that we are in a perfect world. Eden. Now, we have everything perfectly provided for us, but this original world is too perfect. It's like a dream. But we want to live and live authentically. With all the mess and fuss and suffering of regular life. And many people kinda do try to live this way.

However, in the last century or so, things have started to change. It started with the trend of moving away from families and putting people in nursing homes, and the creep towards business as usual acceptance of villainous behavior.

Then there's the acceptance of things like airport security (which is mainly theater on their part, but repeatedly degrades and dehumanizes us every time). Or the gradual decline of food service from eat-in to just kinda passing through and grabbing something while talking to a fuzzy microphone. And the decay of dating from the meet cute in a bookstore to mindless swiping. And the fact that well before this we were already okay with unfriending even family members because they voted Trump or didn't support LGBT rights or whatever. We valued politics over people.

If this sounds super depressing it kinda is. I've lived through a part of this Coronavirus thing that most ppl simply haven't. They are like " Why don't you just wear a mask? You'll be able to do normal things again! Stop complaining and stop risking other's health." They have what is called an unexamined life (and you know what people say about an unexamined life), and they don't understand why I wouldn't simply go along with the new normal. Because it's NOT normal. This world is cruel. Keeping people at arms length when there are no symptoms? These are your friends, your neighbours, and your former coworkers! Suppose you do survive all of this. Suppose though, your closest friend feels so rejected that somewhere along the way they committed suicide? But suppose it is listed as COVID death? Will you even attend the funeral?

Even my own parents, though they support me, basically do not understand why I am upset. They would probably continue to go along with this including getting themselves microchipped (that's what's probably ciming after vaccines are tried), if they were presented very slowly by tightening restrictions until they had to or not eat.

Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

I'm probably going to walk off one day. Without any food or water. Or maybe just sleep the rest of my life away. Because I hate this world.

Before I go, can someone please show me some sign that humanity is in fact capable of empathy? Or are we all so afraid of dying now that we would prefer to survive rather than live? That we'd prefer to push our loved ones awat rather than risk random people get sick? What happened to our priorities? How did we put up with this within about nine months?

Moreover, is the actual point of all of this that we should restore a New Earth that is more like Eden? Try to patch up this broken relationship with God? And can we do this while we live or do we have to die first? What did Jesus mean by the above? How do we go about this?

 

[Tambourine]

That read like a pretty bad bout of depression. Do you have someone to talk to about this?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I'm probably going to walk off one day. Without any food or water. Or maybe just sleep the rest of my life away. Because I hate this world.

The world can be a scary place for someone who doesn't have a basic understanding of science.

Before I go, can someone please show me some sign that humanity is in fact capable of empathy? Or are we all so afraid of dying now that we would prefer to survive rather than live? That we'd prefer to push our loved ones awat rather than risk random people get sick? What happened to our priorities? How did we put up with this within about nine months?

You know those masks you see other people wearing? They're a sign of empathy.

People wearing masks - or who stay away from situations where masks are needed - are saying through their actions that they care enough about others that they don't want to risk passing a potentially fatal disease to them.

 

[Salty Booger]

I'm probably going to walk off one day. Without any food or water. Or maybe just sleep the rest of my life away. Because I hate this world.

Before I go, can someone please show me some sign that humanity is in fact capable of empathy? Or are we all so afraid of dying now that we would prefer to survive rather than live? That we'd prefer to push our loved ones awat rather than risk random people get sick? What happened to our priorities? How did we put up with this within about nine months?

You need to laugh more...at the stupidity of life, knowing that the worst that can happen is that you will die, which will happen eventually anyway. What the suicidal person doesn't understand is once they make that commitment to end it all, they have become invincible Holy crud, you can kill yourself anytime, you might as well stick around and have some fun with life. I suppose what I am trying to say is that much of life's problems are temporary, they pass like clouds over time. I wouldn't worry too much about the future.

Namaste

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I've lived through a part of this Coronavirus thing that most ppl simply haven't. They are like " Why don't you just wear a mask? You'll be able to do normal things again! Stop complaining and stop risking other's health." They have what is called an unexamined life (and you know what people say about an unexamined life), and they don't understand why I wouldn't simply go along with the new normal. Because it's NOT normal.

In the London Blitz, you'd be the one turning on your lights and opening the blinds during an air raid, wouldn't you?

 

[PureX]

I'm probably going to walk off one day. Without any food or water. Or maybe just sleep the rest of my life away. Because I hate this world.

Before I go, can someone please show me some sign that humanity is in fact capable of empathy? Or are we all so afraid of dying now that we would prefer to survive rather than live? That we'd prefer to push our loved ones awat rather than risk random people get sick? What happened to our priorities? How did we put up with this within about nine months?

Moreover, is the actual point of all of this that we should restore a New Earth that is more like Eden? Try to patch up this broken relationship with God? And can we do this while we live or do we have to die first? What did Jesus mean by the above? How do we go about this?

When I was a newly recovering alcoholic, I was miserable every waking moment. I was miserable because for my entire adult life, whenever things became a little difficult, I could just get drunk, and feel good, again. Alcohol was like a magic elixir, for me. At least until the alcohol wore off. Then I'd feel even worse than before, so I'd just drink, again. Until that way of life become who I was (a hopeless alcoholic).

Eventually this way of living stopped working for me. I drank and drank and drank, but it didn't make me feel better, anymore. And I was miserable all the time. By then I knew what I was, and what I had done to myself, and to my life. And I had run out of ways to escape my misery, except maybe death, or "recovery" (whatever that would mean). So I chose to try recovery.

One day, about 6 months into it, I was walking down the street with my AA sponsor, Tom, and I had an epiphany. It was a beautiful warm Friday evening in downtown Chicago, and the street we were walking on was filled with people meeting up for dinner and drinks in sidewalk cafes, and to hang out together before going places, and everyone was happy and smiling, and my sponsor Tom was constantly pointing out to me how wonderful all this was, while I remained miserable. I loathed them all for being so happy, and healthy, and able to enjoy their lives, when I could not. The one thing I had that made me happy (alcohol) had turned on me, and now I was miserable. And it's all I could think about.

Then Tom suddenly stopped, and pointed at something across the street, and said excitedly; "Hey, look at that!" "Did you see that?" I, of course saw nothing, because I was looking at my feet, all hunched over in my attitude of dejection. So I said to Tom, no, what? And he said; "Look, over there! That homeless women with the shopping cart just gave that wino sitting on the stoop green money!" "Can you believe that?" he said, all excited. "What am amazing thing!"

And at that moment I finally realized that the reason Tom was always so happy, even though he was a recovering alcoholic just like me, was that he actively LOOKED for the good things in the world around him, to keep him from wallowing in and dwelling on the bad. See, as alcoholics Tom and I had spend years dwelling on everything bad in our lives so that we would always have an excuse to run to the next drink. And over time, this way of looking at the world had become a part of us. It had taken over our natures and made us practiced, pessimists. And I realized that a big part of my "recovery" was going to be that I would have to learn, as Tom had, how to stop looking for only the bad in the world, and start looking for the good. So that I could begin to feel good about life, myself, ... without drinking.

In all that hubbub going on in the street that Friday night in Chicago, Tom had managed to spot that one act of genuine kindness and generosity between the two people who had the very least to give to anyone, and to celebrate it in his own heart. (And to share it with me.) And from that day on I determined to try and do the same. Because I realized that we tend to see whatever look for. And if the world looks evil and ugly, and lost, it's partly because we've fallen into the habit of looking for that, in it. And as a result, we are missing those moment of kindness, generosity, love, and forgiveness, and beauty.

I'm just sayin', sometimes you gotta LOOK for it.

 

[MNoBody]

the small acts of compassion and kindness will come to mean more
as things continue to unravel and people reveal their core....
and this is still the calm Before the storm

 

[JustGeorge]

I'm probably going to walk off one day. Without any food or water.

You could do this. Some people have found real meaning in this. Being out in nature without human interruptions has been just what many people throughout time have needed in order to get their spirit back in order. Sometimes they stay, sometimes they go back into society after a time, but never overlook the power of the natural order to heal.

Before I go, can someone please show me some sign that humanity is in fact capable of empathy? Or are we all so afraid of dying now that we would prefer to survive rather than live? That we'd prefer to push our loved ones awat rather than risk random people get sick? What happened to our priorities? How did we put up with this within about nine months?

I fully agree with @9-10ths_Penguin , that the mask is a sign of empathy. Its saying you care enough to want to slow the spread of this illness, especially for those who may not survive it. But, I know your feelings on masks, so I'm not here to try to change your mind on it. Just kind of reinstating what @PureX has said, too, sometimes you have to look for the good. Especially when you're depressed.

And yes, can you believe this has only been 9 months? Such a short time to be inconvenienced. With each of my pregnancies, I did nothing but vomit, struggle for air, had difficulty getting around, and suffered from extreme depression(my pregnancies are harder than most). I remember thinking "I can't do this for 9 months!" But I did. Three times. And, the older you get, the shorter amount of time 9 months feels like. I just can't pretend like my feelings are significant in a disaster such as this, and in such a time frame. Historically, pandemics tend to last a few years. I'm not waiting for the end, just taking each day at a time. The world has never been the way I would like it to be, and I doubt I'll like the world any better after this is over.

To a large extent, we make up our outlooks. There are things you can't change. You can't change other people's reactions. The more focus you put on trying to do so, the more unhappy you are likely to be. You can control what yours is, though, with practice and in time. If something triggers you, avoid it. If a person makes you unhappy, the relationship is probably detrimental to you both(though some relationships can't be avoided). I'm assuming you're Christian from your posts; is there a religious group nearby you could participate in? I'm reminded of the serenity prayer here:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.

Good luck to you.

 

[Father Heathen]

And the fact that well before this we were already okay with unfriending even family members because they voted Trump or didn't support LGBT rights or whatever. We valued politics over people.

Pretending that people weren't disowned for being LGBT, valuing religion over people.

 

[Samantha Rinne]

The world can be a scary place for someone who doesn't have a basic understanding of science.

You know those masks you see other people wearing? They're a sign of empathy.

People wearing masks - or who stay away from situations where masks are needed - are saying through their actions that they care enough about others that they don't want to risk passing a potentially fatal disease to them.

I do understand science. Real science not "science." I understand the immune system and germ theory.

I've been inside most of this time, and outside occasionally (usually yardwork), and I don't go inside buildings. If germ theory is to be believed, none of us have gone out significantly. Yet, numbers continue to rise (that's interesting, I can't name one person who now has COVID that didn't before). Why?

No, they're not a sign of empathy. What the COVID signs look like to you.

What they look like to people on the other side of this. Those who won't or can't wear a mask.

That you don't understand this, means it isn't about empathy.

Also, I do tend to stay away from situation where masks are needed. I believe in personal and territorial boundaries. This is my nightmare. But you won't hear this because you assume you have me all figured out (some empathy).
But it's like being in a room where the walls are closing in. I do the same thing, staying out of doors where entry is not permitted. More and more places require them lately (they just asked this for our dump, which is completely open air). I have less and less places I feel comfortable to go without harassment from people and their "empathy."

It is an easy matter for propaganda to convince people they are doing good. Doing the right thing. But I bet you haven't thought of the people who lost their jobs during this. People who are now homeless. Who have serious breathing issues, phobias, or other reasons why even if offered they cannot or will not wear one. Some of these reasons are so embarrassing or personal they won't tell other people. Nope, no excuses. "Because I have empathy, and I'm doing the right thing!" What if you're wrong? What if the reason there are no symptoms is there was no disease? You are punishing those people for NO REASON. And you are doing all of this while telling yourself you're doing the right thing. This is precisely what the video about evil was talking about. The cruelty of "I'm mostly a good person" people.

During the Nazi period, people literally believed they were doing what was best for Germany. That Jews were scumbags who ruined the country. Yet people died for their beliefs.

That read like a pretty bad bout of depression. Do you have someone to talk to about this?

No, I kinda don't. My parents whenever we go out, make me feel utterly alone when they go along with this. I have one library friend, who had the same mindset as Fractional Penguin that all this stuff was morally good. She unfriended me, and for months we were literally on the other side of a door from each other.

She worked in the library. I would walk past. I finally talked to her recently, when I had to run copies off and used curbside services. She felt crappy from the looks of it, and I could tell it was equally bad having to put up with all this to maintain her job. That, ladies and gentlemen is what real empathy looks like. When you know what other people are putting up with.

I talk to Vee on PM sometimes. She (?) kinda is a mod though, and I am guarded about saying something wrong. And I still have friends online. Though alot of my offline friends are kinda either I dunno where they live or they're probably strict (ergo, no visiting).

If this COVID (hoax) ever ends, I'll be like this...

But it's more than just COVID.

There are three types of depression, in order of severity:

1. Circumstantial - Because of COVID, because your wife left you, or because your kids are rebels or something. This usually resolves on its own once the situation ends.
   
2. Emotional - Because you feel bad and have for awhile or because of some persistent emotional problem. This is hard to break out of, since it usually involves renewing your faith in life. You have to have someone
   
3. Existential - This is a very hardcore sort of depression, which seldom hits people because they are not prone to looking at their own lives. But it is a sense that one's own life is pointless, and that maybe life in general is pointless. To even get out of this mindset, you typically have to get a sense that life can change, that life can have meaning.

On a very real level, I had similar feelings before Coronavirus. Back in December, I was working on my book (I write stuff), and not sure what I would do once it was done. If it ends, I might be stuck in the same position. Also, my cat was dying around that time, and I was sure that it would be cruel to give her an injection (I now think maybe I was wrong there, myself). She kinda suffered the next two days or so before passing away. COVID came only a few weeks after she was gone, it seems like. This idea that we know what the right or empathic or kind thing is... maybe we don't?

Salty Booger, I'm gonna report you for too many smilies. There is a cap at 3 per paragraph. You villain, you.

And I like PureX's comments on alcoholism. It's just I've always had issues finding a point to life, and I'm not sure one exists. I've always had to kinda make one. But I'm despairing of the state of humans right now, and kinda needing to see something alot like that woman giving a coin to someone. On a much bigger scale.

https://www.martinsvihla.cz/takachiho-amaterasu-stone-door/

Or a party that has people enjoying themselves outside my cave.