except, as a devout catholic, pascal only said that as the preliminary softening up jab before delivering his real convictions, that the death sentence could be commuted by god and all that anguish allayed to joy
― Aimless, Thursday, 12 March 2015 03:32 (nine years ago) link
religion and (worldly) pessimism go hand-in-hand.
― ryan, Thursday, 12 March 2015 03:39 (nine years ago) link
it's not for nothing that so many of those quoted on this thread are quite critical of Enlightenment (ie, secular) derived ideals of human perfectibility.
― ryan, Thursday, 12 March 2015 03:41 (nine years ago) link
Every misanthrope, however sincere, at times reminds me of that old poet, bedridden and utterly forgotten, who in a rage with his contemporaries declared he would receive none of them. His wife, out of charity, wold ring at the door from time to time. ...Cioran
― 龜, Wednesday, 11 March 2015 21:02 (Yesterday) Permalink
Strangely I actually find this quote kind of optimistic.
― five six and (man alive), Thursday, 12 March 2015 04:10 (nine years ago) link
Pascal was a devout Catholic, but he was sympathetic to Jansenism (very anti-Jesuit) and Augustinian, i.e. had a very profound sense of original sin and the futility of "free will." Salvation (granted by God only to some) was utterly dependent on God's grace (unmerited)-- in Pascal the prospect of salvation has something absurd and (as it were) kafkaesque about it. Ryan otm that this pessimism is "critical of Enlightenment (ie, secular) derived ideals of human perfectibility." But even whatever metaphysical consolation there is in Pascal, is a gamble against the odds-- not very comforting at all.
― drash, Thursday, 12 March 2015 04:26 (nine years ago) link
One thing about great pessimists, they're great aphorists. Maybe if I give up all hope I'll write better sentences.
― drash, Thursday, 12 March 2015 08:50 (nine years ago) link
good aphorists, like good pessimists, certainly do not say 'maybe'.
― j., Thursday, 12 March 2015 14:13 (nine years ago) link
alas
― drash, Thursday, 12 March 2015 15:29 (nine years ago) link
now that's more like
― Aimless, Thursday, 12 March 2015 17:51 (nine years ago) link
"In the end, everything is found to be wanting." -Frank Lentricchia (lit critic but oh well)
― mushaboom kids (rip van wanko), Saturday, 28 March 2015 06:33 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCRZZC-DH7M
― drash, Saturday, 28 March 2015 08:43 (nine years ago) link
i was very pleased with my charity shop book haul of today until i opened at random the schopenhauer book i got and read this: "buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents." :(
― cis-het shitlord (Merdeyeux), Saturday, 28 March 2015 15:50 (nine years ago) link
you got schoped
― ^^^ NOT METAL (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Monday, 30 March 2015 02:31 (nine years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEQamgEW0AAXKYc.png
born 202 years ago today
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 16:52 (nine years ago) link
was reading a new yorker piece on K and this one is a gem: "“There are two possible situations—one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it—you will regret both.”
― ryan, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 23:54 (nine years ago) link
“There are two possible situations—one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it—you will regret both.”
<3
― drash, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 23:59 (nine years ago) link
you will regret either, really.
― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 00:01 (nine years ago) link
well I guess you regret both the doing and the not doing.
― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 00:03 (nine years ago) link
so i was wrong
― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 00:04 (nine years ago) link
you would have regretted not making that post
― drash, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 00:05 (nine years ago) link
at least that regret would have been contained to my own self ;_;
― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 00:06 (nine years ago) link
now everyone regrets it. forgot to mention that part, Søren.
― Sufjan Grafton, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 00:07 (nine years ago) link
:)
― drash, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 00:12 (nine years ago) link
(you forget that misery loves company)
― drash, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 00:36 (nine years ago) link
into both those quotes
― markers, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 02:16 (nine years ago) link
"let's drink til our hearts stop" - space ghost
― brimstead, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 02:23 (nine years ago) link
Kinda comforting, to me anyway. I hate decisions a lot, it's nice to know they don't matter.
― jmm, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 17:29 (nine years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFDtjGfW8AIIgnU.png
― mookieproof, Friday, 15 May 2015 15:50 (eight years ago) link
OTM
― ☂ (Noodle Vague), Friday, 15 May 2015 16:38 (eight years ago) link
just some chill buddhism
― an absolute feast of hardcore fanboy LOLs surrounding (imago), Friday, 15 May 2015 16:43 (eight years ago) link
If a bear ever charges me and pins me down, I swear I'll look him in the eye and say, "you're right to do this, we're a vile species" before he starts eating my face.
― #HipsterTroll has been blocked. #BringItOn (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Sunday, May 17, 2015 12:15 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 19 May 2015 17:24 (eight years ago) link
coming soon, eugene thacker tries to contribute to the canon: http://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Pessimism-Univocal-Eugene-Thacker/dp/193756147X/
― ryan, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 22:05 (eight years ago) link
http://defamer.gawker.com/a-kendall-kylie-interview-so-good-i-literally-want-to-1708536577
Kendall had an epiphany about social media on a recent family holiday to Thailand. “We had a two-hour drive from the airport to where we were staying, and I’d left my phone in my bag, so I didn’t touch it the whole way. I looked out the window at everything, and I saw people who live in huts and have dogs that were, like, withering away. And all their food, meat, was hanging in front of their house. It was very sad.
iirc schopenhauer had much the same experience on his grand tour
― j., Wednesday, 3 June 2015 01:44 (eight years ago) link
Someone needs to turn these into FB macros
― Darin, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 02:47 (eight years ago) link
Not to be born is bestwhen all is reckoned in, but once a man has seen the lightthe next best thing, by far, is to go backback where he came from, quickly as he can. For once his youth slips by, light on the winglightheaded… what mortal blows can he escapewhat griefs won’t stalk his days?Envy and enemies, rage and battles, bloodshedand last of all despised old age overtakes him,stripped of power, companions, stripped of love— the worst this life of pain can offer,old age our mate at last.
― drash, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 07:49 (eight years ago) link
myth of silenus?
― 龜, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 13:09 (eight years ago) link
expressed by chorus in oedipus @ colonusechoing, yes, the wisdom of silenus
― drash, Wednesday, 3 June 2015 15:09 (eight years ago) link
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/11351316_882616678478374_2959348984621827832_n.jpg?oh=6571456239eb5f3735bc5b7102246f3e&oe=55F84A24
― Darin, Thursday, 4 June 2015 21:02 (eight years ago) link
let's make the best of the situation before i finally go insane
- eric clapton
― mookieproof, Friday, 5 June 2015 00:10 (eight years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/re0GCuv.png
― 龜, Friday, 19 June 2015 11:55 (eight years ago) link
http://40.media.tumblr.com/04216a3895b907eacb0d84c90e99e345/tumblr_nqhba4aomV1rodhzko1_1280.jpg
― slam dunk, Tuesday, 14 July 2015 19:04 (eight years ago) link
perfect w/ cheerful av photo
― j., Tuesday, 14 July 2015 19:40 (eight years ago) link
"The human phenomenon is but the sum of densely coiled layers of illusion, each of which winds itself upon the supreme insanity that there are persons of any kind, when all that can be is mindless mirrors laughing and screaming as they parade about in an endless dream."-- Thomas Ligotti, or at least TL's words delivered by David Tibet. https://youtu.be/lxZpEFJhO6k
I'm most displeased that the homemade video for this that I once saw on vimeo is no longer there. It was a miracle.
― Devilock, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 21:34 (eight years ago) link
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/10/us/universe-dying/index.html?sr=cnnifb
The conclusion of a new astronomical study pulls no punches on this. "The Universe is slowly dying," it reads.Astronomers have believed as much for years, but the new findings establish the cosmos' decline with unprecedented precision.
Astronomers have believed as much for years, but the new findings establish the cosmos' decline with unprecedented precision.
― j., Tuesday, 11 August 2015 15:21 (eight years ago) link
I liked this quote from the Charting the Slow Death of the Universe
"The Universe will decline from here on in, sliding gently into old age. The Universe has basically sat down on the sofa, pulled up a blanket and is about to nod off for an eternal doze,” concludes Simon Driver.
― Planned adolescence (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 11 August 2015 21:04 (eight years ago) link
Since we're quoting news reports today:
On average, the effect of a new baby on a person's life is devastatingly bad — worse than divorce, worse than unemployment and worse even than the death of a partner.
― Planned adolescence (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 11 August 2015 21:39 (eight years ago) link
lol that's great
― j., Tuesday, 11 August 2015 21:59 (eight years ago) link
but is it worse than marriage?
― ryan, Tuesday, 11 August 2015 22:43 (eight years ago) link
Sloterdijk, "Rules for the Human Zoo"
Two thousand years after Plato wrote it seems as if not only gods but the wise have abandoned us, and left us alone with our partial knowledge and our ignorance. What is left to us in the place of the wise is their writings, in their glinting brilliance and their increasing obscurity. They still lay in more or less accessible editions; they can still be read, if only one knew why one should bother. It is their fate--to stand in silent bookshelves, like posted letters no longer collected, sent to us by authors, of whom we no longer know whether or not they could be our friends.
― ryan, Wednesday, 12 August 2015 23:59 (eight years ago) link
allows the possibility of authors being friends; too optimistic
― mookieproof, Thursday, 13 August 2015 00:27 (eight years ago) link