Id also add Arthur Schopenhauer. On the Sufferings of the World and On Suicide were very helpful for me. I do not understand why he is considered to be a downer or giving up. I rather find his perspective very uplifting. Life is suffering, but struggle is what drives us to live. We can lose ourselves or our 'will' through nature and art and extend compassion to our fellow man who faces the same predicament we do. These are the things that motivate me. Nietzsche (whom I haven't read) was inspired by him I believe (think they have converged at points but again I'm not as familiar.)
Camus said in The Myth of Sisyphus that suicide is a confession that life is too much for the person (paraphrasing.) it was the first thing I thought of when reading op's post.
Philosophy has honestly helped me more than cbt ever has lol. I'd love an existential therapist.
@GuppyBoyo
If people are abusing their power during the spur of the moment only, then why do overarching, systemic power structures exist (e.g capitalism, racism, patriarchy, powerful institutions like corporations or religious doctrines or authoritarian regimes?) I don't think it's really about "stopping that thing." I think it's about control, superiority, and exploitation.
I don't understand how it would follow that continuing to carry on is what people trying to "stop that thing" want. You're giving them what they want by stopping that thing, right? Consider how hate groups want to 'cure ' LGBT people, or the disabled, that sort of thing. Those within power would rather the weak don't exist or if they do, to serve their power ultimately. I'd rather think suicide continues to feed their power, especially since suicide is often perceived as a weakness, and tearing down the 'weak' is what those in power desire.
Think of how say, activists won their power. They fought. They were loud and proud and did not let their oppressors stop them. I see choosing to live in this way. I don't disagree focusing on one's wellbeing is important, but when you don't value yourself, it's hard to do. For me, I only care about my wellbeing as I consider it as reflection of others (I think of god as the universe and all living things as one as they're all connected to the universe, for context.) having an external factor to strive for isn't always bad. People are different, and their motivations to live are thus different. I'm more of a "my body is a temple" sort of person.
I disagree. I think one can also apply life experiences here. Life sucks, we were forced to be here, so why not prove to yourself you won't be bound by your suffering or let tragedy defeat you?
I find it so fascinating that people perceive op as caring about what others think. I rather think it's more about refusing to be the victim of tragic circumstance, whether that be due to people, natural events, life itself, or yourself. Beat the enemy. If life is an enemy due to its purposeless or banality, make it your bitch. That's again what Camus essentially said.
while I agree with the things you say, it is not the continued existence that undermines oppressive power structures, it is their intentional opposition, if you just continue existing passively then you're not threatening anyone, you're effectively "stopping that thing", having you alive and exploitable is far more useful than having you die, they don't want the weak to die they want them under control.
and also it seems to me that pursuing the weakening of power structures as a means towards personal and collective well being is a far more useful outlook than just doing it out of spite.
and also also, not all the harm that the vulnerable receive is coming from the top. you're forgetting that most people are sick in the mind; parents do torture their kids for looking a little autistic, the neighbors will pick up the kids and return them to their parents if they try to run away from the torture, the torture will be justified to the kids if they speak out about.
perhaps you don't know this because you live in the west or some adjacent places, but communities out here will unanimously choose to carry out and reproduce harm at every level and every place just because. no thought pattern, just so they would maintain the normal.
mothers, fathers, neighbors, relatives.... you do not know the power of harm that people out here carry out on any threat on normalcy.
they dismantle the systems that challenge their power, they close all the exit doors, with these scumbags, one is truly stuck....
and you will grow up, and your very existence will become useful to them, your work and cooperation will benefit the very people that conspired against you, the parents that tortured you will have someone to serve them and take care of them, the community that consigned that harm will have someone contributing to its endeavors, they've won, they managed to carry out their harm to maintain normalcy, and now they have another member in their community
the common person, for some reason is just rotten to their very core, i know for a fact that they can think with their mind instead of their vibes, but they choose not to.
but you could of course put up your entire existence to try and better those scumbags, in that endeavor i wish everyone good luck, but spite won't help you there
