"No single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable"

[noname223]

Is this true? It is a quote of the book Infinite Jest. I thought a lot about it. I am not sure whether it is true or not. I am not sure what this exactly refers to. I am not sure about the feeling of a single moment. My stream of consciousness is not working like that. I am not sure how one single moment would feel. I only experience many moments after another one.

Maybe there are some extreme moments like when I am really manic or psychotic. I felt like these moments were unbearable. Especially when I had extreme psychosomatic pain. Though this thought experiment is extremely complicated for me. You can also get traumatized by one single moment don't you?

It probably depends whether you get after this single moment a break. A break where you can use coping mechanisms.

What do you have to say about it? I don't have anything intricate to say.

 

[Someone123]

That may be, but there are many years that are unendurable without intense suffering, so knowing that you get get through a moment doesn't help to lessen desire to ctb.

 

[chocolatebar]

I don't know the context, but it kinda looks like the idea of reducing an entity to its minimal possible portion and analyzing it, often dissociated from its context. This idea it the basis of our science and our current collective thinking, structuring many aspects from our society, from education to politics.

I think it's quite obvious that some things can't be dissociated from the context and must be observed in a more holistic way. Science itself is starting to develop new methodologies, although still in early stages. Only by experiencing the worst, like our climate crisis, that people had to admit that most things are connected and interact with each others in ways that are either too difficult or even impossible to understand from isolated entities.

Back to the phrase, life moments mean nothing when isolated, but are part of a larger structure

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

That's (probably) the stupidest thing I ever heard. Maybe it's true for that guy if they're like a robot or something but there are literally billions of possible situations that can cause an agony so awful that it can be classified as unendurable. Although I guess maybe the crux of this statement lies in that word itself. The semantics of unendurable implies that no matter how bad something is, if you survive then it's all good right? Even with that definition the phrase is still mind-numbingly dumb because of all the infinite things that can be done to a person that leaves them dead or even worse than dead and wishing they were dead.

 

[Insomniac]

That's (probably) the stupidest thing I ever heard.

Even with that definition the phrase is still mind-numbingly dumb

stupidest thing is too much of an understatement. that quote hurt me spiritually.

some people just have no compassion, no decency.

and what exactly do they mean by "not unendurable"?

unbelievable.

 

[GentleJerk]

Sounds like a refined version of "Yeah, but did you die?"

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

I swear these people just parrot each other and rip-off each other's "wisdom". This is just like the Power of Now which is some Eckhart Tolle b/s which is probably derived from some Buddhist text.

 

[Rogue Proxy]

Anyone who preaches that unempathetic, imbecilic drivel should superglue their own anus or urinary meatus shut. They will never endure the agony and health complications of indefinitely retaining their feces or urine.

 

[motel rooms]

I swear these people just parrot each other and rip-off each other's "wisdom". This is just like the Power of Now which is some Eckhart Tolle b/s which is probably derived from some Buddhist text.

It's interesting that this is a quote from a 1,079-page post-postmodernist/metamodernist novel that every literary snob pretended to have read in the late '90s.

I don't know the context, but it kinda looks like the idea of reducing an entity to its minimal possible portion and analyzing it, often dissociated from its context.

Spoiler: CONTEXT

If, by the virtue of charity or the circumstance of desperation, you ever chance to spend a little time around a Substance-recovery halfway facility like Enfield MA's state-funded Ennet House, you will acquire many exotic new facts…

That certain persons simply will not like you no matter what you do.

That sleeping can be a form of emotional escape and can with sustained effort be abused. That purposeful sleep-deprivation can also be an abusable escape.

That you do not have to like a person in order to learn from him/her/it. That loneliness is not a function of solitude. That logical validity is not a guarantee of truth. That it takes effort to pay attention to any one stimulus for more than a few seconds. That boring activities become, perversely, much less boring if you concentrate intently on them. That if enough people in a silent room are drinking coffee it is possible to make out the sound of steam coming off the coffee. That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt. That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness.

That it is possible to fall asleep during an anxiety attack.

That concentrating intently on anything is very hard work.

That 99% of compulsive thinkers' thinking is about themselves; that 99% of this self-directed thinking consists of imagining and then getting ready for things that are going to happen to them; and then, weirdly, that if they stop to think about it, that 100% of the things they spend 99% of their time and energy imagining and trying to prepare for all the contingencies and consequences of are never good. In short that 99% of the head's thinking activity consists of trying to scare the everliving shit out of itself. That it is possible to make rather tasty poached eggs in a microwave oven. That some people's moms never taught them to cover up or turn away when they sneeze. That the people to be the most frightened of are the people who are the most frightened. That it takes great personal courage to let yourself appear weak. That no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.

That other people can often see things about you that you yourself cannot see, even if those people are stupid. That having a lot of money does not immunize people from suffering or fear. That trying to dance sober is a whole different kettle of fish.

That different people have radically different ideas of basic personal hygiene.

That, perversely, it is often more fun to want something than to have it.

That if you do something nice for somebody in secret, anonymously, without letting the person you did it for know it was you or anybody else know what it was you did or in any way or form trying to get credit for it, it's almost its own form of intoxicating buzz.

That anonymous generosity, too, can be abused.

That it is permissible to want.

That everybody is identical in their unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else. That this isn't necessarily perverse.

That there might not be angels, but there are people who might as well be angels.

 

[Sakura94]

The quote is true for a single moment. We endure moments of pain daily to get stuff done. Individual quales or qualia or whatever it was known as when I was in college are easily overcome.
The issue is the downward trajectory overall. I can't see things getting better. I gave it enough chances. I still am but it's due to delusion and coping for family.

 

[motel rooms]

Anyone who preaches that unempathetic, imbecilic drivel should superglue their own anus or urinary meatus shut. They will never endure the agony and health complications of indefinitely retaining their feces or urine.

The guy who wrote it killed himself at the age of 46.

 

[chocolatebar]

That 99% of compulsive thinkers' thinking is about themselves; that 99% of this self-directed thinking consists of imagining and then getting ready for things that are going to happen to them; and then, weirdly, that if they stop to think about it, that 100% of the things they spend 99% of their time and energy imagining and trying to prepare for all the contingencies and consequences of are never good. In short that 99% of the head's thinking activity consists of trying to scare the everliving shit out of itself. That it is possible to make rather tasty poached eggs in a microwave oven. That some people's moms never taught them to cover up or turn away when they sneeze. That the people to be the most frightened of are the people who are the most frightened. That it takes great personal courage to let yourself appear weak. That no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.

If I understand it well, is it an example of an overthinking and that one came as a part of it?

 

[motel rooms]

If I understand it well, is it an example of an overthinking and that one came as a part of it?

The author has just slapped together a list of "exotic new facts"(lol) you will acquire if you "ever chance to spend a little time around a substance-recovery halfway facility". Imho, the excerpt I posted reads like a bunch of Buddhist ideas/insights everyone had heard a gazillion times even back in 1996 mixed with a bunch of supposedly interesting/quirky observations. I'm not surprised "Infinite Jest" was panned by so many critics.