The Self: Our Modern Preoccupation

Life is not about living anymore; at least not for the vast majority of people.  More than anything, life today is not about about living simply because it does not have to be. One need not travel back to the time of hunter-gatherers and the like to find a world where daily life was principally concerned with survival. Just two hundred years ago, though a multitude of fundamental technological changes had been made, much of the world lived an agriculture and trade-based lifestyle where everyday was devoted to preserving one’s own life and those of his or her family. This is not to say that people today do not work for the sake of preserving their and their family members’ lives. However there is a fundamental difference between the farm lifestyle of two or three centuries ago compared to the lives people live today, even if they are perhaps involved in farming. The fundamental difference has to do with the focus, the expectations, and perceptions of life as well as oneself in it. In earlier life, work was more directly, more fundamentally linked to survival. [Read more…]

What Are You Waiting For?

As grim as it sounds, we are all just waiting to die. We are born into this world with no explanation and die with no explanation. Most people seek out an eventful life full of happiness, adventures and wealth. From a purely scientific point of view, however, it cannot be argued that the fate of a man who never aspires nor reaches the greatness of another man is in any way different. Why, then, do we strive to be the wealthiest, most powerful and extraordinary human beings we can, all while knowing that we are all inevitably left to die? This question may lead us to the contemplation of suicide, the shortcut to our fate, which we are conditioned to look down upon. But what if suicide were not a sin and tragic, but on the contrary a praiseworthy act? What if what happens after death is unimaginably better than life on earth? What are we doing wasting our time waiting for this greatness? [Read more…]

Emojiless: Technology’s Detrimental Impact on the Human Lifestyle

As a whole, society lacks the one on one connections and relationships that once used to exist. The new modern day and age of technology has overwhelmed our younger generations straight to the point that we have nothing else to live for. People are so concerned with who likes this photo, who is commenting on this status, that everything else life has to offer is suddenly invisible to their eyes. In this day, moments are never just appreciated for what they are but always need to be captured and accelerated. Nor does anyone realize the fragility of life anymore because his or her individual relationship with technology is far more important. The sad aspect of all of this is that each and every one of us is guilty, no matter how in denial we are about it. [Read more…]

Insight Paper: An Artificial Human Condition

The human condition of modern times is a manufactured one. Today’s society maintains order and establishes peace through a mechanized dehumanization that began at the advent of the Industrial Revolution. This order relies on the forceful organization of people’s lives into a technological system that makes the daily lives of people lugubrious and dull. This creates an omnipresent unconsciousness in the population that has now essentially become the human condition. It is an unconsciousness that hinders individual subjectivity and stifles questions that may be posed by conscious observers of the manner in which society is run. The upper echelons of society oversee a gradual process of conditioning done over the formative years of young people that encourages routine over spontaneity. Through a need for money, people find themselves fixed in a mundane but necessary daily routine that has to be followed in order to subsist. People fit into roles and become mere cogs in the intricate gears of a modern society; their unique consciousness is veiled under the roles they have to fit into in the process. This unconsciousness is representative of the artificially produced human condition that modern society has instilled into most of the population. It is inherently dehumanizing because it goes directly contrary to the quality of humanity that is uniquely human: an immaterial, self-aware consciousness that is constantly questioning and curious about the world it occupies. [Read more…]

Significance in a Superfluous Existence

In life, there is not always someone around to reassure us that what we are doing is important.  Contrastingly, more often than not, there is no one to explain to us why some aspect of our life is insignificant.  Values, although largely influenced by various aspects of society, are mainly determined by the individual because of the subjective (personalized) nature of existence, and the access to the infinite possibilities of a naturally superfluous human life.  The superfluousness, or contingency (both will be used to describe the concept), of human existence implies that no one’s life is truly necessary, and that everyone simply is without having to be so, thus suggesting that life contains the possibility for constant meaningful occurrences whose significance is born out of their lack of necessity.  Said significance is rooted in the fact that one’s actions, and even one’s existence, are entirely unnecessary when it comes the basic facts of human life, which elevates and gives meaning to certain actions and experiences that vary from person to person.  That being said, I believe that everyone has the potential to live a fulfilling life, one that is more resemblant of an adventure than a stroll down a predetermined path.  Ultimately, I will try convey the idea that there is no set meaning to life, and that no one may justifiably impose a negative judgement on another person’s significance because of his or her inherently subjective input.  Additionally, based partially on my atheistic existential perspective, I believe there is no life beyond this one on Earth, and that every moment has the capability – a capability which should be taken advantage of – of becoming an incredible and memorable one.  These moments are what truly define one’s existence and allow one to reflect on life not as a bundle of wasted opportunities, but as a series of new and significant experiences. [Read more…]