People Who Want To Smoke Pot Prove That Existentialists Are Right

[Clyde Armstrong]

They prove, as existentialism asserts, that they are unhappy in life with its purposeless stress, suffering, boredom and loneliness and they want to escape. Enough of this crap about "medicinal marijuana'; there are hundreds of over-the-counter and prescription drugs now that are available for psychological stress and emotional distress. None of which work, in that they offer only
transitory relief.

All the popular pressure for legalized narcotics is more proof of
Jean Paul Sartre's "I suffer; therefore I exist" and Albert Camus', "It is
common knowledge that life is not worth living". Let's face it, all our silly,
wacky, irrational religions exist only to offer solace to for the desperate hopeless human condition.

As I said earlier in an original aphorism and one that you
should commit to memory: "God does not exist; there is no heaven, but there
is a hell-- and we are in it now".

[gregca...@gmail.com]

Life on Earth is not Hell. Hell as a place of torment doesn't exist. I enjoy a sweet coffee, the music of Pink Floyd on YouTube and reading the Vancouver Sun for a change. Hockey/baseball and football entertain me and visits with my neices are a joy. Most ppl are happy. Only 22% of the population will suffer a psychiatric problem during their lifetime. I don't smoke pot but support medical marijuana as it can help with a nauseous stomach and help with certain diseases of the eye and MS patients.

[David Johnston]

On 1/25/2016 11:37 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
> They prove, as existentialism asserts, that they are unhappy in life

So because I don't smoke pot I prove existentialists are wrong?

[David Johnston]

Oh, and stop lying about Camus.

[M.I.Wakefield]

"David Johnston" wrote in message news:n860p1$n9m$5...@dont-email.me...

> Oh, and stop lying about Camus.

Well, it's not like he can lie with impunity about any live philosophers, is
it?

[Clyde Armstrong]

No, not at all. But they do add evidence to Freud's assertion that man is nature's only neurotic animal. Lower animals don't smoke, or drink to get drunk, take drugs, watch pornography etc. because they are not aware of just
how rotten, purposeless and meaningless life is.

I just heard on the radio this morning that in the medical industry the most
common reason for patients' visits to a doctor is depression, not any other particular disease or ailment. And the reason for that depression is simply
LIFE. As Shakespeare's Hamlet expressed it, "How flat, stale and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world".

[David Johnston]

On 1/26/2016 12:02 PM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
> On Monday, January 25, 2016 at 3:34:58 PM UTC-5, David Johnston
> wrote:
>> On 1/25/2016 11:37 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>> They prove, as existentialism asserts, that they are unhappy in
>>> life
>>
>> So because I don't smoke pot I prove existentialists are wrong?
>
> No, not at all.

I think you are foggy on the concept of "proof". The existence of some
foolish and/or unhappy people proves nothing for humanity in general,
just as my disinclination toward recreation drugs proves nothing.

> But they do add evidence to Freud's assertion that man is nature's
> only neurotic animal.

No, they don't. Freud was wrong and I can point to plenty of examples
of neurotic pets to the contrary.

> Lower animals don't smoke, or drink to get drunk, take drugs, watch
> pornography etc. because they are not aware of just how rotten,
> purposeless and meaningless life is.

Wrong. The main reason why they don't usually do those things is because
they lack the technical capability to do them.

[Clyde Armstrong]

On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 5:26:16 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:
> On 1/26/2016 12:02 PM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
> > On Monday, January 25, 2016 at 3:34:58 PM UTC-5, David Johnston
> > wrote:
> >> On 1/25/2016 11:37 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
> >>> They prove, as existentialism asserts, that they are unhappy in
> >>> life
> >>
> >> So because I don't smoke pot I prove existentialists are wrong?
> >
> > No, not at all.
>
> I think you are foggy on the concept of "proof". The existence of some
> foolish and/or unhappy people proves nothing for humanity in general,
> just as my disinclination toward recreation drugs proves nothing.
>
> > But they do add evidence to Freud's assertion that man is nature's
> > only neurotic animal.
>
> No, they don't. Freud was wrong and I can point to plenty of examples
> of neurotic pets to the contrary.

Freud was not referring to individual human beings or individual animals;
he was referring to species.

An existentialist is defined a "a person who is ashamed of being human".
People who are not ashamed of being human are obtuse, ignorant, unread
fools like you.

[Clyde Armstrong]

There are no "live" philosophers. If there were they would have to live in the
present. And there is no present. "Nothing is but what is naught". "Nothing real exists; if something real did exist, it cannot be known". --Shakespeare

[M.I.Wakefield]

"Clyde Armstrong" wrote in message
news:59017b55-2ed0-4138...@googlegroups.com...

> On Monday, January 25, 2016 at 3:44:45 PM UTC-5, M.I.Wakefield wrote:
> > "David Johnston" wrote in message news:n860p1$n9m$5...@dont-email.me...
> >
> > > Oh, and stop lying about Camus.
> >
> > Well, it's not like he can lie with impunity about any live
> > philosophers, is
> > it?
>
> There are no "live" philosophers.

John Ralston Saul would likely beg to differ.

[David Johnston]

On 1/27/2016 11:09 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
> On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 5:26:16 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:
>> On 1/26/2016 12:02 PM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>> On Monday, January 25, 2016 at 3:34:58 PM UTC-5, David Johnston
>>> wrote:
>>>> On 1/25/2016 11:37 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>>>> They prove, as existentialism asserts, that they are unhappy in
>>>>> life
>>>>
>>>> So because I don't smoke pot I prove existentialists are wrong?
>>>
>>> No, not at all.
>>
>> I think you are foggy on the concept of "proof". The existence of some
>> foolish and/or unhappy people proves nothing for humanity in general,
>> just as my disinclination toward recreation drugs proves nothing.
>>
>>> But they do add evidence to Freud's assertion that man is nature's
>>> only neurotic animal.
>>
>> No, they don't. Freud was wrong and I can point to plenty of examples
>> of neurotic pets to the contrary.
>
> Freud was not referring to individual human beings or individual animals;
> he was referring to species.

"Species" are not neurotic. Individuals are.

>
> An existentialist is defined a "a person who is ashamed of being human".

Ah. So existentialists are by definition, "idiots".

[David Johnston]

Stop lying about Shakespeare.

[M.I.Wakefield]

"David Johnston" wrote in message news:n8bf9l$pit$3...@dont-email.me...

Well, it's not like he can lie with impunity about any live writers, is it?

[Eric©]

Clyde Armstrong wrote...

Have you considered taking up pot-smoking, JR?

[Clyde Armstrong]

Wakefield mentions the Canadian Saul, a wacko liberal/leftist, as a profound
living philosopher. You are scraping the bottom of the barrel, M.I.

[Clyde Armstrong]

No, I am non smoker and drink very moderately realizing that there is no
escape from the fact that "life is hell".

[David Johnston]

And yet I escape from that fact all the time. Clearly my mind is more
powerful than yours.

[E. Barry Bruyea]

On Wed, 27 Jan 2016 14:45:25 -0500, "M.I.Wakefield" <no...@present.com>
wrote:

When "Charlie Farquharson" died, I thought that was it for
philosophers.
>
>
>---
>This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
>https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[Clyde Armstrong]

It was Arthur Schopenhauer who wrote "the world is my idea". And John Milton who wrote, "The mind is it's own place and in itself can make a hell
of heaven, a heaven of hell". You may consider yourself to be relatively happy today, but Sophocles wrote, "Count no man happy unless he carries that
happiness with him to the grave". Keep in mind that your body is now gradually decaying and you will soon be worms-meat. Ernest Hemingway wrote that "life is tragic because it ends with death". Right now you are probably
like Shakespeare's Richard II, who languishing in prison said, "In my youth
I wasted time; now time wastes me".

[David Johnston]

On 1/28/2016 11:40 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
> On Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 6:48:17 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:
>> On 1/27/2016 4:19 PM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>> On Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 5:56:40 PM UTC-5, Eric© wrote:
>>>> Clyde Armstrong wrote...
>>>>>
>>>>> On Monday, January 25, 2016 at 3:44:45 PM UTC-5, M.I.Wakefield wrote:
>>>>>> "David Johnston" wrote in message news:n860p1$n9m$5...@dont-email.me...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Oh, and stop lying about Camus.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Well, it's not like he can lie with impunity about any live philosophers, is
>>>>>> it?
>>>>>
>>>>> There are no "live" philosophers. If there were they would have to live in the
>>>>> present. And there is no present. "Nothing is but what is naught". "Nothing real exists; if something real did exist, it cannot be known". --Shakespeare
>>>>
>>>> Have you considered taking up pot-smoking, JR?
>>>
>>> No, I am non smoker and drink very moderately realizing that there is no
>>> escape from the fact that "life is hell".
>>>
>>
>> And yet I escape from that fact all the time. Clearly my mind is more
>> powerful than yours.
>
> It was Arthur Schopenhauer who wrote "the world is my idea".

Exactly. Thus the world is a wonderful thing to someone who isn't a
whiny mope.

[Clyde Armstrong]

Then why are so many Americans (living the American Dream) smoking, or wanting to smoke pot to escape? It was just reported that Colorado which has
legalized pot and the growing of marijuana is making millions (soon to be
billions) of dollars exporting it to other states.

And by the way there is no "American Dream". Dreams are unreal. As is this
nightmare of a universe.

"The vast majority of mankind live lives of quiet desperation".--American
philosopher Henry David Thoreau.

[David Johnston]

On 1/30/2016 11:20 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
> On Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 4:39:14 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:
>> On 1/28/2016 11:40 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>> On Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 6:48:17 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:
>>>> On 1/27/2016 4:19 PM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>>>> On Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 5:56:40 PM UTC-5, Eric© wrote:
>>>>>> Clyde Armstrong wrote...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Monday, January 25, 2016 at 3:44:45 PM UTC-5, M.I.Wakefield wrote:
>>>>>>>> "David Johnston" wrote in message news:n860p1$n9m$5...@dont-email.me...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Oh, and stop lying about Camus.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Well, it's not like he can lie with impunity about any live philosophers, is
>>>>>>>> it?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> There are no "live" philosophers. If there were they would have to live in the
>>>>>>> present. And there is no present. "Nothing is but what is naught". "Nothing real exists; if something real did exist, it cannot be known". --Shakespeare
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Have you considered taking up pot-smoking, JR?
>>>>>
>>>>> No, I am non smoker and drink very moderately realizing that there is no
>>>>> escape from the fact that "life is hell".
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> And yet I escape from that fact all the time. Clearly my mind is more
>>>> powerful than yours.
>>>
>>> It was Arthur Schopenhauer who wrote "the world is my idea".
>>
>> Exactly. Thus the world is a wonderful thing to someone who isn't a
>> whiny mope.
>
> Then why are so many Americans (living the American Dream) smoking, or wanting to smoke pot to escape?

Hard as it may be for you to grasp, wanting to smoke pot doesn't
necessarily imply misery.

[Clyde Armstrong]

Maybe not outright misery, but stress, boredom, loneliness and angst.
And it also suggests psychological weakness on the part of the individual.
Knowledge certainly can help. For example during my long life, my studies of
philosophy and particularly existentialism have allowed me to evade despair.
In spite of its pessimism, existentialism adds humour to our condition. As
the great mathematician, philosopher and playwright/novelist Samuel Beckett
has one of his characters say, "I grant you, there is nothing funnier than
the spectacle of human suffering"--or words to that effect. I think it comes
from his novel "Krapp's Last Tape".

Beckett also wrote a very funny play about mankind's stupidity and his hopeless plight in the great play, "Waiting for Godot". Of course, Godot never arrives, but the two clownish anti-heroes continue to wait hopefully.
Wasn't it Obama who promised America "hope and change"? We got change for the worse, but diminished hope.

[David Johnston]

No it hasn't. You've been selling nonstop despair.

[E. Barry Bruyea]

On Sat, 30 Jan 2016 16:15:06 -0700, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
wrote:

>On 1/30/2016 4:04 PM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>> On Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 1:43:08 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:
>>> On 1/30/2016 11:20 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>>> On Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 4:39:14 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:
>>>>> On 1/28/2016 11:40 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>>>>> On Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 6:48:17 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:
>>>>>>> On 1/27/2016 4:19 PM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:

The poster is conflicted; lack of self esteem or an ego problem.

[M.I.Wakefield]

"E. Barry Bruyea" wrote in message
news:de3sabhmrj0boq9em...@4ax.com...

The poster is a retired high school grammar checker; bitterness and a lack
of self esteem are to be expected.

[Clyde Armstrong]

The poster is not bitter, he is simply telling the truth about the human condition. There is no bitterness or lack of self esteem. As for despair,
which can be defined as lack of hope for mankind and the human condition, yes it is there. He has expressed it in the aphorism, "God does not exist; there is no heaven but there is a hell and we are in it". And that which exacerbates man's suffering is that there is no purpose to his shitty life or the the existence of the universe.

[David Johnston]

On 1/31/2016 9:18 AM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
> On Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 9:27:09 AM UTC-5, M.I.Wakefield wrote:
>> "E. Barry Bruyea" wrote in message
>> news:de3sabhmrj0boq9em...@4ax.com...
>>
>>> On Sat, 30 Jan 2016 16:15:06 -0700, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
>>> wrote:
>>
>>>> On 1/30/2016 4:04 PM, Clyde Armstrong wrote:
>>
>>>>> Maybe not outright misery, but stress, boredom, loneliness and angst.
>>>>> And it also suggests psychological weakness on the part of the
>>>>> individual.
>>>>> Knowledge certainly can help. For example during my long life, my
>>>>> studies of
>>>>> philosophy and particularly existentialism have allowed me to evade
>>>>> despair.
>>>>
>>>> No it hasn't. You've been selling nonstop despair.
>>>
>>> The poster is conflicted; lack of self esteem or an ego problem.
>>
>> The poster is a retired high school grammar checker; bitterness and a lack
>> of self esteem are to be expected.
>
> The poster is not bitter, he is simply telling the truth about the human condition. There is no bitterness or lack of self esteem. As for despair,
> which can be defined as lack of hope for mankind and the human condition, yes it is there.

Thus you were lying. Your "studies" only purpose is to wallow in
despair and and to try to spread it because you dread the idea that
someone somewhere might be happier than you are.

[Clyde Armstrong]

Happiness is just emotion, which is unreal. And it can be very fleeting. As Sophocles wrote:"Count no man happy until he carries that happiness with him to the grave", something rather difficult to do. No one really looks forward
to physical and mental decay, decrepitude, senility and then finally becoming worms-meat, do they? There is a 19th century English poem titled "To an Athlete Dying Young" which states that such a person is very lucky in not having to face future years of meaningless life, stress, angst, decay and despair.

[Eric©]

Clyde Armstrong wrote...

>
> On Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 4:03:54 PM UTC-5, David Johnston wrote:

> > Thus you were lying. Your "studies" only purpose is to wallow in
> > despair and and to try to spread it because you dread the idea that
> > someone somewhere might be happier than you are.
>
> Happiness is just emotion, which is unreal. And it can be very fleeting. As Sophocles
> wrote:"Count no man happy until he carries that happiness with him to the grave",
> something rather difficult to do. No one really looks forward
> to physical and mental decay, decrepitude, senility and then finally becoming worms-
> meat, do they?

Gordo seems quite happy.

Maybe you should take up wingsuit flying *and* pot-smoking, JR.

[M.I.Wakefield]

"Eric©" wrote in message
news:MPG.3118282da...@reader.albasani.net...

> Gordo seems quite happy.
>
> Maybe you should take up wingsuit flying *and* pot-smoking, JR.

Too bad you're retired, Lambourn ... in my day you could have headed down to
the cafetorium, and scored just about anything your heart desired.

[David Johnston]

Emotions aren't unreal.

[E. Barry Bruyea]

On Sun, 31 Jan 2016 18:28:12 -0700, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>

One of the Hallmarks of a psychopath (or sociopath, the new PC
definition) is the lack of emotion or ignoring emotion as being
something that doesn't matter.

[Clyde Armstrong]

> >Who was it that first said that, Barry?

Emotions are simply feelings. Right now I feel very world-weary. "How weary,
flat, stale and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world". That's after being in it for 84 plus boring years.

[E. Barry Bruyea]

I guess I did, because I can't remember who else may have said it, but
who ever it was, he/she was very intelligent.