However, when I try to fit this image, the world as still imperfect and requiring improvement, onto a community, any community, it doesn't work. People are happy and content. They aren't bothered by philosophical issues such as the meaning of life and neither are they overly concerned about the goings-on in the world outside their communities. — TheMadFool
I'm rather disconnected from the world — TheMadFool
Often the thought occurs to me... usually during a bout of insomnia... do you or I really and truly object to “the way things are”? Do we really want a radical change? (Culturally or civilizationally speaking, as opposed to existentially or “naturally”). Or do we merely object to our status in the grand pecking order?
In other words, does one simply want to reshuffle the deck of cards in hopes of a better hand... or on the other hand, quit this game and play something else? (I would suppose holding both views is possible, especially if one recognized the “reshuffling” to be a band-aid, quick-fix, stopgap kind of thing). — 0 thru 9
b. we cannot reason without the help of emotion, as research with people who have damage to their emotional centres has shown — Izat So
The hippies in the 1960's had their community of other hippies. Within this microworld, many could consider themselves to be content, ensconced within a caring place of shared values. But whenever they traveled outside of their own circles, life was not so happy. So they had a choice, to either try and make the larger world a place that was more accepting of their values, or to isolate themselves away from that larger intolerant world and set an example that maybe the rest of the world would eventually follow. — Joshs
The desire to change the world is directly related to one's sense of belonging to and identification with suffering people in it. I want to change the world to the extent that it defines me. IFf the world I empathize with is unhappy, then I am unhappy. — Joshs
We needn't reshuffle the deck. We need to make all the cards equal in value. — TheMadFool
So, in a sense, we're all trying to change the world based on what we think are wrong/right with it. Interesting (or not) that there seems to be a rough consensus on what we perceive as good/about the world. Poverty, injustice, crime, etc. are on everybody's list and so are charity, kindness, etc. — TheMadFool
Yes, and sadly we betrayed the values that we promoted, and we consumed and consumed as no previous generation had! Humans had been destroying the world since the Industrial Revolution, but we hippies were the first generation to actually realise what we were doing. We should have stopped it when we came into power, but we succumbed to greed instead. We are a disgrace. :cry: — Pattern-chaser
To focus this thread on a theme, I think the issue boils down to who deserves "authority" and the issue of "governance". Does that resonate with you? — Wallows
Having children is biology. If you're not going to have kids due to nihilism, it's a short step to suicide. Not that I care if anybody wants to off themselves. — yupamiralda
OMG another baby boomer talking about how awesome their generation was — yupamiralda
Being a hippy only defines a very small proportion of that generation, though. — Janus
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.