When you consider how great and how immediate is the problem of existence, this ambiguous, tormented, fleeting, dreamlike existence - so great and so immediate that as soon as you are aware of it overshadows and obscures all other problems and aims; and when you then see how men, with a few rare exceptions, have no clear awareness of this problem, indeed seem not to be conscious of it all, but concern themselves with anything rather than with this problem and live on taking thought only for the day and for the hardly longer span of their own individual future, either expressly refusing to consider this problem or contenting themselves with some system of popular metaphysics; when, I say, you consider this, you may come to the opinion that man can be called a thinkking being only in a very broad sense of that term and no longer feel very much surpise at any thoughtlessness or silliness whatever, but will realize, rather, that while the intellectual horizon of the normal man is wider than that of the animal - whose whole existence is, as it were, one continual present, with no consciousness of past or future - it is not so immeasurably wider as is generally supposed. — Aphorisms, On Thinking for Yourself, 12
the question itself is overwhelming — Wallows
You may agree that anything that exists must be identical to itself and still disagree that anything that is identical to itself exists. — litewave
And, of course, he's correct: the vast majority of folks are content eating their tv dinner in front of the tv, or thinking, I'm saved; I have nothing to worry about. — uncanni
Yes, for while there isn't anything as temporary that is identical to itself over time, there needs to be a Permanence to make the events possible. — PoeticUniverse
A spacetime, then, is a kind of 4-dimensional geometrical object that exists timelessly and this object has a certain structure that constitutes objects in spacetime and has regularities that we know as laws of physics. — litewave
The experience of memories and anticipations together with the overall experience of the self that contains them seems to constitute the experience of the passage of time. — litewave
Memory’s ideas recall the last heard tone;
Sensation savors what is presently known;
Imagination anticipates coming sounds;
The delight is such that none could produce alone. — PoeticUniverse
It is only when a certain level of prosperity is reached that individuals have the luxury of kicking back and asking the so-called "existential "questions at all. Schopenhauer never had to work a day in his life, and his philosophy shows the careless arrogance that comes with such privilege. — Janus
With the above in mind, and such, do you feel as if the question itself is overwhelming or doesn't make sense? One might just as well ask what would a universe without anything in it be like? A nonsensical question, I suppose...
What is your reaction to this question, and if anyone could point me out where Wittgenstein addresses the problem of existence, then please let me know?
One reaction I have this time, is that on some level it seems to me it is not taking responsibility for being a part of this universe. Yes, it is bewildering and strange, but I do not simply find myself in it, I am a part of it. I am like it. I don't just experience the mystery, I am the mystery. — Coben
S seems to be treating himself as a stranger here. But he's not. He's part of the universe. He is as strange and likely as problematic as the rest of it. — Coben
Now here he is talking about Existence which is not quite the same as the universe. He is talking about it as, more or less, something that we experience, not as us. But not only is existance ambigious, but we are ambiguous, even with each other. We are not clear, so often, we give double messages, hide things, have body language that says one thing and words that say another. Tormented, sure, but also tormenting.When you consider how great and how immediate is the problem of existence, this ambiguous, tormented, fleeting, dreamlike existence — Aphorisms, On Thinking for Yourself, 12
A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales.
We’re feathers on the wind, — I like sushi
That was Dust in the Wind.We’re feathers on the wind,
— I like sushi
I think Kansas wrote a song about that. — Terrapin Station
I don't understand the problem.With the above in mind, and such, do you feel as if the question itself is overwhelming or doesn't make sense? One might just as well ask what would a universe without anything in it be like? A nonsensical question, I suppose... — Wallows
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