Through philosophy? Apart from looking in a mirror I guess?

An internal, mental mirror, yes. Self reflection.

What is self-reflection? How can I look at myself whilst being myself internally??

Now I feel like your having fun with me here, being intentionally difficult on this point... you seriously do not know what self reflection is?

Not kidding. I mean my whole life I've lived by some ego ideal Stoic sage, and seem to have gotten lost in that escapade.

When you do turn inward like that all I can see are ego-ideals. Maybe I hate myself or something like that

I don’t know if it’s true but anecdotal evidence suggests a lot of poets suffer from mental illness (I don’t know what the covers) and finally suicide. I don’t know if artists/poets suffer depression more than carpenters but I’d be ready to bet that they do. I think that’s because there’s so much time spent alone digging around in their private mental world that leads to all sorts of complications and consequences, too much involvement with the self. Almost like the examined life is not worth living. Go and belt a tennis ball instead.

Supposedly veterinarian people get the highest rated of suicide followed by dentists.

No idea where philosophers are on that list.

No idea where philosophers are on that list. — Wallows

I’d rather follow a warrior than a poet.

I’d rather follow a warrior than a poet. — Brett

:100:

What a failure of a life or has life been for me.

I need to fall in love now :flower:

What a failure of a life or has life been for me. — Wallows

Believe me, I think nearly everyone might wonder that. We all think we’re the only one.

What is your next line of thought or emotion when presented with such a harsh attitude towards life or one's self?

Mine is something like:

*Fuck!*

Do you mean ethically? — Wallows

You asked what good it is to oneself or the world, and ethics is the field concerned with goods, so yeah.

But I think it's also useful in non-ethical ways, too. I think philosophy has made me a better learner and a better teacher, and so made me better at doing even the physical sciences. I think that this is analogous to the ethical scenario, because I think much of ethics is properly outside the domain of philosophy: philosophy just tells you how to do that stuff, and it likewise tells us how to do the physical sciences too.

“For Christ’s sake!” (Internal howl).

for Christ's sake. (colloquial) Used to express surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, boredom, frustration.

Edit: then I look for something to blame.

Interesting. I thought we were all here because we find this stuff (or some aspects of it) interesting. We may have more grand reasons we like to spew, but if we were not interested in the first place, we wouldn't bother.

Personally, I am not interested in anything that I FEEL makes my life worse. That would be weird. If you view your philosophical practices as comparable to a drug addiction, then you must have recently flipped a switch where this is no longer interesting. You see no practical purpose, in fact you think it is making life worse. Sounds like you have already taken the first steps to overcoming your addiction (and it should be way easier to quit than drugs as there are far fewer chemicals involved).

Sometimes I wonder if it is philosophy or just the damned internet; another addiction.

Sometimes I wonder if it is philosophy or just the damned internet; another addiction. — Brett

Hahaha. I don't have that problem because I don't really enjoy most socializing. This site is the only social media I participate in (and even here, I had to lurk and read for years before I signed up - I know that is probably surprising because I sure love shouting my opinion at people...but I am not exactly proud of that aspect of my personality...I kind of use discussions here to get that out of my system - it doesn't work, I am still way too opinionated).

I do play a lot of games that use the internet though, so that still probably counts as an internet addiction...and if you add in streaming tv, movies, or sports...I guess I am addicted to the internet too...but we could similarly say that people are addicted to having unlimited food selection options (the internet is incredible and world changing, of course we are addicted - not to mention that as psychology begins to understand addiction, businesses will use that information to create as many addicts as possible).

There are worse ways of spending your time than on this forum. It’s a strange place though. I put up an OP then wonder why I did it, the responsibility. And we don’t have to be right all the time, and agreement just kills an OP.

I put up an OP then wonder why I did it, the responsibility. — Brett

haha, been there. Once I create it, I feel like I have to respond to every single post in the thread (after I get over bashing myself for a weak OP - probably why I have only started 4 or 5 threads).

and agreement just kills an OP. — Brett

I try to remind myself that this is one place where being argumentative is good :smile:

What are ego ideals?