Philonomy

Philosophy: so much effort to say so little.

Philosophy creates nothing that is new. It describes the world that we live in, and that is all, only it does so more and more accurately, in time.

Philosophy describes the world of the human - science describes the world of matter. Something else has arisen in recent times that is not philosophy. It is, rather, a crude linguistic psychology that attempts to bridge these two worlds.

What is literature? What is the aphorism? What is maturity? What is tragedy? Wit? And labor?

Most importantly: How is it possible to forget?

We shall always forget, or else we should be overcome. And yet....

There is nothing so perilous as the seduction away from life.

The contemporary period is characterized by supreme dread and absurdity. There is no end (teleology) for us, only an ending. My cousin was mutilated by a roadside bomb in Iraq. What does that mean? Everything and nothing.

Women are raped, children are abused. This fact alone is enough to renounce life. It does not matter that I have not been the victim of either of these things, for I feel deeply and the urge to understand dominates me.

I have felt deeply. And I have not understood.

(Everything in this entry was prompted by my cousin and by looking at a picture of Immanuel Kant's skull on the internet)

We are, thoroughly, animals. Everything that is anxious in us has arisen from this fact. The fact is, however, never apparent. I try very hard when I am sitting in class to imagine the professor as a wise ape. I can do this for a few seconds at most - and then I return to being-in-the-world as Dasein. Every single conflict arises from the fact that we are not self-sufficient beings, and that we are driven to participate in an overwhelming natural process.

I will quote from another:

If evolution is real, we as humans cannot transcend it. All human suffering and all environmental devastation that results from our being is merely part of evolution. This cognizance itself is a part of this grand progression. I do not mean to assign meaning to all things through this assertion. I am merely remarking on the power of conceptual energy versus the power of human will. I am not convinced that this order of things constitutes some justification for our doing with the notion of predestination or fate. Although to our perception this idea implies order and in some form, a kosmos, I think it is still chaos (if such a thing exists). Evolution is not God. Evolution has no plan nor intent. It is but a force trapped within its own momentum and velocity, as we lie trapped to this course of action. But we still have the illusion of choice. To our perception, our will is free. And perception, inevitably, is all that matters.

Nothing remains steady. All is frail.

Or perhaps,

all that is young is frail.

Let us see how close we can get to becoming immortals. A perception unto infinity.