At The Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being And Apricot Cocktails

I read this book on the history of existentialism and it really helped me get my head around the movement. I'd never really understood existentialism before (partly because what is referred to as "Existentialism" is a wide-reaching and varied set of beliefs by a multitude of thinkers that mutated over time) and partly I think this is because this book did a lot to undermine a lot of my received ideas about existentialist thought.

Namely, that it was a movement characterized by angst, self-reflection, personal crisis, depression and morbidity.

Instead, the history of the movement was defined by parties, dancing, sex and real, authentic, lived experience. Central to the whole being the elusive concept of "freedom".

I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the History of Existentialism, or who wants to have complex facets of the movement summarised (She does a bloody good job of interpreting Heidegger) or who wants to put what they've already read into a historical context.

 

Yeah the Left Bank was rocking I hear. A bit like punk rock - more fun to play than listen to

 

Stephen Wright famously said, "I have an existentialist map, it has 'You are here' written all over it." Just because existentialists can party doesn't mean they aren't full of piss and vinegar and angst. Quite the contrary, why do you think they like to party so much? When they can explain why Stephen Wright is funny in a self-consistent, nontrivial, and demonstrable manner then I'll take them seriously. Until then, for me, existentialism is merely a dark school of comedy invented by uptight westerners with stunted senses of humor.

 

Are there no existenitalist authors/works that you see merit in?

 

Western philosophers in general are known for frequently being alcoholics and having other problems, despite almost everyone agreeing that such behavior does not reflect wisdom. It reflects what I like to call, "The Toddler's Mad Dash for the Potty!" where they attempt to hide the fact they've been revealing in sitting in their own crap for hours. Nonetheless, you are what you is that's all it tis, and I can see the merit of their at least attempting to make more sense out of life. Notably, wisdom philosophy has not been popular in academia for over a century because, of course, it doesn't make money.

 

So I take it you prefer "eastern" philosophy then? I sometimes struggle to find merit there, myself.

 

Neither Asian mysticism nor western metaphysics hold very much appeal to me personally, but combining the two they make a great deal more sense. It is civilization that is the obvious problem currently bringing the entire world ecology to its knees, and my own philosophy focuses on the primitive tribal traditions that produced both the wisdom of Socrates and that of mystical Taoism, which, are merely romanticized civilized versions of primitive tribal potty humor and systems logic. Contextualism in the tradition of Pierce, Wittgenstein, and Stephen Pepper which is the only academic philosophy in the last century that shows every promise of kick-starting the next scientific revolution and, hopefully, bringing some measure of sanity to the civilized world's current lowbrow slapstick.

 

And it appears that we have inherited that tradition instead of building upon their fuzzy logic. The only assumption that fuzzy logic makes is that some things are apparently half-truths, or some other fraction of the truth, yet it was only formalized in the last half century because it is anathema to modern civilization. I'm not advocating sacrificing virgins to the god of the volcano, but examining what we have rejected from our primitive roots and how that appears to be perpetuating the worst in human nature.

 

The fuzzy logic of primitive potty humor and our sense of humor in general. Primitive tribes have often noted that the simplest jokes tend to go right over the heads of civilized people who also bizarrely flash surreptitious mischievous grins and guilty looks, even when they are good people who would never do anything wrong! In other words, civilization has made its rapid ascent by suppressing its own sense of humor and romanticizing everything just as a child might do playing with dolls.

 

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Freedom From Sorrows​

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Shadows echo hauntingly,
Slinking along behind me,
Certainty steadily fading,
Drowning in white noise,
Drowning, in my sorrows.
Devastated, and confused!
Stumbling finding nothing!
Still stumbling over nothing!
Stumbling, because I stumble!
Struggling to avoid stumbling!
Struggling, just to stay upright!
Struggling to keep on struggling!
Struggling to keep from stopping!
Uncertain, down might still exist!
Uncertain, which direction that is!
Uncertain if up ever really existed!
Uncertain up is ever worth the risk!
Uncertain up is ever really possible!
Uncertain, if I actually want to know!
Moving, just to escape where I'm at!
Moving, just to keep doing anything!
Moving wandering around in circles!
Moving, futility attempting to escape!
Knowing there's no place to escape to,
The whole world begins closing on me,
The horizon converges upon the walls;
All my senses rebel, imploding inward!
All my thoughts lost, in total oblivion!
Following all of my thoughts nowhere!
As heavy weights, descend on my chest,
As my legs, no longer bother to obey me,
Arms sink to my sides like lead weights!
The walls breathe reluctant to touch me,
The ceiling lowering, as if to smother me,
Haunting laughter, still rings in my ears;
Everything in the room, mocking me still.
Life itself, feels like a joke at my expense,
Shadowing me even in nightmares, asleep,
Dogging even my unconscious in my sleep!
As if to say, even death can't be my refuge,
As if reassuring me, I'm not quite alone yet.
As if reminding, there's just nowhere to run.
As if any response is better than none at all!
As if pain is better, than being totally numb,
As if suffering, can sometimes be comforting!
When you've broken your ass, hitting bottom,
If you are pretty sure your tail-bone is broken,
If you no longer doubt up is the only direction!
When down has become a complete abstraction,
When you can't tell if you have hit rock bottom,
Something even modern science cannot measure!
So complete you no longer feel the pull of gravity!
So complete even your ability to think escapes you!
So complete, every direction starts to look the same!
So complete, that pain is the only thing left you feel!
So complete, every color starts to blend into the gray!
So complete everything collapses into a tunnel vision!
So complete any kind of sound blends into cacophony!
Something you feel, nobody would want to experience!
Something you'd never wish on even your worst enemy!
When life seems a punishment, instead of simply living!
When nothing makes sense or is the least bit appealing!
When struggling to find, the motivation to do anything!
When everything feels and seems like its horribly wrong!
When taking another breath, feels like too much trouble!
When simply living might suddenly feel like a living hell!
When you can't even find any motivation, to just scream!
When everything appears to blur into one huge ugly mess!
When you only want the world to stop, so you can get off!
When you feel all your senses are beginning to shut down!
When it seems futile to raise your fist, and curse the fates!
When it seems totally futile, to do one damned thing more!
When living feels like doing life in the worst of all prisons!
When you only wish to stop talking, eating, and breathing!
When just taking another breath, feels like too much effort!
When all of your dreams, just keep turning into nightmares!
When even doing absolutely nothing, is no longer appealing,
When curling up on the floor feels better than anything else!
Whenever you just feel like giving up throwing in the towel!
You can still choose to run in circles screaming and shouting!
Driving everyone around you absolutely completely bananas,
Until you inevitably fall down upon your knees remembering,
Who it is you really want to be.
Honesty is such a lonely word, when everyone is so untrue!
Honesty is hardly ever heard,
Mostly what I need from you.
And, people need it desperately,
Any other things, can often wait,
Another time and some other place,
Another day, maybe another decade!
Always, where it applies to ourselves!
Always whenever we need it the most!
Always, if you really know what is good!
All classical philosophies might elaborate!
What it means, for any to be more honest!
What honesty, is supposed to be all about!
What real honesty and integrity can mean!
What honesty might mean for any socially!
What its like to have an honest advantage!
What it means to know who you really are!
What honesty really means to them as well!
What honesty could do for the entire world!
What it means to be a genuine child of God!
What it means for anyone to become greater,
For the sum to become greater than its parts!
For any to become, part of something greater!
For us to become greater, than we can believe!
For any whole to create, synergistic properties!
For any to become much greater than we think;
For anyone to actualize, more of their potential!
Once, a woman from a primitive tribe journeyed!
To taste the big apple herself, in New York City!
See how the rest of the human race lives in cities,
See whatever civilization might have to offer her;
See what all the fuss people made, might be about!
When curious reporters asked, her first impressions,
What struck her upon looking out on a crowded street,
Was seeing a vast sea of lonely people,
Whereas she had spent her whole life!
Everyday since the day she was born!
Surrounded, by the same thirty people.
Without so much, as other places to go,
Without so much as a telephone or book,
Without so much as a radio or a mailman,
Never even imagining it would be possible!
For anyone to be so lonely, in the first place!
For someone to feel, such crushing depression,
Much less all so sad and lonely in huge crowds;
Much less all pressed into each other, like cattle!
But, she like fast food, T.V. and different things!
Last I heard of she was happily married with kids!
She discovered the Big Apple could be very exciting,
Still living in NYC, with her new husband and kids!
Many tribals, have no words for things such as greed.
Just never really having any actual use for the words!
Others, don't even have words for things such as guilt!
Possessing an authenticity and integrity any can envy!
Yet Babylonians tend to destroy them at every chance!
The simplicity, perfect timing, and enchanting charms,
Of the child of God we all come into this world to be.
When everyone thinks falling on your butt is funny,
You may become the next big clown around town,
Where clowns frequently get paid to fall down.
But, no matter how much you might be paid,
The promise of democracy forever remains,
An indelible part of our very humanity;
Our collective freedom from sorrows.
For the right to pursue happiness,
As individuals and as a nation!
To become the amazing clowns and artists, we were born to be!
To become as authentically ourselves as in our wildest dreams!
To yet become, as we might aspire all others perceive us to be!
To never simply settle, for mere material wealth and power!
(Billy Joel)​