I have never understood why so many people go to big cities and work their entire lives away on "careers". They hardly get to see their family except at weekends and its considered normal for them...
Meaning in life comes largely by our outlook on life… Is the glass half-empty or half-full? It sounds like you have a potential future with an IQ like that. Maybe you just feel overwhelmed by the unhealthy amount of pressure society puts on young people. Try getting your mind off of self. Volunteer: try making life better for someone or something worse off than yourself. You seem smart enough to realize the shallowness of most people. The culture in which we live breeds and values shallowness of thought/ shallow people. Try being a friend. It sounds like you’re depressed. Try meditation. Welcome to capitalism. We live in a consumer society. It values consumption and extreme-individualism. The darkness appears for a time but then the morning comes… You don’t seem so unusual to me. It sounds like your thoughts are for the most part, pretty rational. As someone somewhere said, “we live in a profoundly sick society.”
One of the things that seems to happen to certain individuals who have a high I.Q. is that they feel that it's "out of their way" and "inconvenient" to have to "sell themselves" to others. There's no diplomacy, for the sake of making friends or otherwise. Can't get a job, because doesn't want to go through the steps, the troublesome procedure to be hired. Thinks shouldn't have to "sell" oneself, but rather, simply be "recognized" for the genius that they are. It's a form of entitlement thinking. "I'm entitled to a good life, good career, friends, recognition, etc. I shouldn't have to convince others that I'm desirable, worthwhile, etc." You have to get off your unwilling ass and do something that warrants recognition, and I don't mean going out killing people for that. That's the wrong form of recognition. Some people think that having a "high I.Q." is sufficient. They think that as long as they can pass intelligence tests, on paper, that they are therefore "smart". Not really. There are different forms of "intelligence", and having one doesn't necessarily guarantee that you have another. Your intelligence may just be in theoretical or "pure" forms of science, rather than practical things. Your emotional intelligence, however, may be lacking, and so you feel no relatedness to those around you, and especially, no responsibility toward those around you. There's no desire in you to "jump through the hoops" necessary to make and maintain friendships or land a job. You've got to get over yourself, basically, and get out of the house. Dress nicely, trim your hair, beard, etc. Go outside and mingle with others. Join a club. As far as proving to others that you are indeed "smart", and therefore, desirable, it would help if you could display an ability to continue at something (school?) until completion. Dropouts haven't done that yet. You could try The Kahn Academy (it's FREE), where you can PROVE how "intelligent" you are in various studies, such as math, economics, chemistry, etc. It's actually quite fun, re-visiting those fields of study that were "left undone" when you found school unpleasant and quit. Look here: http://www.khanacademy.org/ It's like having a girlfriend. When you have a girlfriend, you have some responsibility, as far as her happiness is concerned. You want to please her. Even sexually. You wouldn't want to be kissing on her, getting her all excited, and then, suddenly just withdraw, leaving her unsatisfied. That's what dropping out is like. Responsibility. Think about it. Either that, or continue to sit on your butt and do nothing but complain, moaning and groaning about "how awful things are". It's your choice. Be selfish, critical and stingy, expecting "life" to come to you, or be INTELLIGENT, for real, and get a life.
WOW.... I Admire A Man Who Doesn't Mince His Words, And You Certainly Didn't Mince Yours.... +.rep..For A Great Post...:2thumbsup:. Cheers Glen.
arthur itis, I'm curious what you mean by "get a life". I mean, what exactly do you expect him to do. Let's say he puts his intellect in the service of a career. How will that help when he's unmotivated to do anything? He's lost, doesn't see the point. It sounds like you're advocating the blind, directionless application of the will, which is the kind of philosophy of suicide victims and mass-murderers.
WHY..?? You Are A Young Man With His Whole Life Ahead Of Him.... Embrace Life, We Only Get One Shot At It.... Cheers Glen.
I believe he is advocating a positive approach. YOU are the only person that is responsible your life so you need to grab it and give it direction. You can't just sit there feeling sorry for yourself and wait for something to happen.
Happiness is found in the small moments of life. and sometimes motivation comes AFTER you do something, not before. Sometimes you just have to force yourself to do something, even if it feels like you're dragging ass through the whole thing. Once you're rewarded with positive results, then you'll feel motivated to continue.
Yeps! Well you can of course but it rarely brings the motivation that's needed indeed. It seems a lot like energy at times, you have to trigger it to get it. I really liked your post as well. Guess I also recognized myself a bit in both the OP and (especially) your post :2thumbsup:
To Walsh: "Getting" a life simply means acting. Doing nothing except to complain isn't going to lay down tracks, unless you do your complaining in a more "marketable" form, such as playing the blues. At least when you play the blues, people enjoy it, due to its musical package. Simple complaining merely serves to annoy, rather than attract. Putting some music to it makes it a form of entertainment, and salable. Getting into some form of music is also very therapeutic. I've had plenty of rough spots in life where I didn't feel like going on, but music, and my own personal involvement in music, pulled me out of it. Acting also has instant rewards. "Getting a life" doesn't necessarily mean something only for the long run, like in "building a career". That takes a long time, in order to reap the potential rewards, and sometimes when people start out in something for the long haul, they can't go the distance, for one reason or another. Therefore, it behooves one to find activities that have a more direct and timely reward structure, such as art, music, acting, etc. Time to jump into something interesting and personally rewarding, something besides masturbating. That just leaves you spent and wanting.
Rewards. Inducements. Incentives. etc.etc. I'll hazard a wild guess and suggest that it's the sheer futility of capitalism that has prompted our melancholic brother to share his burden with us.... Why must we 'market' ourselves, and 'sell' ourselves to mammon? Not all of us can derive any sense of validation through a mere 'job', or wish to be evaluated on the location and size of our house, or gauged as a 'winner' or a 'loser' by the car we drive, or blah blah blah....those constructs obviously work for most of the woollyheaded masses that so enthusiastically embrace materialism/capitalism, but the original post clearly resonates with are more than a few of us. Well, except for the IQ bit...I don't know what my IQ is and I don't think that it would have much, if any, bearing on the topic anyway. Just being able to meet the most basic needs within modern life (as a Westerner) is draining enough, yet sometimes the overwhelming futility of it cannot be ignored when the tsunami of drudgery would drown us...for me it's about seeking diversions. Reading, playing with my kids, ruminating over simple pleasures and so on and so forth...
You don't actually need to. There are plenty of bushes to live in, and I do believe that there are also an abundance of cardboard boxes available, if you know where to look. Unless, of course, you were "born into wealth", or have friends that don't mind you "crashing" on their couch, or live with your parents or generous relatives. Otherwise, even the process of making friends is a "sales" moment. Unless someone sees something attractive, personable, honest, non-threatening, in you, why would they wish to make your acquaintance? Personally, I'm not "well-off", financially, but I worked for a living most of my life, and took the shit that came with that responsibility, in order to feed my family.
I feel for you and know how you feel. I think tho that living in near isolation with no job and a high IQ are ingredients to feel worse. My advice would be to get some sort of job. Set some small goals and work towards them. The job will provide income, self esteem and forced social interaction as well as taking your mind off your self. Hope you get better. It's a horrible existence when your depressed. Not that great when well. Keep the mind busy. That's the key. A distance course at the very least if my other suggestions are too much. Stop thinking and start doing. What's there to lose (except your life). Get serious about self help, suicidal thoughts are deadly.
Hmmm, Arty, something of comedic genius, eh? *feigns a guffaw* The essence of the original post expressed an inability to conform to the rigours of the work ethic. That you have is wonderful, eh? Good for you old boy! Not everybody is capable of completely capitulating to mammon...of course we all have to make compromises, but embracing that 'work-cures-all-ills' bullshit is insane. I too have worked at various gulag, and loathed every job that I have ever had, but I did it as a means to avoid those forms of salubrious accomodation that you were advocating. Oh, and to provide sustenance for myself and my family. That doesn't mean that I was defined by my job. Whatever goods and chattels I've had over the years have served a purpose, and hold no particular sense of worth to me. When I moved from Perth in W.A to go to Tasmania I found giving away all of our possessions, including two cars, to be profoundly liberating. I refuse to worship at the temple of mammon ...
Having a job isn't "worshipping mammon". I thought so, once. I even joined a religious/hippie/Jesus cult that believed that if you went to work at a "job", that you were just "serving mammon". What did they do, instead? They lived off of the generosity of others. Then, they had the gall to call it "living by faith". Seriously, having a job isn't "serving mammon". It's called being a responsible citizen. As the apostle Paul states, "If a man doesn't work, neither should he eat." Work isn't "easy". It's work. Bragging about living "off the grid", or not having a job to go to to "slave for Pharaoh",,,that's just posturing, and perhaps the "epitome of hippiedom". Some people have learned to bear up under the load of having a job, having cruel taskmasters. Why? For the sake of others. I don't have "two cars", never have. The one I now own is in disrepair due to financial challenges. It's nice to know that you've "made your mark in the world" by whatever it is you do, other than "worshipping mammon", but it gives others, who work for a living, a "bad name". Work isn't "worshipping". References to "worshipping mammon" are a misunderstanding of scripture. Having money, even earning money isn't the same as "worshipping mammon". It's simply being a responsible citizen. Think of it this way: If you were a member of a small community, say, 12 to 15 people, and did nothing except sweep the floor every day, when you are able to, say, swing an axe and cut wood, build things, etc.,,would you say that you are being responsibly productive? Part of the bargain of living in a community is to help shoulder the load. But maybe you just wanted to run away from all of that, because someone was "mean" to you. You found a convenient religious thought to hide behind.
wow..you guys sure know how to ruin a thread I always hope I drop dead..when the time comes laying in the hospital sick for years and years just doesnt interest me