More Depressed Philosophers

If you don't see any posts on BiPolar Daily until Monday, it's because BP Guy has gone to Johannesburg (to see Miss L) and didn't find a nearby internet cafe.

Hot on the heals of yesterday's depressing observations about life, here's what another philosopher had to say (just to cheer you up). The philosopher in question is Schopenhauer whose greatest significance for me is that he was one of the few recognised western philosophers who took Buddhism seriously, and secondly that it was his writings that yanked Nietzsche out of his slumber and fired him up on his own flights into philosophy. It's also interesting that he made some comments about "madness" (included below):

If we should bring clearly to a man’s sight the terrible sufferings and miseries to which his life is constantly exposed, he would be seized with horror.

For whence did Dante take the materials of his hell but from our actual world?

The life of every individual, if we survey it as a whole…is really always a tragedy

…to sit there daily, first ten, then twelve, and ultimately fourteen hours, performing the same mechanical labour, is to purchase dearly the satisfaction of drawing breath.

The nature of life throughout presents itself to us as intended and calculated to awaken the conviction that nothing at all is worth our striving, our efforts and struggles; that all good things are vanity, the world in all its ends bankrupt, and life a business which does not cover expenses.

Everything lingers but for a moment, and hastens on to death

Madness comes as a way to avoid the memory of suffering.

The more distinctly a man knows – the more intelligent he is – the more pain he has; the man who is gifted with genius suffers most of all.

Yikes!!! But before you try grabbing that blunt razor blade, a WARNING, for this is what the Schop man had to say about suicide:

Suicide, the willful destruction of the single phenomenal existence, is a vain and foolish act, for the thing-in-itself…remains unaffected.

No way out. I had to drag out my old philosophy set works to glean these quotes, and I've gotta admit, it's fired up my appetite to complete my Masters degree in philosophy. I completed the first year in 2003 and all that seperates me from the extra letter behind my name are two 30 page articles to be published in a recognised academic journal.

So what stopped me? Three things: Firstly, at the end of 2003, I hit one of the worst depressions of my life. (you can read a post I wrote about it here). Having not been officially diagnosed at that point, I was still searching for external answers for my melancholy, and I figured that it was philosophy like Schopenhauer's that was causing the problem.

Secondly, BP Guy's finances were looking in a really crap state and philosophy as sure as hell wasn't gonna fix them. Afternote to myself: Your finances are even bloody worse now, so you should've taken yr chances!

Thirdly, ever since 2003 I have not been able to settle on a topic for my articles. Philosophy is a huge place and I have plenty diverse interests in it. My old Professor's patience is finally starting to wear thin. Every 3 months or so I email him a totally new idea for a topic, "this is it, this is the final one", but they never get further.

But I'm starting to think I can maybe do some research on "The philosophy of concrete poetry". A LOT of things have recently been geling in my mind around that common thread. And they're not limited to poetry man, they're to do with life, meaning and WHY. But best I save any further on that for a future post.

Anyhow, I've been dabbling in some WordArt again and the following piece brings to mind the bit I was saying about the follies of writing blogs for our audiences, which practice inevitably leads to:

Second Guessing

Adios

(7th "In-the-Pink" in a row! Unfcknbelievable! Viva Lamictal.)