David Foster Wallace and the problem of loneliness 

Dude, for real. He's appreciating the irony, from heaven. The first minute and a half of this video are absolutely prophetic

Yes

Ha

Bravo, brilliant comment. I am now putting my phone down for the rest of the day. Thanks

Excellent point. And I wish I could agree that it’s pointlessly addictive, but I don’t believe it’s pointless. I think it’s quite deliberate. And if we can’t turn off the screens, then we’ll have to change what’s on them. I’m glad I found your excellent point on my screen.

DFW is a phase. Like yeah, if you're young it's a touching phrase, but what goes after it? The only way that has substance is to become a philosopher and understand our nature. We are made out of the same nanomachinery as ants are. And ants are connected like you wouldn't believe but they're only one of a handful eusocial species on Earth. If that's not our future, it's certainly a future that's laid before us.

Bla bla bla, everything's fine, just accept your new corporate technocratic billionaire overlords and their algorithmic software which is now starting to completely dominate every aspect of our lives. When legitimate businesses start operating the same as scammer organizations, then it's not a scam, is it? Come on, normalize it like everyone else. It's just regular business now, and if you question that you'll just get told, "Aaah, whatever, business is business and it's always been like this, stop being a miserable hater!" In fact, anything you notice change to the detriment of society, everyone will just be conditioned to tell you it's always been like that and in fact everything before the 2000s was worse. It's not gaslighting if everyone believes it.

Not so much.

Damn, true. I'm a fuggin chatterbox.

this sentence is genius.

Perhaps by how much he can talk about himself.

That's why most schizophrenic people are lonely. People don't wanna hear their shit.

this hit really hard.

That's an easy thing to say when you're already rich and famous.

@@MistahDaCatyeah I feel like give us two a go I bet one of us makes it work lol😂

Okay Jim give your wealth to me so I can find out.

@@MistahDaCatYou should read up on how poor he was before he made it

@@ragnakak I have.

sharply observed.

Lol people have been telling you for over a century

💯

Been telling you too bleu, yet you still can't stop yerself from being a prick

Western culture's relation to Earth**

I think that the problem can be having those people there but not being able to take them in, never feeling like it’s enough

Being alone while surrounded by people..look around theyre everywhere..water water everywhere without a drop to drink

That was just a quote underlined in a book

"beautiful blueberries" is what he wrote in real life

Maybe because there isn't really a reason. Not that i know tho.

Then what? There is no true meaning for us being here; I mean like, what else do we live for then? Pets, Family, Money? Idk anymore.

Wow. One of the best RU-vid comments I’ve seen - especially paired to a video from a masterpiece film. You are absolutely correct. Even goals towards ‘purpose’ could be almost a side quest of sorts. Maybe what we need as humans is seriously just community. Just because we’re advanced and have ‘jobs’ or ‘careers’ .. so what. Maybe 2 million years before any of this is what taught us what we really need. To be useful, to be present, and to repeat. Maybe we have truly gone too far in our search.

Stanley Kubrick: "I suppose it comes down to a rather awesome awareness of mortality. Our ability, unlike the other animals, to conceptualize our own end creates tremendous psychic strains within us; whether we like to admit it or not, in each man’s chest a tiny ferret of fear at this ultimate knowledge gnaws away at his ego and his sense of purpose. We’re fortunate, in a way, that our body, and the fulfillment of its needs and functions, plays such an imperative role in our lives; this physical shell creates a buffer between us and the mind-paralyzing realization that only a few years of existence separate birth from death. If man really sat back and thought about his impending termination, and his terrifying insignificance and aloneness in the cosmos, he would surely go mad, or succumb to a numbing sense of futility. Why, he might ask himself, should he bother to write a great symphony, or strive to make a living, or even to love another, when he is no more than a momentary microbe on a dust mote whirling through the unimaginable immensity of space? Those of us who are forced by their own sensibilities to view their lives in this perspective - who recognize that there is no purpose they can comprehend and that amidst a countless myriad of stars their existence goes unknown and unchronicled - can fall prey all too easily to the ultimate anomie….But even for those who lack the sensitivity to more than vaguely comprehend their transience and their triviality, this inchoate awareness robs life of meaning and purpose; it’s why ‘the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,’ why so many of us find our lives as absent of meaning as our deaths. The world’s religions, for all their parochialism, did supply a kind of consolation for this great ache; but as clergymen now pronounce the death of God and, to quote Arnold again, ‘the sea of faith’ recedes around the world with a ‘melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,’ man has no crutch left on which to lean-and no hope, however irrational, to give purpose to his existence. This shattering recognition of our mortality is at the root of far more mental illness than I suspect even psychiatrists are aware." Question: If life is so purposeless, do you feel it’s worth living? Kubrick: "The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre, their idealism - and their assumption of immortality. As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But, if he’s reasonably strong - and lucky - he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s elan. Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death - however mutable man may be able to make them - our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light."@@darkman619112

@@John12050 Thank you for this quote, it seems to me Kubrick appeals to the ideals of Camus. rebel against nihilism and bring light to the universe in whatever means you can, if you can.

That's... really beautiful put honestly. I never thought of life that way

Its also a rorschach test in that there is no inherent beauty, if you see it its because you've convinced yourself of it

Damn, dude. That is well said!

Give up. You can't eat beauty. You can't pay your bills with it. You can screw, kiss and hug someone beautiful, but not actual beauty. It doesn't cure headaches. It doesn't cook food. Beauty is intangible. Maybe you know when you see it. Great. But, as an organism, you cannot live on just sunshine. Life wants to kill you. So. You gotta appreciate and respect the ugly even moreso.

contrast is necessary

spurred on by lockdowns imported by politicians from totalitarian China.

He also predicted that VR porn was eventually gonna be a thing and it was going to destroy our minds. And he said this stuff in 1995.

The key is when he says: "...and it's fine, in low doses. But, if it's the basic main staple of your diet, you're gonna die." We let ourselves lose control, we become willing zombies, we wait in lines around the block, before the store even opens, we can't wait, so eager, to sell our souls. Until we change this, until we can learn to consistently override the reptile brain, further the downward spiral we go. Why are we so willing, so eager, to sell our souls?

Sean who?

That’s Jason Segel?

​@@matthew9090ligma

went to IMDb and the only Sean associated with this movie was an art assistant, Sean Mouton. he hung those mirrors so damn well. better than anyone that year

Thank you so much

Wait, holy shit, that WASNT DFW?!

Clearly you haven’t watched Sasquatch Sunset yet lol 😆

@@djofortunato5799 and nearly nobody has, it was a limited release for one week before going to streaming just yesterday lol

I don't agree, in this movie he's playing the fakest smoker on planet earth. I've never seen him play that before.

painful irony that this is youtube youre watching lmao

Dude.. allowing a Jew to play DFW is a gd travesty. No wonder his family was against it. This is garbage.

​@@-Swamp_Donkey- it's impossible to tell if you're trolling here - you're not actually that bigoted and stupid are you?

​@@-Swamp_Donkey- ? Why does that matter?

@@TheGoldenCapstone I’m not going to convince you of anything here. Just pay attention to this protected class of people. Listen to George Rockwell’s speech at Brown University.

“he allows people to visit him.” is a lovely way of putting it.

This is PROFOUND.

@@user-zf5sq8lt2f I know.

I know.

The problem though is this becomes a breeding ground for codependency. You become reliant on the need to please that person and if that person changes you are left with nothing. It will soon turn to resentment because you are reliant on a feeling from those people but all feelings are temporary.

I think most u.s. high school kids have to read BNW...at least we used to

Sadly Huxley's book is not a warning it's a recommendation. He's gloating.

Huxley became more optimistic, particularly because of psychedelic drugs. If you haven't already, read The Island (1963), Heaven and Hell (1956) and Doors of Perception (1954), and finally Moksha (1977). Huxley spent the last 15 years of his life devoted only to the psychedelic experience and even took LSD on his deathbed

Bro, this is Max Richter - In the nature of daylight.

@@dominikkurowski3145 Bro, this is Brian Eno - The Big Ship

​@@xalpol12how can you get the two mixed up? This isn't The Big Ship...

@@Q-BOT bruh watch it till the end

​@@xalpol12bruuuuh im so dumb. Thank you for pointing it out, I understand why people say its The Big Ship😂 Sorry youtubelets!

It’s not, it’s On the Nature of Daylight by Max Ritcher

brian eno - the big ship

@@ssgdhgsdfff8887 depends on how you live your life. Most are brought up to see religion as stupid, I know I did. Science can explain everything they say. When your children are born or your life falls apart, something happens to you that you can’t explain (I’ve had both happen) and the feeling is unexplainable. The tiny feeling that there is something else to life than getting drunk/high/ and getting more money to buy more stuff. It’s a feeling of something more, it makes you feel small, like you’re part of something greater. There’s a very emotional video from Jordan Peterson at one of his lectures, someone asks him why he shouldn’t commit suicide and he answers it in a way that hints at that feeling that was unexplainable. He’s the first person to get anywhere close to making it tangible. I was told not to listen to him, cuz he said bad things about x group, but if you listen to him, it’s really not about the group. If you have problems in the future, he is a great person to listen to. He’s helped me a ton. His lectures on the Bible are fascinating and his view on god is very interesting. He’s one of the only people who say you’re not stupid for asking questions about god. That’s very refreshing.

​@@ssgdhgsdfff8887maybe, but you'll get stronger and conquer whatever comes your way - hopefully.

It's not about wanting more stuff, it's about filling a human shaped hole with stuff. People don't kill themselves because of not having a TV or phone, they kill themselves because without distraction they find themselves so unbelievably alone. The irony is, you father lived a better and more fulfilling life and couldn't see how much had been eroded, we live less now than ever before and it is killing us.

If some people lived a life as shitty as some do, they’d want to believe in a religion too.

Absolutely! I'm desperate for it right now. I've had it, but my two most important sources of deep love both died while we were together.

Placing your entire happiness on someone else isn’t very healthy, for them or you. Sure, we can all think less about ourselves. But don’t save someone else as a way to avoid your own problems and act out to nurture someone in the way that you feel you should be where there is no reciprocation. There’s plenty of people to take advantage of that. Keep an open heart, a sharp mind and take care of yourself

​@@UrSturdyWingOf course you have to REALLY be interested in the well beeing of the other, not in order to achieve something for your self. Thats the paradoxon. To he happy, you have to give up the desire to be happy.

No.

Can Go wrong too

@@jakobrhein8684making other people happy won’t bring me any more peace than making myself happy because happiness isn’t the problem. It’s an ever present nagging surplus of negativity, not an absense of positivity or meaning. I have had wonderful moments of true happiness and still they’ve felt pointless because they’re being experienced by me, and me is accutrly aware the whole time of how much I despise myself. It’s like painting a beautiful flower in a tiny corner of a painting you hate. It feels nice to look at the flower but you’re never unaware that it’s on a canvas you despise. And you’re the canvas.

Many great mi da have been looking for the cure for centuries while getting infected.

"What Ι am about to say does not concern the ordinary man of our day. On the contrary, Ι have in mind the man who finds himself involved in today's world, even at its most problematic and paroxysmal points; yet he does not belong inwardly to such a world, nor will he give in to it. He feels himself, in essence, as belonging to a different race from that of the overwhelming majority of his contemporaries. The natural place for such a man, the land in which he would not be a stranger, is the world in Tradition. Ι use the word tradition in a special sense, which Ι have defined elsewhere. It differs from the common usage, but is close to the meaning given to it by Rene Guenon in his analysis of the crisis of the modern world. In this particular meaning, a civilization or a society is "traditional" when it is ruled by principles that transcend what is merely human and individual, and when all its sectors are formed and ordered from above, and directed to what is above. Beyond the variety of historical forms, there has existed an essentially identical and constant world of Tradition. Ι have sought elsewhere to define its values and main categories, which are the basis for any civilization, society, or ordering of existence that calls itself normal in a higher sense, and is endowed with real significance. Everything that has come to predominate in the modern world is the exact antithesis of any traditional type of civilization. Moreover, the circumstances make it increasingly unlikely that anyone, starting from the values of Tradition (even assuming that one could still identify and adopt them), could take actions or reactions of a certain efficacy that would provoke any real change in the current state of affairs. After the last worldwide upheavals, there seems to be no starting point either for nations or for the vast majority of individuals-nothing in the institutions and general state of society, nor in the predominant ideas, interests, and energies of this epoch. Nevertheless, a few men exist who are, so to speak, still on their feet among the ruins and the dissolution, and who belong, more or less consciously, to that other world. Α little group seems willing to fight on, even in lost positions. So long as it does not yield, does not compromise itself by giving in to the seductions that would condition any success it might have, its testimony is valid. For others, it is a matter of completely isolating themselves, which demands an inner character as well as privileged material conditions, which grow scarcer day by day. ΑΙΙ the same, this is the second possible solution. Ι would add that there are a very few in the intellectual field who can still affirm "traditional" values beyond any immediate goal, so as to perform a "holding action." This is certainly useful to prevent current reality from shutting off every horizon, not only materially but also ideally, and stifling any measures different from its own. Thanks to them, distances may be maintained-other possible dimensions, other meanings of life, indicated to those able to detach themselves from looking only to the here and now. But this does not resolve the practical, personal problem-apart from the case of the man who is blessed with the opportunity for material isolation of those who cannot or will not burn their bridges with current life, and who must therefore decide how to conduct their existence, even on the level of the most elementary reactions and human relations. This is precisely the type of man that the present book has in mind. To him applies the saying of a great precursor: "The desert encroaches. Woe to him whose desert is within!" He can in truth find no further support from without. There no longer exist the organizations and institutions that, in a traditional civilization and society, would have allowed him to realize himself wholly, to order his own existence in a clear and unambiguous way, and to defend and apply creatively in his own environment the principal values that he recognizes within himself. Thus there is no question of suggesting to him lines of action that, adequate and normative in any regular, traditional civilization, can no longer be so in an abnormal one-in an environment that is utterly different socially, psychically, intellectually, and materially; in a climate of general dissolution; in a system ruled by scarcely restrained disorder, and anyway lacking any legitimacy from above." - Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for Aristocrats of the Soul

@@rexnemorensis8154of course you had to quote a fascist. "Traditionally", we used to hang fascists upside down, now it's the pastime of bored teenagers on the internet.

@@sbef Actually you're wrong. Evola was a traditionalist which is further right than fascism. He was critical of fascism and even wrote a critique of fascism from the right, viewing it as still a fundamentally merchant-class ideology, but one that still upheld the virtues of class and warrior ethics such as courage, sacrifice, filial piety, honour, justice, and loyalty to nation-state. These are superior values to those of bourgeois, liberal societies, such as production, consumption, toxic individualism, as well as the delusional concepts such as liberty, equality and democracy born out of the French revolution which favour. Traditionalists understand that where there is equality there cannot be freedom: what exists is not pure freedom, but rather the many individual, domesticated, and mechanized freedoms, in a state of reciprocal limitation. He saw fascism as a bulwark against the regressive, plebeian influences of communism, socialism and liberalism which out of envy reduce all institutions and individuals to the same base condition, and favours the advancement of the most gluttonous, manipulative and even psychopathic individuals. The modern democratic politician is a self-serving seducer, sophist and manipulator whilst also a worshiper of the people, or simultaneously a pimp and a whore, which is something people instinctively perceive.

@@rexnemorensis8154 🤓

so I'm a doctor now. and I have a different relationship with it these days. when I help people its good, although i feel a lot of pressure a lot of the time to do more, almost like there is some spectre observing and judging me the whole time. I still struggle with everything now that I did then, but. I don't know. I guess as more time goes on I respect more and more the struggle DFW had just... finding the right goal posts to have and to not flog yourself into getting there. I'm in therapy and take my meds regularly. I'm doing better most days. I'm happy

@@frontlinebreakthrough5723 I am a PhD in a highly technical field near the top of my industry and I just want you to know I struggle with the same thing. I'm in a position any of my former students would envy and dreamed of, starry eyed, as they came to me for advice during office hours. In the end, after publications, patents, and big job titles it made me no happier. In fact I felt emptier than when I embarked on this journey. The only thing that brought me any peace and happiness was finding God and taking care of my wife and family and framing my achievement to those two ends. I don't even care about the money anymore. This isn't to say some people won't find meaning in achievement, it is to say that it won't fix what's inside of you. It's just a distraction that lets you kick the existential can further down the road. I beg of all of you that read this to try and understand how valuable it is to be truly content in your station in life, it's something I may never have.

Dude has the range of Jessie Eisenberg

I am actually having trouble trying to listen to what's being said because I can't stop thinking about how he's so blatantly fake smoking. They are both bad smokers but Jessie is just the worst smoker I think i've ever seen. I literally have to pretend that his character doesn't smoke and is trying to impress the other one by pretending to smoke.

The nature of daylight by max richter ☺️

I saw someone commented that it’s a movie called The End of the Tour.

that's right, thanks! @@401chel

The End of the Tour. Uploader should've put it in description but didn't

It’s called the End of the Tour

The Shawshank Redemption.@@frontlinebreakthrough5723

@@frontlinebreakthrough5723you should definitely credit that in the description my dude

Wow you really made me read this dumbass comment, thanks for that 😕

The "chemical imbalance" thing is such bs. A lie perpetuated so that people keep buying SSRIs. Most people who are depressed are that way because of their circumstances and how they live their life, not a chemical imbalance

He definitely wasn't taking those drugs as a means of comfort: perhaps his drug usage was necessary for such an intellect in such a deprived environment: I reckon he would've been much more suicidal. People take drugs to cope: the more intelligent you are; often the more things you are required to cope for, else it is utterly unbearable.

There’s a hubris that comes with being smarter than most others. A refusal to see what others tell you.

he went to rehab and was well aware of his habits and their negative impacts. i find that it’s a projection of someone’s own self-centered mindset that they assume a writer’s subject is always himself (themself/herself). Do you honestly think he wrote about the american issues just to absolve himself? That’s willfully reductive and it only makes sense from the perspective of hindsight. ugh

Spoiler alert: He was a clone developed by Marlboro to sell more cigarettes and make smoking look more sexy.

I hear you

Or when your long term partners who are devoted to you both die way too young.

What kind of music do you think would have made it better? Or do you think no music at all would have better?

@@frontlinebreakthrough5723 I think no music would've been much better. It's a quiet introspective dialogue scene, the big orchestral music just doesn't work in my opinion

@@FreakieFan okay i see where you’re coming from. Thank you for the feedback, I’ll keep this in mind

@@frontlinebreakthrough5723 The music was sad and heartwarming, thanks for adding it. This guy is just lonely and the music made him feel sad, so he resented it, and got upset.

@@TheDSlush on the nature of daylight by max richter

The End of The Tour

E.T.

No it’s a movie called the End of the Tour based on the book David lipsky wrote that documented the conversation he and DFW had during the interview.

the movie is called The End Of The Tour, and it’s based on the book David Lipsky's memoir Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself based on the conversation he had with David Foster Wallace

“Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo”

@@MichaelWaisJr ty

@@raavaolinorman6518 Anytime. It’s a movie about the history and phenomenon of boobs. How boobs were created, how they got here, why boobs, etc..

End of the Tour

😅

End of the Tour movie

The End Of The Tour

i mean. it's not like it ended that well for Ophelia either 😭

@@frontlinebreakthrough5723 True indeed

Yes, it’s called the End of the Tour

Thank you!

it’s a video i made using footage from a movie called The End of the Tour, which was based on David Lipsky's memoir Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself

oh, isn't it the score from the film Arrival?@@frontlinebreakthrough5723

Oh yes sorry, i answered your equation incorrect, it totally is the soundtrack from arrival 😂😭

No worries haha, nice job with that choice@@frontlinebreakthrough5723

It's also incredibly dehumanizing and traumatic...It could stop them from trying to kill themselves again, but they might just double down and make sure to do it right next time to not have to experience the awfulness you are describing. Or they might just turn to drugs instead. Definitely can't imagine any of that doing anything in the way of helping them get better. Sounds kind of a like a punishment for being sad.

@@dharmapunk777 traumatizing and dehumanizing is an unbridled exaggeration, you really went straight for the top shelf. I didn't say we make them suffer and torture them, I said we don't sugar coat it. They've tried to kill themselves, we don't prance around on eggshells. Outside distractions are removed and they're left with their thoughts. It's like taking a shit without your phone, you're confronted with yourself. Most are immediately very regretful and it's just like RFW said, the experience really makes you think about staying alive.

@@TheElMuffin you don't paint a very flattering image. You said they are stripped of everything, which sounds like it includes clothing, since you mention the pyjamas. Not sure what you meant by "sanitized" but it brings to mind starchy, rough and smelling of chemicals. So stripped naked, and handed some rough pyjamas while the room is being "sanitized" and then kept under constant surveillance. Definitely sounds like prison, which is also dehumanizing and traumatic. Especially to someone vulnerable that just tried to kill themselves.

@@dharmapunk777 hospital clothing is soft and safe and devoid of long strings one could attempt to suffocate themselves with around their neck, aside from the clothing itself. "Sanitized" I meant as removing all detachable equipment that one could hit, stab, or suffocate oneself with, including long cords, barcode scanners, and curtains. Emergency rescue equipment and vital signs monitoring devices stay in the room. The person is "formed", meaning they are stripped of their right to provide medical consent and they are compelled to medical treatment by law. The form is usually only good for 3 days and must be re-evaluate at the end. By the time it expires the patient is usually cleared by the psych team, as I mentioned, most are immediately regretfull. I can appreciate you immediately painting these life rescuing measures as something horrid and worthy of a concentration camp, but I assure the intent is to save a life.

I am appaled by this comment. I work in a psych ward with a protocol for suicidal patient. It is NOT meant to make them feel weird or them not doing it again. It is about managing the crisis right now, so we take away what they can use to hurt themselves with, belts, phone charger, shoe laces, etc. It is not automatic to put them in "isolation". And YES we do recognize it can be traumatic and even more stressful. Denying it is crazy.