True Detective - An Answer to Pessimism 

I always fall into the trap of pessimism, but the dangerous thing about pessimism is it's involvement with the ego, we get attached to the pessimism, we create our identities around it, the famous doomers, and thats why we don't tend to like it when characters like Rust break free from it, misery loves company and our ego wants that character to keep "feeding" into our bias This is very, very dangerous, it leaves you in a place of pure assumptions, thinking we know how the world works even tho we are just hairless apes. I too have experienced moments of transcendence that I can't explain, and the only reason Im alive today was because of such moments. We don't know shit about life, and that knowledge is very uplifting

Max - "I am privileged to have a community of regular viewers who are smart." Me - "pee pee poo poo"

I think it's also important to mention that the final vision Rust experiences is not the only thing that makes him change his perspective. His near death experience while he was in a coma is what causes him to break down while talking to Marty outside the hospital. The experience of feeling the presence of his daughter and his father in the dark seemed to have a profound impact on him.

my favourite season of any tv show and rust is the main reason why. the writing is just great to me and watching this character felt like nothing ive exeprienced before. appreciate the video

"It means I'm bad at parties." "Let me tell you. You ain't great outside of parties either." Lol! I took it to mean that Rust appears to Marty as a pessimist. But at the beginning of his character arc Rust sees himself only as having recognized and accepted the situation. He's trying to deal with it using his enormously powerful intellect through philosophy and science. He said he contemplates the moment in the garden (the cost of sentience). And "allowing" his own crucifixion. At the start of the series he perceives himself as the most powerful determining force in his life, while also being at the mercy of animal instinct. Both in others and himself. I identified closely with Rust's feelings. Being intelligent can be very lonely. No one seems to understand what you're saying. I appreciate your video. And I agree. It takes a lot of strength, courage and intellect to go beyond what is obvious and find what makes life valuable. Part of that is finally discovering that you aren't alone.

His character was largely inspired by Thomas Ligotti and Peter Zappfe moreso than Nietzche. I'd be interested in your opinion and refutation of Ligotti's "conspiracy against the human race" and Zappfe's essay "The Last Messiah". Though I wouldn't read them if you're depressed.

I've heard that some of the dialog from the show (haven't seen it myself) is literally verbatim from the novel titled "conspiracy against the human race" by Thomas ligotti. Excellent philosophical novel, but dark as hell of course. The author constantly brings up Schopenhauer. Great video as usual my man.

Nietzsche do be rolling down in the deep. When his brain goes numb, he calls that mental freeze. When the people talk to much, he puts that shait in slow motion. Nietzsche feels like an astronaut in the ocean.

Pathologic ost goes well with anything existential lol. I still hold this season among the best things I've seen tv show wise, along with Mindhunter and Fringe due to their explorative and pondering nature to varying extents. Rust really changed my worldview to basically the same thing, I'm ofc fortunate to never have lost someone to a tragic circumstance, but the portrayal was raw enough to make it an experience of my own, that's why I love cinema and tv that are done with such maticulous attention to everything to elevate the material as borderline reality to learn from. Same goes for games, but sure they are on a different level due to reasons. Great video, as always. Btw, the new movie (at the moment of writing this comment) "Don't look up" made me think a lot aswell recently, idk just felt like recommending it here.

Your channel is one of few places in my life where I don't feel being alone with my reflections, sufferings in the past, etc. which are disregarded or at least not understood within current society. My "path" if you want to put it that way went from immense suffering, transcendental experience and interest in existential and Eastern philosophies to where I am now. And it's true, I'm better now than I'd otherwise ever could have been. Suffering is necessary and at the core of our being. One can actually consider him/herself lucky to have such insight and reflective capabilities even when (or especially because) it comes with a lot of suffering, because a lot of humans don't and are truly caught in their repetitive patterns. Thanks for your channel. It reminds me that I'm not alone in all of this.

It's interesting to talk about the philosophy of True Detective, and in particular, the philosophy of Rust. But because the show is a story rather than a treatise, any discussion of Rust's philosophy or his transformation is incomplete if we only examine it from the standpoint of his conscious beliefs. The philosophy discussed in the show is merely a manifestation of the Rust's grief. What he consciously believes, or professes to believe, is just his reaction to his unsettled soul. I would describe it as the manifestation of his conflict with the universe. See, Rust hates the whole universe because of what it has taken away from him. It's left him alone and unsettled. And this conflict has made him unable to move forward and find something new. He tries to pick up the pieces of his life and start again, but because he can't let go of his resentment of the universe for taking away the relationships that mattered the most to him, he can't settle into a new one. His notion of time as a flat circle describes his rage against fate for putting him through unbearable suffering. We call it philosophy, but for Rust, it's his trauma, repeating in his mind on an endless loop from which he can't escape. His belief that human consciousness is a mistake is his reaction to his own consciousness unable to let go of his trauma and move on. So what changes at the end? I think the hallucination moment is so arresting for him not because he believes it's "real," but because he is recognizing a profound moment when the real world and his personal inner world reflect one another. His own personal darkness is reflected onto this horrible, inbred serial murderer. His inner struggle with life's cruelty can be symbolically solved by killing the hell out of this guy, or dying at the guy's hands. It's his moment of surrender, when he accepts that his fate is out of his hands, and he's at peace with that. Luckily, Captain Unconscious comes to his aid, and helps him defeat the monster and survive. But of course, it takes one overthinker and one slow thinker, operating on instinct, to do the job. But it was the surrender that releases him from his unsettled state. He allows himself to stop struggling against cruel fate and accept life, death, and whatever else there may or may not be beyond both. But the important thing is that this wasn't an intellectual conclusion stemming from logical philosophical debate within him. It was a feeling, an epiphany that philosophical logic could never provide. That's why I think story always has more to say about the human experience than philosophy ever will. Philosophy is great, but story picks up where it must leave off, using the immeasurable tool of subtext to describe the indescribable. But what do I know? I'm not a philosophy major, or even particularly well read on the matter. The only philosophical text I know well is Plato's Symposium. But here's the thing. That's actually a story. It tells of a group of the greatest and wisest men in Athens trying to understand what "Love" means. And the thing is, they're all full of shit. Some describe not love, but their own vanity. Some describe their loneliness and feelings of incompleteness. One shows up late, and hammered, furious and miserable because he can't screw or kill his way to love, and therefore, enlightenment. Only Socrates says "I know nothing. But I met this priestess once. I know she was only a woman, but here's the stuff she had to say on the subject, and I've never been able to forget it..." He surrenders to the mystery, rather than claiming to understand. So the core truth of the poem wasn't in what the characters said, but in what their philosophies said about them. I think that's the magic of True Detective. What it's getting at isn't either an agreement or refutation of Rust's philosophies. Rather, it transcends them, not through answers, but through surrendering to the mystery of the universe. That's my kind of TV.

It's interesting because Schopenhauer actually helped me with my depression. In particular his writing on the "Indestructibility of our True Nature" in The Suffering of the World. Great analysis and interesting perspective, makes me want to rewatch the show lol. Also in regards to your last point about darkness, it made me think of this by T.S. Eliot (hopefully I don't butcher it): “I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you Which shall be the darkness of God.” ― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Great stuff max! Your lurking nietsche scholar, checking in... First, just wanna say you did a very good job of interpreting Nietzsche - the man's writings are so nebulous you can straight-up be unlucky and get a prof. who doesn't know that their interpretation is, shall we say, a bit wonky ... Good job! Regardless of whether it is literally real or not, Eternal return is what Nietzsche says we should want, if we could choose it, despite all the negatives that come with life. In a way, Rust is the perfect candidate for Nietzsche; if this man can someone manage to come to terms with life, he will, effectively, have transcended the negatives (becoming the superhuman / overhuman). The ending of Rust's story ("the way I see it, the light's winning") is, I think, the beginning of Rust's journey to that unseen point of "overcoming" life. How we do that (e.g. how do we overcome the fact that nihilism is real and that life is suffering) is Nietzsche's great challenge to us (and his life's work). Incidentally, this is why I hate the whole "Nietzsche was a nihilist" thing. Nietzsche, in his mind, solved nihilism! He is the the most aspirational philosopher of all! I'll stop now. Thanks max!

As you have mentioned once previously on the channel, Max, one of humanity’s most admirable/defining attributes is our ability to within our limitations (while of course, always trying to pushing them a little bit at a time, as it helps make us stronger and wiser day-by-day).

i hadn’t had you pop up in feed in a year or two and the fact the first time i see a video of yours it’s about my all time favorite media behind mgs is very intriguing and i can not wait to watch this video

I think the best example of time being a flat circle is when Rust mentions how the children will be in that truck again and again and again, so I think not so much scientific as acknowledging human psychology and the human shadow. I also think he does not commit suicide because of a sense of duty, to be a bad man who keeps other bad men away. Because if he doesn’t do his duty, there would only be more suffering. But I think a significant part of his transformation is the love of his daughter he felt near death.

Super glad you did a video on rust covering more of the lovecraftian aspects which people leave out sometimes. I'm also in a deep pit of pesssimism, its a existential scienfitic flavour of pessimism and it lives in my head rent free. Have yet to see something trancendednt that isn't a horror, just casually almost existing

It was awesome running into you on Oni’s stream! I’m so glad I came across your video on MGS2, it spawned my obsession with all things Kojima. This series is another favorite of mine, & your take on it is fantastic as always. I try to be optimistic, but have a bit of cynicism underlying everything that makes it difficult sometimes, so seeing you confront one of the most cynical characters in popular media is relieving in ways that are hard to explain. Keep up the good work, my dude!

Started following your videos a couple weeks ago. Really appreciate your uploads man

Always great Max! Can’t wait to rewatch this.

Great video. Got to love interpretations of True Detective s1, it speaks to so many people on many different levels. One thing I noted was that the video doesn't address Rust mentioning feeling his daughter's love and presence as he lay dying/in the coma. This is what changes him the most, I think. And you can look at it in a few different ways. 1. It validates Rust's adopted perspective that time is a flat circle; as he nears his end, he catches sight of his past. That means, when he does eventually die, he'll get to see his daughter again and feel her overwhelming love, and that's worth enduring the darkness that will follow. 2. It is 'proof' of an existence beyond death, meaning life is worthwhile because goodness remains on the other side of darkness, so it's important to continue. 3. All of existence is just a brain's interpretation, and as he lay dying his mental walls were eroded, allowing him to chemically revive his love for his daughter. Logically, that means she still exists as long as he does, his memory keeps her alive. Giving into darkness would be the same as killing her. There are probably more interpretations too!

I like the part about the spiral, very interesting. I'm always blown away by practically every Max Derrat upload. 👍👍

Great video as always. There was a time when pessimism beat the crap out me, I didn't want to live anymore. But at the same time I knew I had a choice: to not experience other things that life could offer and accept it all as meaningless, predictable pain, and throw it all away. Or to decide for myself that my life will not be fully dictated by all of it. To hold on to, or to discover things that bring me joy and fulfillment. To appreciate the full human experience and not merely one side of it. I am so grateful that I didn't just end it all, as tempting as it can be.

Thank you for all the work you put into these videos.

I had to watch this video 2 times to wrap my mind around it. Thanks!

Big fan of your Matrix videos. I actually took a look at the series recently on my channel and came to the same conclusion. The ending completes Rust's story arc nicely, he's supposed to be a man experiencing grief that gets lost in his nihilism but ultimately finds his way towards a better path.

This hit me on such a deep and personal level. Your conclusion made me cry. I never cry. Thank you

Just found this channel. I really like the thoughtfulness you put into your work. I'll enjoy watching your content.

For me, this is one of your best videos ever. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

I needed this today. This is wonderfully thought-out and put together. Kudos. Subbed.

I really appreciated the kindness you showed towards this ideology in this video. I often fall into this state of mind and search for rebuttals, but a lot of online talk about pessimism is very aggressive and judgmental. I also find it very strange how people think Rusts near death experience was shoehorned in- characters generally experience arcs, that’s how stories work. I might be wrong, but if I remember correctly Rust only starts talking about recursion after the shootout with LeDou, who says the same “time is a flat circle” line. I think the brutality that he witnessed there started his spiral into apathy, and that returning to destroy a great evil made him reconsider. Part of him will always want to see his daughter and father in the darkness, but he sees the point of being on the side of light. Someone has to fight that fight, even if it’s hopeless.

I love when you do movies or tv shows... I am not a gamer but i also watch your videos about games... It amazes me that, honestly, i never read phylosophical books, nor i know anything about phylosophy but i truly enjoy your videos... Maybe cause you make it that way that its easy for person like me which is not so much in this kind of subject to understand... Keep going, great chanell man...

What a beautiful video, Max, congratulations.

Very good content Max, thank you for your work

Max your heart, mind and life’s work is so uplifting and overflowing with profound but simple wisdom. God Bless and All the Works of Your Hands my friend. Amazing every time BUT this crushed me like few others.

I tend to gravitate towards a black and white or all or nothing mentality, which plagues me daily especially when trying to interact with family and friends. It is a darkness I wish that could wash over or dim, but that feels like a fantasy or romanticized idea. Anyway, thanks for recognizing that me and countless others are people who seek out reprieve and comfort in positive, meaningful ways like in the form of community, Max. Online, I always do my best to avoid devolving my self into petty name calling, teasing, or any other worsened behaviors like tribalism though admittedly I've done some of that in the past and lacked impulse control while breaking out into rage and stormy frustration. Great video, and I'm sure I'll enjoy watching True Detective and more series like it Stay yellow!

"Embrace the suck" is a modern interpretation of classic philosophy's call to face life's struggles.

No way. I've just started watching this masterpiece again and at the same time you made this video

There's really something ominous about human conscience, we cannot ever come to conclusions about it's true origin and nature. And to adress the deep insight of Rust's own perception of the world, made the first season of True Detective my favourite TV show ever. Also, the acting is phenomenal. 10/10 show.

Awesome one Max. Thanks!

You just earned a subscriber. This is amazing.

Excellent video as always Max! I’ve been looking forward to you covering True Detective since I watched the show last year. For the purpose of debate, some of the points you present have great validity, however some I don’t entirely agree with due to perhaps my interpretation of the evidence provided. Firstly, I don’t think Rust can contribute his change of heart due to JUST seeing the ‘wormhole’ rather, it was more-so his near death experience on the operating table, fading in & out of consciousness, feeling a ‘warmth’ beyond consciousness that he couldn’t logically describe and sensing his daughter there waiting for him. He was ready to die when he faced Errol Childress, but he didn’t and instead was gifted an epiphany that he couldn’t rationalise with pessimism or rigid logic - one that spoke to the most inner parts of himself: the hurt from the tragedy of his daughter’s death. As for the ‘wormhole’ itself I believe it is a way to create ambiguity in the audiences’ conclusions. Is it just an hallucination or some greater, cosmic horror at work here? All to further add to the uncanniness of the environment and imbue the killer with an inhumanity that differentiates him from other serial killers. Secondly, I don’t necessarily believe Rust believes all of the theories and philosophical concepts he spouts to the other detectives in the interview room. Rust is obviously very intelligent and being ultimately pessimistic, he knows how to entertain certain concepts or ideas without fulling accepting them. Some points to consider: 1. Rust only willingly agrees to answer the detectives questions to, as Marty points out, “get a read on them” 2. He strategically consumes alcohol during the interview so that by law, the interview becomes refutable because of his intoxication (this is also confirmed by Pizzolato) I think the existence of ‘time is a flat circle’ and the M-brane theory in the show is to only add to it’s symbolism, pessimism and ambiguity. There are numerous parallels between the circular symbol on the victims, the wormhole, some of the speech by Errol Childress - it all creates this sense that there are things beyond what we know and can understand - which I suppose adds to your argument, Max. Lastly, I think the only reason Rust continues in his work and due diligence in solving the case is his inherit sense of duty and justice. Willingly suffering to only be a part of the world and do his part. Every time he is asked on why keep existing? why keep working? Why wake up everyday, if pessimism is your belief? His answers are at best, a riddle. “I tell myself I’ll bear witness,” and “Trying to just be a part of the body now,” My interpretation is that Rust is simply defending his pessimism. Sometimes we keep telling ourselves things because of our own stubbornness, despite our impulses to do what’s right and believe what’s true. Rust kinda walks the thin line between upholding a set of morals and principles and completely discarding them out of pessimism. He wants to have a purpose and he believes it’s his purpose but he doesn’t want to hold onto any illusions, religious or otherwise, or delusions of grandeur, his place in the world or how great the world is. To me, this is what makes Rust the perfect hero (or anti-hero)

Wow what an introduction, truly amazing

“If the only thing that is keeping a person decent is the expectation of Divine Reward, then brother that person is a piece of shit” My favorite quote from Rust

Very smart and thoughtful analysis here, I find it extremely interesting even more so when True Detective S1 is my favourite piece of television (along with Hannibal of course:))

I think rust is an example of a "bitter nihilst", not an "at peace nihilst" if you will. Many people think nihilsm is a negative position when that's only the case if you approach it as such. Ironically, those who get angry and bitter over nihilsm are ironically giving meaninglessness meaning. It means something to them that the universe has no objective meaning whereas a true understanding of nihilsm frees you up and enables you to realise the lack of objective meaning to our lives isn't bad or negative or even good - it's just neutral. Great video max great timing I literally finished up season 1 around half hour ago. Stay yellow!

Love your work.

"That which doesn't kill you, only scars you for life." The Dude.

Ioved the video! Big fan from the the show and I feel very mooved by knowing that people loved that much too. I'm from Brazil so that's why my english is not perfect.

Another amazing analysis!

Great video as always Max.

The tricky thing about Nietzche is that is was a strict determinist and that means that one doesn't really control their thoughts, but merely experiences them. So, he isn't giving advice, but rather writing down what there is. "the nutcracker of the soul" and "It isn't who I am?- but when I am and why do I suffer?" The Eternal Reoccurance is a little play on the onotogolical argument that if there is infinity- then everything is to repeat exactally in the same way, over and over and over. However this doesn't mean the same person will repeat, but there are many copies of ourselves living out the same fate. In short, the universe only offers what you get. Nietzche hated Buddhism calling it a life killer. This was more about his moralistic theories, that basically if the universe is meaningless and all will be wash away, you should do great things out of sheer spite of it all. (My interpretation and take it for what it is worth) However, this is again, Nietzche recording his own passions. Other fun quotes: "The last Christian died on the cross" and "Thoughts of sucided gets one through many a dark night." Nietzche was also a great fan of Spinoza, which he didn't read until having formulated much of his own stuff. Good stuff though; I'm not trying to pick apart what you've said.

Rust is definitely no Nietzschean. Nietzsche would laugh in his face and tell him to get over himself.

Best opening ever. You also have one of the most civil comments sections on the interwebs.

I loved True Detective too! the music the acting gosh...soooo goooood!!

Bro you're amazing. Great content

Your comments at the beginning of the video are appreciated. Max can make commentary on anything without coming across as holier than thou, elitist, or correct in his own thinking. This is a very difficult thing more and more these days.

This is one beautiful channel ☆

As always good video.

accurately reflected. I like the way you handle the questions the characters and the show induce. Accepting your circumstances is still a way of maintaining or gaining dignity even your life is dispensable and painful... Bearing your circumstances that way may give u some moments of transcendence in life and a sense of greater values the writer of the show is talking about. That is even possible if u are an ahteaist in some cases not having a religion might even lead you to that path. Or to say it with a negative approach: Religion may be a trap for you because it offers the possibility of a devine reward. You may be trapped by this because you act to receive the reward and not to value the values themselves. Rhust despises people doing "positive things" while expecting gratification from God. They are still captured in their egoism and struggle to maintain their overrated identity.

True Detective is a outstanding TV Series! And your thoughts about it, are so marvelous. I love your Videos Max!

It is known that Nic Pizolatto read Thomas Ligotti’s “ Conspracy Against the Human Race” to inform his character Rust Cole. A pretty big oversight on your part, although you did a good job in your analysis. Pessimism is not a pathology. It is a very honest and realistic assessment of the human predicament. One could contend that optimism, like religion, is finding comfort in ignorance and delusion. Cheers

Great job!

"We know what we want and we don't mind being alone"

Damn you, sir. You made me cry

Great video as always. Also great music choice at the beginning, it's The Wedding from Dexter, right? My favourite song from the soundtrack.

Ah Pathologic 2 soundtrack going into background, it really sets the mood for the video.

My favorite season of all time view throw the eyes of my favorite analyst, is what i can only describe as a good start of the year

Im binge watching your videos these days

Fun fact rust is actually a deeply emotional character a lot of his nihilistic statements exist to try and convince himself that life has no meaning but he knows that that is not true

Thank you for pronouncing Nietzsche correctly!

Beautiful

It wasn't just the Spiral but also him Dying and seeing his Father & Daughter for one last time and him Coming Back to life that made Rust change his perspective of Existence. I do like the contrast of him not going mad from the Unknown like most Characters who experience Cosmic Horror or Cosmic Magnificence. Instead he cries in Awe of the beauty of it.

This is a majestic analysis. The main reason why people is captivated by the fascinating personality of Rust, is that his worst definition of love, life and materialistic atheism reflects the worst abysmal nightmare of people's doubts, fears and unconsciousness, but he fairly drives, draughts and trains the audience, through his turbulent happenings, facts, extreme emotions, cynicism thoughts and disasters, to the final great revelation: HOPE. There's life over death, and evil has a predetermined, limited time, ending with failure, whereas LIGHT wins.

Thank you for speaking out for us...your loyal viewers.

Interesting thought: isn't seeking Ego Death a selfish and individualistic thing to do? The animal with no sense of self would not seek such a thing because it has no capacity to do so. However, a human with the illusion of ego still operates on that belief of self. There is no action that can be taken as a human that is totally without ego except base instinct. A being of pure base instinct cannot seek Ego Death because it has no ego. And why does the ego seek its own death? For selfish reasons of course. To end dukkha as it perceives it. To end its own suffering. The idea that serving a greater goal is a selfless act is a misunderstanding of the self. So then what really is there to say that one act or another is selfish or selfless?

Human life is inexplicable, And still without meaning: A fool may decide it's fate.

A little note on Nietzsches view of eternal return: He did in fact believe that this could be proven scientifically, and had created a plan to study the natural sciences for 10 years as to find the scientific foundation for proving his theory. He had to give up this plan due to his growing illness and suffering. Nonetheless Nietzsche had the project of rethinking transcendence and the metaphysical, independent of the platonic-christian foundation that european philosophy was founded upon, arriving at a new, "healthy" interpretation of meaning and morality. But he didnt want to found it in metaphysical speculation, thus his growing interest in the natural sciences. So while his conception of eternal recurrence and its prophet, Zarathustra, stemmed from what he perceived to be an enlightening vision, it was not merely a device to mediate his life philosophy but something he was assured of could be proven by scientific evidence. I cant quite remember where i read about his plans, whether the Kaufman biography, the one by Safranski or Karl Jaspers excellent book on him, but from what i've read he was very serious and enthusiastic about, finally, creating a system out of his philosophy that would be free of the shackles of traditional metaphysics whilst also withstanding the scrutiny of scientific investigation. As such i think Pizzolato actually was onto something when he aligned quantum theory of time (i am not sure of the correct term for it) to Eternal Recurrence. And he discusses this alignment in one of the episode-commentaries (5 or 6)

great work...

this show explored the full spectrum of the human belief systems. What sets them apart is the degree of conviction, from Yellow King cult to Rust preaching his beliefs which he probably wasn't 100% convinced of. I think the shows true meaning is a warning of how easy it is to get caught up in doctrines and dangerous when they go too far.

Affirmation of life is falsely perceived as heroic, while it actually isn't: it's just blind existence fanatism. People need something to hold onto, they need forcefully (hence, this video too), justify life/existence in some sort of way, so they can keep going.

Life is what we make of it. If you only ever look for shadows, shadows are all you’re ever going to find. Life can be cruel, unfair, and even sometimes pointless. But it can also be good too. I broke free from my pessimistic worldviews by realizing that I was only choosing to think the way that I did. I chose to believe that life was cruel and unfair purely because that’s how I decided to see it. Once I decided to try and look on the bright side, I finally started seeing bright sides of living. Live may be ugly, but it can also be beautiful.

Excuse my language to express my feeling, but, fuck, this analysis blew my hair back! Thank you, dearly.

The archaic definition of Awful: Something inspiring reverential wonder or fear. To be faced by something awful is to be overwhelmed, somehow both at peace and terrified. Awful might be one of best words to describe both transcendence and the psychonautic experience.

That last quote of Rust's is a paraphrase or homage to Top Ten from Alan Moore, Gene Ha and Zander Cannon!

Damn i was watching TD S1 again last night and searched for video analysis, I thought great max has a video on it. I thought it was an old video. But you just uploaded it 11hrs ago 😦

Not really my kind of show. But, most of what is produced out there today isn't my kind of show, either. It took some time for me to experience the grander side of transcendent moments like the one presented here, but I'm glad I did. I've had many of them and they've really helped me when I needed that kind of help. The light is indeed winning.

I can understand a pessimistic world view, and picking and choosing. I see life as a very simple straight forward phenomena. It is brutal, uncaring, and not even capable of caring. It just is what it is. From insects fighting each other to chimps eating each other and just trying to reproduce and adapt. As more complex our psyches evolved there was more to go wrong. A hundred thousand years as nomads to only a few thousand in civilization we're still just trying to catch up to living like this and adapting. I think that's where mental illness comes from alot. Mutations trying to figure out how to navigate our civilized world and just hick ups along the way. Even in the most basic terms like that the only reason to live is to live, to see what happens, to find ways to better ourselves and our situations, and to find our niche in society as we are hardwired as social mammals. All that being said I have had moments that showed me there is more to this existence, supernatural experiences I witnessed first hand. I'm a Christian now because of them, but still I see the world in those very basic building blocks kinda way.

Behind every pessimist is a disappointed optimist

A series of games that i think you will like is rusty lake, a series of games inspired by twin peaks. I would love to hear your own thoughts on these games since they have a really complicated timeline and is very alchemy oriented. It is one of my favorite series of games for many years and i think it really deserves more attention, since so much detail is put into it

hey max i remembered in a video update that you had some health problems with your legs hope better know and as always thanks for the great videos

*gasp!* Oh snap! I'm in this video! 🤯 (0:14 - Lol, well... I mean, " *robokou* " is at least. 😅)

Another immensely deep and thought out video, thanks! Just for a consideration. I watched another analysis where they draw strong lines between Rust's philosophy and en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism Probably worth looking at. That would kinda explain why the character gets Nietzsche wrong: his world view greatly predates XIX century philosophy thus not nearly as developed. On the other hand Rust is clearly familiar with Nietzsche, so that's actually on Pizzolatto. :)

gasp we got the king in yellow right here lol

Rust was very spirtual before the ending though, I think his vision wasn't about him discovering the other side but about realizing that his father and daughter loved him. also i think he used the phrase "time is flat circle" as metaphor for trauma.

Your best NOn asperger's video Yet Max. I do love Schopenhauer so much more than Nietszche-his big ideas as covered here do not hold water. It's sad to me that Schopenhauer gets second billing these days, cause nazis loved Nietzsche and he's more mysterous I guess, highschool drama queen maybe, lol.

I believe that whenever we don't know the solution to a philosophical or moral problem, we should connect it back to our atheistic, factual reason for existing, or in other words, our purpose in life. And of course, the purpose of life is to continue existing, because if it wasn't then life wouldn't exist. The lungs don't just quit because they only want to help themselves, they help the rest of your body to survive. And this may be because lungs are dependant on your body, but we are very dependant on nature as well, so we aren't exempt. And much like the lungs, *you are not allowed to quit.* I don't care if you are the most depressed suicidal living thing on the face of the earth, as long as you are alive and have limbs and a brain, you *will* find a way to help. You must survive, then secure the survival of yourself and others, and then secure the security of survival further. Additionally, we can also determine the importance of certain parts of the human condition. Caring, love, sympathy, sacrifice, and any form of doing good outwards almost always expects a benefit from the situation, increasing survival. Anger, hatred, protectiveness, aggression, allows one to protect yourself or ones you care about from threats, and kill others in order to obtain resources that are beneficial or crucial for your own survival. Sadness allows one to quantify their loses. Losing a loved one is losing someone that helps you survive in some way, and it makes sense that it would be made into instinctual code. Fear protects us from threats we cannot defeat. Those were just emotions, but qualities like ignorance, bravery, ego, honesty, selfishness, justice, etc., can all be brought back to survival. Summary: Don't kill yourself. You are literally defying the purpose of life. And while your becoming less depressed, why not take the time to be useful and help other living things? What reason do we have not to become Ambassadors of life? Also the human condition is caused by the meaning of life/evolution, so it usually helps us survive. I would love to answer any questions or discussions about this concept, and as well, be sure to like this comment. I put a lot of effort into this comment and would love if it got really popular.

The reprieve is felt in understanding

Good show

My meditations show me that time sure as **** is not linear