Lightnings Tic-Tac's

I have redone the blog. It is now less offensive to the senses. Enjoy, I may actually post on a regular basis this time.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Utility Post

So I'm not sure how many of my friends are aware of this, but I'm going to be going to Sac State starting next semester. I'll have a similar schedule to this semester (if I get all the classes I want) so I'll be basically unavailable Tuesday and Thursdays.

So yeah...
No more 13th grade for me. You know, it's kinda scary when you think about it. Who do I know at Sac State? Moe. Yes, I ran into Moe at my orientation a few weeks ago, but that's it. I don't know anyone there and I'm sure everyone is aware how good I am at meet new people. And if you're not aware, I'm terrible at it. New school, new campus to get lost on, more food choices I suppose. And I learned something very interesting about Sac State. If you find yourself failing a class midsemester you have to get permission to drop. You can't just drop so you don't have an "F" on your transcript. It's that crazy? Doesn't that make tons of sense? Wouldn't that really help at AR for people who load up on classes then drop all of them because they took too many classes, thus denying people who would have stayed in the class the whole time the chance to take that class this semester? But you, two sides, one coin. Sucks if you make a mistake and can't handle the class. Oh well.

I'm going to be taking 15 units, so I may be pretty busy next semester, and these are all real academic classes. No PE, or Lit Mag that have light or no homework. And I'll be taking a class devoted entirely to existentialism, won't that be fun? So everyone expect to hear school influencing what I talk about starting February, because I won't have much time for anything else besides that and D&D, and maybe CoV, and Capoeira, and sleep. I like to sleep.

Doesn't this mean I'm in 14th grade? Or am I finally in college for real?

Quack Quack ~Emu Sound~

Friday, November 18, 2005

Jimmy was right...

Now a week or two ago I was at Lenny's house and Cody made some comment about existentialism, and Brian and I corrected him about what existentialism actually was. But the thing that bothers me is that both Brian and I described it as being very depressing.

While existentialism can be looked at as a depressing philosophy, it really comes down to viewpoint.

First, it would probably help if I laid out some of what existentialism is. One of the most important assumptions that existentialism makes it that there is no God. None at all. This is not the intelligent design where god made the universe and walked away, this is no God at any point in the history of everything. I can see how this can be a difficult idea to accept. Lets take Brian for example (please don't be offended Brian, you're the only one of my friends that I know believes in God and this is a purely hypothetical situation). Brian believes in God and has for some time. Now lets say he comes to a point in his life where he finds out without any sort of doubt that there is and never has been a God. This would be a terribly depressing idea for him, and anyone else who believed in God or any number of gods for that matter.

Following the belief in no God comes the idea that there is no meaning to life. After all, if there is no God to create a meaning to life, there certainly can be no meaning to it. Life is absurd and makes no sense what-so-ever. It is a series of random events that are played out to some unforeseeable end.

With these first two ideas follow a lot of other things. Without a God there is no definite Good or Evil, there can be no fate if there is no meaning or purpose to life. There are many other assumptions people can make based on these ideas as well, but those are just a couple. Now what follows for many people if they accept these things as true is that with no God (thus no afterlife or otherworldly reward) there is no point in doing good, and for many, in even contingent to live. It tends to be a downward spiral when someone finds that everything they have done and ever will do is without any meaning at all. They must also accept, at some point, that everything done, by anyone, has not been an act of God or the devil. Everyone must take responsibility for each and ever action they have ever taken in their life. So with that idea anyone who commits a crime and claims the devil told them to do it was lying (they may very well be insane in their claim) but it puts forth the idea that it is man that commits these atrocities upon other men, and not the devil forcing someone's hand. It also throws out (obviously) the idea that some one was taken as a part of God's plan. Someone dies in a car accident and you cannot say "God called him to Heaven" or "Took him as part of his plan". You must accept that the accident that took said person was totally random and has no meaning. That person's death has no meaning.

Now I can see very much how this can be a depressing philosophy, but that's only if you let it take on a dark spiral. Now lets take a look from another viewpoint. There is no God, there is no preset meaning to life. So what? Does that mean your life is worthless? No. You may still create a meaning to your own life. You are completely free to choose your life. There is no fate, no destiny, no God, to choose the path of your life. You are completely in charge of your own life. You bring your own meaning to life through your friends and family, through your actions and deeds rather than by some ancient prophecy or the word of God. It also frees you from any spiritual constraints. You may grow and expand to any heights, you are without limits unless you place those limits on yourself. If there is no God then you must become God. Each of us as God of our own lives. We have the power and the ability to control life, our own.

And ethics you say? Who decides right and wrong? You do. Now since we live in a society, you must still follows the laws of that society. But because the church may say something is wrong does not mean you have to believe it. But then again, you can believe it because it's your choice. You choose right and wrong, because no one else has set it.

And so that about wraps it up. Now this may not be complete and wholly accurate (people have difference views on every philosophy, this one being no exception) but this is the way I view existentialism. I find it extremely empowering, not depressing in the least, and through the living of this as a part ( not the whole) of my personal philosophy, I have been quite happy.

Quack Quack ~Emu Sound~

Existing man...nothing but existing.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

So, I wonder who has actually noticed that I've started updating my blog again, and who really cares. For example, several of my friends did not know I had started Capoeira, but I posted about it on here more than once. So that tells me they obviously haven't noticed the updating. I think John and Liam both commented, but maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, so they know it updates, but do they really care that it does so? Or do they just have one more thing to read to kill a little time? I don't know, but I would lean towards the latter. Anyway, I suppose that's all. Maybe I should just delete this blog, it is keeping me from doing some reading right now that I need to get done today. I think I'll go do that reading then.

Quack Quack ~Emu Sound~