Age and Philosophical Musings

Georgiana

Right- I expect ye all to hate me when I say this..and maybe I dont belong here...but....when one is older...the questions you are considering here are possibly less pressing. It doesnt matter a **** because in the end of the day you just have to get on with feeding your gob, gettiing enough kip, hopefully having and minding family and friends, doing your work whatever it turns out to be, maybe helping the community or nation in practical ways...and the questions will always be just that questions..even if they are very interesting. I say this a person who spent years musing and in the end, if you are up at night with kids who wont sleep and trying to pay a mortgage, and keep your boss happy because you need the money, you stop thinking about whether there is a God and what is wisdom and truth and if everything is really just a chemical in your brain and ....ye know what I mean...you dont have time if you actually have a real life..and you realise it does not matter as much as you originally thought it did. Dont get too excited..I enjoy reading the posts..and I'm only here tonight because the forum where I mostly spend my time (mothers nattering) is down !

SkepticOne

Well, I have a lot of more urgent things that I spend 99% of my time on and I wouldn't have it any other way.

DadaKopf

I don't know why is is, but this happens to people. Most of the time I think it's because people give up idealism because they never really believed in their teenage musings. But it's important to ask the right questions.

It's just such a shame that the world is run by apathetic grown-ups who try to keep youthful idealism contained. It's hard work to stay open-minded.

Georgiana

I think its actually to do with the issue of perception. There is no reality, no access to reality other than through individual and group perception. And perception can be subject to extreme changes over time. An interest in existential questions is neither good nor bad, it just depends on individual perception. Older people and younger people generally have a different perception in this territory. There are a whole load of possible argument why philisophical musings are a "good thing" and an equal number of reasons why one is better off ignoring such questions. So there no answer to this either!
I think older people drop the questions because

-the questions are no longer new and interesting to them
-they get fed up musing on issues to which there are no answers only opinions
-they are too busy with day to day life

DadaKopf

Seems to me, when people get older, they get more "certain" about things. Part of it is possibly physiological.

But I agree with you about reality being a matter of perspective in a social reality.

I just think I ask, and hope to keep asking, one basic question: what are the effects of particular social realities on human life and the world?

To me this answers the three points you raised: (1) situations always change and we're required to adapt, but often people perceive the horizon of possibility as more restricted than it is; (2) people may only have opinions, but those opinions have real effects on social reality; and (3) this is the business of day-to-day life.

This goes beyond mild interest in current affairs. It brings together many levels of life into one interconnected story.

shiv

No matter how old I get (and I'm getting older than I ever thought I would, quicker than I thought too), I hope I never lose the capacity to be curious. And question, question, question. To me it would be a sign that the bastards have finally grinded me down.

I know it's partly inevitable, but I still hope when I'm 93 I still wonder at the world, and have the ability to wonder at its marvels and horrors.

chewy

"to grow up is to give up"

mike65

chewy wrote:

"to grow up is to give up"

Oh save us! Classic student T-Shirt philosophy.

Mike.

Redbhoy

This world is part of an intergalactical game which was thought up by the Gods! There are similar planets in other solar systems like us! The quest is to see how long it takes us to create the perfect society! At present we are far behind the others! Its up to each and every person to get involved with society and change it for the better! Small and meaningless as you think your life may be- you still are a cog in the great machine called Earth!!!!!

SkepticOne

Redbhoy wrote:

This world is part of an intergalactical game which was thought up by the Gods! There are similar planets in other solar systems like us! The quest is to see how long it takes us to create the perfect society!

So you made it to the Acropolis Ireland lectures in the end?

Thordon

That type of thinking has always annoyed me, the way the media attributes the rebellious open mindedness of young people to teen angst etc, which they just grow out of. Sometimes I think that adults follow this steryotype just to conform to how an adult is supposed to act and think.

I am all but certain that I will continue thinking the way I do now, Im 19, when I was 15 I was on the same path I am on now, and I was as sure then as I am now. It might seem naive, but the reasons for my beliefs have not changed.

Redleslie2

chewy wrote:

"to grow up is to give up"

Is it Beckett?

DadaKopf

Probably the Manic Street Preachers. Hehehe.

Redleslie2

Robbie Williams? Eddie Irvine?

simu

Chewy?

Anyway, back on topic please - go to the English forum if ye want to discuss who came up with famous and not so famous quotes.

transperson

what georgina says is quite disenheartening to hear.just because she has a day to day life that occupies her she has given up her curiosity and wonder at the world,the menial tasks of everyday life are enough to keep her satisfied.i guess it just comes down to what the person believes human existance is for.if it for menial tasks then fair play to her,but those who contribute to humanity and all those people through out history who believe in something more would not agree with this.the slighty provocative tone is also a little disenheartening, it just shows to me how people live in the modern world.Slaves to their mouths,mortage,boss etc and happy out because sure,isnt that just the way it is.then they die.atheism is rampant.people like georgina dont believe in anything["there is no reality"]. there are millions like her,lost in their wee little inconsequential lives. if there is nothing else then why waste ones life paying off a mortage,thats a good way to spent your short time on this dot of a planet!not.take heroin and be blissed out, then die,sure,its only chemicals in the brain ,as georgina said herself.wake up.

not that my life is much better ,it isnt, but i can try.

these thoughts have been building up for a while,they are quite bitter,i apologise for the tone and if i offend anyone[unlikely].it is just my opinion and frustrations and thoughts at this point in time[18yrs],it will change as i grow, but i have a feeling that i will never be a person who gets wrapped up in the day to day and forgets to question ,what am i doing and why and everything else.