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Originally Posted by Jordy from Star Trek, the Next Generation...nekkid of course! what is it about man that has doomed us to eternally strive, occasionally find, but rarely posses an ability to enjoy complete happiness; with ourselves, the world and the truly unhappy, twisted people insist on inflicting their, disatisfaction with life upon others...who strive to keep happiness, they thought they found...even if it's with an unhappy person? |
Read some Nietzsche...he's good for this type of stuff.
Man has doomed himself when man brought forth contraints to cage his inner-being. Everyone has an inner-self, and most of us deny it in some way. There's a rare few out there who don't...my favorite of which is serial killer Melvin Rees who actually used an existential argument during his trial. Theorectically, according to philosophy, he's correct. As an existentialist, if it was his "self" to rape and murder, so be it! But most deny their "self"...why?
Society. Morality. Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah. I'm not going to go on a great rant about how man is dead since man has caged his animal-self inside a moral box, but as it stands, he has.
Existentialism is a good philosophy to look up for this type of argument...especially Nietzsche and Camus (who was an absurdist of sorts). I always loved Camus' essay
The Myth of Sysphus which justifies suicide. A key argument in why people commit suicide, according to Camus, is that onlookers look at someone who has committed suicide with an objective eye. The onlookers all gasp and gossip that the suicider didn't understand life at all, that they couldn't deal with the pressures of life, that life was too much for them. What they don't know however, is that the one who committed suicide was so sure of life, understood life so well, dealt with the pressures of life as they saw fit, that they saw no reason to live any longer.
But of course it's a lot deeper than that...such as: proving you exist and proving someone else exists...yaddah, yaddah, yaddah.
It's an interesting essay.
But point is, your brother, why is he sad? Because he took a happiness that in some way denies who he really is. Only he knows what he's lacking. And most don't even acknowledge that. Which is really sad. But there are many reasons why most people deny their inner-beings. Morality is the biggest reason why, but religions of all sorts are also a huge factor in it. Which is why, when it comes to existentialism, the belief in any religion is essentially a moot point.
~cheers!