Hello, I really needed to join this community

Please post all introductions in this forum. Tell us how you found the philosophy forums, what interests you about philosophy, and a little about you, such as your age, where you live, what you do for a living, etc.
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Seventeenandthinking
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Joined: February 3rd, 2017, 9:50 pm

Hello, I really needed to join this community

Post by Seventeenandthinking »

Hello to any who read.

I am seventeen and I am a recent registrant of this site. I am off to college soon and I will be studying a number of things. Philosophy will be one of them.

I found this community after descending into another spell of reflection and then lamenting the absence of a person with whom to engage in conversation regarding those thoughts. I am very relieved to have found a community like this because bridging the gap between my intellectual perceptions and the world is already difficult enough; the lack of the type of person who is keen to entertain or challenge those thoughts in my immediate social circles makes things much more difficult than they need to be.

I feel that I am, relative to a where I have just recently been, in a rather pleasant place along the progression of my life. I'll explain. I have just recently ascended out of an extended period of gloom, during which I did not know how to utilize and understand the discoveries that I have made through thinking and through challenging my mind, the beliefs I once held, and those I still hold. I find the quote "Only the descent into the hell of self-knowledge can pave the way to godliness" (Immanuel Kant) of particular gravity here, because I for the first time had accepted the darkness suddenly pervading my mind as a beautiful thing, but yet allowed that darkness to devour me by continually reflecting upon and despising my most agonizing experiences and attempting to make philosophical sense of them.

I recently learned for the first time that this was inconsistent. Darkness is good. Darkness deepens. Darkness creates the opportunity for growth of things that we may find unpleasant (metaphorically, mold and bacteria) but those things ultimately play as critical of a role in the world as the more appealing things that we celebrate. The things that grow in the dark decompose and disintegrate other things that have become rotten and putrid, and they make room for yet more celebrated things. That is precisely what my darkness has done to my mind and I am thankful.

So now that I have released that from my mind, here are some of my more innocuous qualities:

I'm from Nashville, Tennessee and will be majoring in pre-veterinary studies in college. On the same subject, I am a nondiscriminatory animal lover and, therefore, a vegan. I very much enjoyed reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and I recommend the book. I most enjoy indie and rock music though at one point or another I can be found listening to something from every genre, with the exception of country (particularly fitting, as seeing that I am from Nashville).

The philosophy-related topics that I am most inclined to discuss include the value and purpose of life (or the lack thereof), death, human freedom, the nature of consciousness, and the ethics of cadaver consumption in times of economic prosperity. I am currently reading The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery by Marjorie Spiegel and my impression so far is that it is a profoundly thought-provoking book that is of notable relevance to any existent human.

That's a wrap and I will love to engage in conversations with you all. Thanks for reading if you got this far. :lol:
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Ozymandias
Posts: 108
Joined: December 5th, 2016, 1:02 am
Favorite Philosopher: Loren Eiseley

Re: Hello, I really needed to join this community

Post by Ozymandias »

Welcome!
Your story regarding "the dark" sounds nearly exactly like my own experience at that point in my life (nearing graduation of high school, right?). I like to say that you can't really be a moralist until you've been a nihilist. In other words, you won't appreciate the rainbow without the rain. Dualism is fun. :P
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Spiral Out
Posts: 5014
Joined: June 26th, 2012, 10:22 am

Re: Hello, I really needed to join this community

Post by Spiral Out »

Push past the darkness into the Void. The return trip is worth it.
Dedicated to the fine art of thinking.
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Felix
Posts: 3117
Joined: February 9th, 2009, 5:45 am

Re: Hello, I really needed to join this community

Post by Felix »

Welcome, I was reminded of the old Youngbloods song (from the '60's)

Darkness darkness, be my pillow
Take my head and let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow
In the silence of your dream

Darkness darkness, hide my yearning
For the things that cannot be
Keep my mind from constant turning
Towards the things I cannot see now
The things I cannot see now

Darkness darkness, long and lonesome
Is the day brings me here
I have found the edge of sadness
I have known the depths of fear

Darkness darkness, be my blanket
Cover my with the endless night
Take away away the pain of knowing
Fill the emptiness of right now
The emptiness of right now

-- Updated Sat Mar 18, 2017 1:46 am to add the following --

... the typo's were made by darkness. :twisted:
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
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