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Where do you derive the grounding for your communal moral beliefs? A Christian would ground it God and a Utilitarian/secular humanist essentially has ungrounded morals/ethics of Christianity (love thy neighbor, charity, humility, pride cometh before the fall, etc.) How do you justify the morals you have which you seemingly believe are best applied to society on the whole, esp if the universe is amoral, teleology free, and just a booming, buzzing noise that will one day be extinguished? I believe on can create their own morality and ethics and illusions to beat back nihilism but that means all morality is subjective and we live in a wilderness of mirrors, w no one moral value system being superior to the other. Do you agree w this or do you believe there are universal, objective morals which should be applied to society on the whole (the continuation of society is proper thus global climate change needs to be corrected for, etc.)? If the later, again, how do you ground that belief in a teleology free, amoral universe when attempting to communicate to others to behave in kind or that their more selfish behavior is "wrong"? Do you know what Snowball Earth and the Great Oxygenation Event is? Simply, it was an event billions of years ago where one species (cyanobacteria) "wrecked" the climate through its actions and caused > 99% of the life on earth to be extincted. It Also lead to the change in biology of life that allowed for aerobic cellular activity vs anaerobic. This lead to multicellular life and the current human. Is it not also possible that another single organism (homo sapiens) "wrecking" the environment could not possibly lead to another "leap" in the evolution of life? This isn't me advocating against humanity and for annihilation, it is just me communicating why I believe ungrounded communal morality and ethics are wrong; we do not have enough information over a long enough timeline to do anything else other than make selfish choices; not judging selfish but they are literally choices in our own best interest and not fulfilling a teleology or in concordance w a grand, universally applicable ontological imperative. I also believe a lot of ppls BS detectors in our modern era are set to be so sensitive (due to the constant irony bore from our political climate, deconstructionism, nihilism, and post post modern life as you have shown in this video) that when they hear someone telling them "stop global climate change bc it is what is best for all life on earth and best in the grand scheme of things, etc." they call bullshit. "How can you know?" Better, I believe, we say, "selfishly, we need to do this for us bc it is what is in our best interest for a better tomorrow and to hell w everything else" bc that is all we can substantiate at present. Veganism, climate change, carnivorism, climate denying, etc. etc. etc. is all sold as being "proper" for the human condition while never being grounded in anything except religion or old ways of grounding morality which have been shown to be false; 'dead... and remains dead.' They are all self serving attempts to mold the world into a more comfortable place for ourselves to exist under the auspice of some form of 'universal truth' that carries the weight of the universal truth our ancestors lived under w God. A reality where animals are treated better or old school values/traditions are still respected, whatever makes us feel like we are part of the winning team and conformable in our day to day life. (physically and/or mentally) What it is not is a grounded morality/ethic and the more ppl treat their beliefs and values and ethics as both 1. being grounded and 2. being universally applicable, the more I believe it will drive nihilism and the current modern condition to the foreground of being isolated in a 'packed house' to the forefront of society. The answer, I believe, is counter intuitive, but, it is to indulge individualism, individual rights, and being individualized; abandon attempts at collective morality, and, unfortunately, be willing to sacrifice a generation or three to the nihilistic void. Crisis precipitates change and everyone wants their Hegelian "end of history" moment where they are the important generation whom is the nexus of change, while no one wants to be sacrificed. Yet as someone form an abusive family w children I can tell you, it takes sacrfice to precipitate change. I have to go wo parents as they were abusive, neglectful, and abandoning. In raising my children lovingly, I am breaking that cycle yet there is no comfort of what I am offering my children. I will live my life knowing I will not have that love that affection that connection that is the bond of a child to their parent, but, I can help make it some my grandchildren and great grandchildren will not know how that feels. But I must sacrifice myself to do that. I could have not had children since my childhood was horrific, but, that is just nihilism incarnate. Better to sacrifice by self and any hope of filling that hole through self serving, hedonistic/debaucherous pleasure seeking to help make more future ppl more healthy? Why? bc it's a grounded pursuit? Nope. bc it is my own morally meaningful pursuit. My own sacrifice to myself. My great grandchildren will have no clue of the sacrifice and yet I make it. It is going to take that for us to move fwd. Billions enveloped in nihilism, sacrificing their lives (lives that are not their fault that they never asked to be bore into), accepting the nihilism and pursuing their own selfish ends, openly and freely. From this orgy of self importance, self aggrandizing, and hopelessly cut off a real social experience, an ability to re-enchant our lives will come, born not out of moving back to the past and former ways of enchanting our lives, but, a new, post romanticism post idealism and/or post optimism. It will user in a new era of community and connectedness as a new generation eschews the self serving ways of their parents and grandparents before them.Or it wont and society collapses. Either way, those that follow will have an enchanted life: through transcendence of the modern condition or through the simplification of sheer survival in anarchy and post civilization life. Sorry to ramble; I find your videos fascinating and helpful to my own re-enchanting of my life as I wrestle w rescinding my former belief in science uber alles and attempting to walk the tightrope over the void which is living a life affirming existence, free of the comfort of moral absolutes and belief in a safety net (heaven in the hereafter or utopia in the future). While I might not agree overall w the narrative you are creating, I do find value in it and it challenges me in meaningful ways. Thank you.
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Hey man. I feel like we're on parallel journeys. I love the way you articulate, illustrate and create your content it always makes me tear up a bit, in a happy mix of gratefulness, sadness and wonder about how your experiences seem to resonate with mine. Thank you kind man for your creations. Cheers from Brussels !
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@@Bringadingus In the general message academic accurate references are irrelevant, but thanks for wanting to educate people !
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@@shaunkerr8721 I thought this was going to be an uninteresting read, I was wrong. I deeply empathize with your experience, I agree with some, disagree with other parts but in general I'm thankful for your act of sharing these thoughts. Personally I try to think as follows : Nothing really matters, in a cosmic way, thus we are free to ascribe our own meanings to what we do and how we engage in life. I find this quite empowering and it helps me when I struggle to make decisions. I hope you are well.
You have the choice of scooping up water with the bucket or turning off the tap. The world will not be more sustainable because of individual choices. Making sure that Institutions and Goverments don´t get lobbyed against common interest will do way more good that not eating meat or planting a tree. But most people only do whats easy to do and in there emidiate range.
This quote reminded me of the story of the poor man who was the only person in the world almost capable of reaching heaven in The Good Place, who lived a miserable life trying to garner as many "points" as possible to get there, but who was still incapable of reaching it.
It didn't really make sense where he said it though. In a video about the multiverse and Nihilism, the more relevant and important question he should have posed is "how does one justify the pursuit of moral choices in an infinite cosmos where the impact of our actions has proportionally zero effect?" In a multiverse, for every moral action you make there are literally infinite immoral actions carried out elsewhere. It's impossible to "make a difference" to the net moral wellbeing of the cosmos.
There are so many problems in this world it's impossible to solve them all. The sense of nihilism that has washed over this world is nothing I take any comfort in. It is deeply disturbing. Everyone is being pushed to give up while also being pushed to do more. It is exhausting. I don't have any answers , but I'm also tired of finding problems in everything.
Same. Constantly overworked. Constantly aware that climate change will come crashing down on us hard. No own kids that stand for future because aforementioned. No real goals in life because of the aforementioned. Just draining.
what you should really understand is not comfort You have to rediscover yourself and get up and find your purpose nihilism is not nothingness I suggest you find a legitimate faith or understand Buddhism and Taoism Awakening is not for negativity [it is for avoiding wasting life] When your superficial cognition is destroyed you will know your next direction
The best you can do is the best you can do. Humanity didn't get here because of one or two people, but the collective force. Put your energy toward improving the world local to you, and everything else will work out. People are too self-centered in a variety of ways. Media has taught us that we are the key to everything through huge, world-influencing actions. But that's just not the case for almost everyone. Just influence what you can positively and the system will handle the rest.
It goes both ways really - everything is mundane when familiar and understood, and everything is fantastical when new and mysterious. Nihlistically speaking even the act of experience the extraordinary can become a mundane process, when one becomes aware both perspectives are just rooted in human experience - the stimuli don't really matter at all, what matters is the interpretation and reception of said stimuli.
@@pootytang69 well the stimulus isn't completely seperate from the interpretation so it does matter. Pain always feels painful, there is little room for interpretation for example and without it you can't stay alive as the stimulus gives you relatively accurate feedback about the limits of your personal experience. It's easy to say it is irrelevant when you sit in your chair, warm and comfy and can ponder on it however you like. I get what you mean tough ^^
@@sonkeschmidt2027 “pain always feels painful” allow me to introduce you to masochism and kinks ;) Joking aside I don’t think our relationship with pain is straightforward, as there are times we search pain, instead of only going away from it. At their most basic for example, when we exercise to the point we feel pain in our muscles, but instead of feeling (only) discomfort form the pain we also feel satisfaction, and therefore search for that state of pain again. There is also the emotional pain, for example when we search experiences where we feel fear, be it with extreme sports or horror media, or sadness like sad media. So what I’m trying to say, interpretation is still very relevant, as reactions can surprisingly vary from individual to a stimulus.
"We want to share the burden of living." Man, that one hit really close to home... I think it sums up a lot of the loneliness I personally feel nowadays, only alleviated when I spend time with friends and family (and hopefully someday, a partner)... living is tough, living is wonderful... and both sides of this coin are more bearable and enjoyable when shared ;;;;
I completely feel the same. And is probably my main reason to search a partner, though I must not become illusioned that a future partner will completely share that burden. Just like friends and family cannot fully.
@@alphaomega1351 Well relationships ARE part of the life you live (if you desire them to be). Sure there's a part of life you'll only experience on your own / inside yourself, but that doesn't mean there's no meaning or importance to what is shared with others, too. It's two sides of a coin imo.
@@zellkabellk You can capitalize, yell, scream 😱 but still the fact I stated will remain. You will never find lasting happiness in a romantic partner. You are likely too young to understand. 😶
@@alphaomega1351 I'm not looking at romantic love as THE access to happiness, or to lasting happiness. It's just a flavor of relationship I'll enjoy to have at some point in my life. Something to enjoy while it lasts, with one, or with multiple people. Just like friendships and just like all the other relationships you have in your life. Some last 1 hour (a stranger at the bar), some like decades (the longest one being the one you have with yourself), and I see them all as valuable, and as a part of life to hopefully experience someday. If it doesn't happen, well, it doesn't happen ! Won't take away from the rest of life I get to experience in the meantime. Im not very young, I'm not very old either haha, somewhere in my thirties.
This is your best one yet. I ugly cried. This is one of the biggest breakthroughs in just _naming_ what it's like to live in this postmodern/nihilistic/spectacle/etc time.
It's funny, Terrance McKenna had a theory about Novelty generation and the eascaton ( the last event at the end of time). He theorized that the closer we got to this event, the more new , and possible strange events would take place. The first time I considered it it seemed goofy, and impossible. Now, not so much...
Fuck it got me to cry haaard. That must mean that this art is hitting the problem. I felt validated in this unknown unspeakable feeling that it just rattled me.
@@transsexual_computer_faery goof or not, more new things keep happening, at an alarming rate. I take McKenna as serious as I take most evangelist for this thing or that thing. At least the product he advocated for works in the way he claimed.
I think that, in a way, Interstellar was the among the first movies to try to truly capture this idea. The idea that throughout everything, a general acceptance of the situation and a genuine love for the people in it, while seemingly inconsequential, truly transcends time and space. You don’t have to be head over heels for everyone you meet. But life becomes a lot more tolerable, enjoyable even, when you decide to suffer through the onslaught of infinity with others instead of alone. It isn’t a grand, ultimate truth like Interstellar tries to portray, but it does seem to be a step towards one.
As a bigger nerd, I think this also extends back to 2001-2009, when Gundam 00 was released. The Movie in particular, offered a similar resolution. Mutual understanding, love, and embracing of one another. Is what brings fulfillment, belonging and peace Eben if you face down aliens and interdimentional travel 😂
Or then you could compare your aspirations with those of an ant, an elephant, a . . . . conceding you're merely an intelligent and loquatious ape, and squeeze as much experience into your short life as you can, and to the best of your many abilities. Evolution has designed us better than we can imagine.
Over the last 6 years I have gone through traumatic event after traumatic event. Last year I randomly lost my dad out of nowhere and I sat on the ground in the rain like a movie and realized at that moment that life is so incredibly short and although nothing matters, it’s what you do with this short time that actually counts. I also realized every time something bad has happened over the last few years I could feel myself shift into another universe the fork in the road and it was out of my hands I can’t stop death but I can control my life and my happiness. External forks in the road are out of everyone’s hands. Enjoy your life.
Sending loves. Idk if you've ever read/watched Never Let Me Go or The Fault in Our Stars, but they make that point beautifully. The Fault in Our Stars makes the point, there are an infinite number of numbers. But there are also an infinite number of numbers between 1 and 2. We are all existing within our our various experiences and the length of our lives has little to do with their meaning. We're all living in there various sizes of infinity, and what matters is what we do, who we share them with. I hope your enjoying your life. I'm grateful ours have overlapped here for a moment.
Hey guy, just seeing this comment today and I want to say I'm thinking of you. I'm sorry for your losses and hardships, and I hope things will get better for you or kinder for you. I hope you had something nice happen today.
All of my life I have been trying to put into words what it is that I really experience about life. The term "Nihilistic Multiverse" seems to say it perfectly! I am Schrodinger's cat! I am torn between the two concepts of "nothing matters" and "everything matters". And I have spent my life trying to reconcile these two seemingly opposite points of view. More and more it appears to me that it's all about choice. I can choose to let something matter, or to let it not matter. When I choose to let something matter to me, then I feel the urge to engage, to get involved, and to care about it. When I choose to let something not matter to me, then I don't really feel connected to it and life has a hollow feeling. Life will do what it will do. it is up to us whether we think it is worth our time to engage and to get involved.
i've been torn between "nothing matters =)" and "nothing matters =(" all my life. i'm perpetually stuck in a state of undeath, walking the earth as a shadow, sometimes briefly crossing over into the light.
That's it. It's Kierk's "leap of faith". You have to choose to live as if everything matters, and when you do you find life manifests in a way that validates that perspective. And that helps us believe that everything might, in actuality, matters.
@@KevinMakins I think there's truth to that, but a feeling that everything matters when there is so much that's also out of your control that doesn't seem to be going right is frightening for a completely finite creature. I think there also has to be am abiding sense that everything will be alright regardless of what happens in the short to medium term, which is a hard thing to justify without some kind of religious or supernatural conceptualization of the universe
@@KevinMakins Living life like it mattered never did anything for me, only in living like nothing matters did I feel a little bit of relief. Ultimately life isn't even worth the time and effort you'd have to put into engaging with it
Since I was a young teenager, I've had recurring panic attacks while thinking about space and time. The idea that the universe has existed for billions of years before I came along, and will exist for billions more before eventually turning into a void. I have a very hard time feeling that anything matters, in that context. This video allowed me to reflect a bit about that, and for that I thank you. I don't know that it will rid me of the recurring panic attacks, but even momentary respite is appreciated. This is good stuff.
I can relate. But from the childhood, instead of panic attack, I was awestruck and really moved whenever I realised and reflected about it, like this is the life, I and universe which if didn't exist, what existed? And what mattered? Fast forward after many years, at the age of 19, these awestruck moments which were not painful before turned into dreadful void. It was full body panic attack, existential crises (I didn't know the word at that time). Then I got in touch with philosophy and I could relate everything from Kierkegaard to neitzshe, and Deleuze. But somehow for now, Ibn arabis mysticism and new quantum mechanics has been a leap of faith for me :)
Sorry that I'm replying to this so late, but: Despite the universe being so massive, life is incredibly rare. If there is only one diamond in a whole rock planet, does that make the diamond irrelevant to the planet, or does it make it a unique wonder? We are the only beings in our local area that can actually experience the universe. Without us, no-one would be researching the geology of the Earth. No-one would know about the biology of all the species on this planet. As far as we know so far, without us, the whole universe and its beauty would be known to no-one. In my opinion, we matter a lot.
@@isaacdalziel5772 100%✓ We, humans are the anormaly in a instinct driven, clock like working world. Our existance is the stone trown in a still lake to cause waves.
Interesting that you drew such a strong thematic connection between EEAAO and Fleabag; I hadn't drawn that connection myself, but these are easily the two pieces of media which have emotionally moved me the most in recent years
Nail on the head. I've been recently trying to articulate that freedom, in the sense of individuated freedom as you describe, is in a sense a drive to be "free from belonging." To be free is to escape an old paradigm, an old culture, an old framework of meaning which had ceased to serve us and to provide for meaning in our lives. We felt the chafing of this old paradigm as oppression. However, in finding freedom from belonging in what we did not want to belong, we have also estranged ourselves from any sense of belonging at all. The risky, chaotic, and generation-defining trait of the present moment is the turn back to belonging, away from freedom: we are free, and what we have discovered is that we did not want freedom for it's own sake, but rather as a means to belong to what we should like, to become integrated into a culture and community and worldview that actually provides meaning for us, that contextualizes our lives. We will need to becomes less free in the sense of having less individual authorship of our worldview through the sharing of worldviews with others in our lives, with whom we should like to live with as a community of collective meaning. Meaning only exists in reference to some chosen fixed point of value in our perception, in the same way that movement only exists in reference to some chosen fixed point in our perception of space and time. It is relative, yes, but that does not make it unreal in the same way that general relativity in physics has not made motion unreal. Only relative to the observer's frame of reference. When everyone chooses a different fixed point of value, i.e: when everyone uses a different set of coordinates to describe motion, the result is confusion and miscommunication. But when we pitch our tents on the same hill, so to speak, when we agree on our zero-point and use the same coordinates to map our space, then we can communicate effectively with one another and derive a sense of meaning from the joy of knowing that "others can see what I see, I am not alone." The challenge will be to find balance, of course. We shouldn't force others to adopt the same worldviews as ourselves, else the worlds we make will surely be the kinds that future generations will want to "become free" of. Nor should we compromise the integrity of our worldviews by neglecting to uphold any substantial values, for fear of alienating people. There must be a balance. One that, hopefully, will become apparent as time goes on and our situation becomes more well understood.
when did we become free tho? the iron hand of empire is still firmly gripping our societies and i still feel the boots of oppression trampling me in my every day life.
@@transsexual_computer_faery Well, you're right. Materially, empire still exists and continues to oppress. Seeking material freedom from empire is a present and future task. What I mean to talk about is ideological freedom, freedom of worldview, coupled with a state of "unbelonging" which is pervasive, at least in the United States (making sure to speak only from my experience, although I'm sure the Western world is experiencing something similar on a grander scale). What produces, concurrently, ideological freedom and unbelonging? This is caused by the rotting of the empire from the inside out, because it can no longer even pretend to stand for anything in a positive sense. It is just, so to speak, Kronus, the titan that eats its own children to preserve itself. Standing for nothing, it doesn't quite care what the citizens think so long as they have no real power to threaten it. And so the people will come to various disparate conclusions about how the world is, based on disparate experiences without a unifying common ground of agreed upon truths (exacerbated by easy and plentiful misinformation and disconnection from reality fostered by the internet). As a result people become unable to talk to each other because there is no faith in the shared unity between in-groups, no faith in any unifying truth; nothing that passes for the bonds of fraternity. It is just my point to contend that material freedom will only come from ideological belonging, from the construction of worldview that can provide meaning for people and unite them in cause despite their other differences. If this unity can reach a breaking point in which it will not longer put up with material slavery, then it will emerge from the belly of Kronus not as a group of scared and squabbling children, but as the fully grown adults that will take their material freedom with the strength of a people unified by something more than their shared hatred of what had come before. Take that as you will. I'm in no position to claim authority on anything, only to share what potential I see in the youth of the world.
This video really touches me. It’s corny but loving your fellow man and moment to moment human connection really is all we have. “Please be kind- especially when we don’t know what’s going on”
What incredible synchronicity. I was just musing about why so many multiverse stories have gained such traction in recent years, and you've elucidated the problem brilliantly. Thank you!
@_Hedura_ There is some kind of line that differentiates the mundane and the magic. But when you see it, you can’t unsee it. That doesn’t mean that everything is magical, but to deny the existence of a shared experience that produces an effect, call it whatever you want, is to deny what appears to be encoded in the framework of consciousness and the universe thus far. I’m fairly certain that what we consider “paranormal” will one day be understood as natural.
I think The Good Place could also be added to this discussion. Especially on the topic of feeling like all our individual choices have both the entire weight of the universe and are meaningless. When the group realizes that the point system is flawed bc of how complicated the world is now is such a turning point. Also the use of The Good Place and the afterlife as a comedic multiverse is really interesting.
@@wd89601OMG literally same? today i finished my 4th rewatch and i was searching for similar topics and watched this!! the good place is my favourite show of all time, its genius
in my view: we are constantly battling between the overthinking and underthinking we do. trying to find the happy middle ground between our individual liberty and social responsibility. if its even there at all. maybe we're just comfortable animals that are going mad cause we have nothing primal to focus on, maybe were just brats refusing to accept stuff around us cause we simultaneously dont wanna do anything and want to do everything. I find "meaning" or "purpose" as useless conjectures, who says you need purpose to be happy? in a way having purpose is just a desire for some sense of security. and our negative reaction to our nihilistic reality is just us imposing that because nothing matters we shouldnt care. but who decided thats how one must be? I do not loathe a meaningless existence, because I find it inherently beautiful without the need to consider me big in it. We are the only eyes the universe has to ponder itself, looking into the void to know that I came from it and will eventually return to it, is satisfactory enough to me to find it beautiful. I can dread the heat death of the universe, but at this moment- I am not dead, and the universe itself is still vibrant and alive. knowing its temporary I choose to be alive because I wanna see that beauty until I cant anymore- theres no rush to the end. if everything is insignificant than nothing is insignificant. I can care about what I want, I can spend my time adding to the beauty and appreciating the universes many parts, every life and cosmic happening is not from a god nor does it matter that it isnt. If someone loves existence like I do, theyll be belligerently human; the good bad and ugly of it all. it all matters as long as I say it does; I think therefor I am. thanks for the video essay; its givin me an excuse to say something Im not pretentious enough to say just on whim. brilliant nonlinear structure too.
@@furiousdestroyah9999 maybe any form or art. I think that is the reason why Moss People & i choose to stay another moment her, but when my Joy is no longer linger to this form of expression, think i will be 100% agreed with you
@@furiousdestroyah9999 perspective is a trick, get far enough away from tragedy and its comedy, get too close and its trauma; Its beautiful and disgusting , think of it like ying and yang. Buddhism often considers enlightenment as similar to what I speak of; content and appreciation for all of it. its detached but not uncaring. and while I share no mystic explanation for this the perspective is a rejection of our natural bias. to see beyond our limitations as animals and appreciate existence. to be a cynic is to over value the worst, to be an optimist is to overvalue the best. to fully appreciate how our world is you have to first recognize that all of it exists. and it all effects each other. the tragedy of my mothers death is creating the beauty in building my own family now- I cant deny the hurt nor the way ive turned it into actualization. Apathy is death. and I want to live.
@@furiousdestroyah9999 Have you ever looked at a particularly beautiful flower? Or seen a puppy wiggle its whole body in excitement? Or felt a calm cool breeze on a hot day? There is always beauty, even in the midst of ugliness. They coexist, and it’s up to us to understand and accept both. If you don’t see beauty, that’s because you don’t SEE it. Not because it isn’t there. Change your perspective and you change your world.
You know a video is well made when it's able to make you feel sad and hopeful at the same time! I often use optimistic nihilism to cope with loneliness and depression. Even so, I can never permanently shake that natural urge to connect with someone. The other coping strategy is to remind myself that we can't experience happiness without the contrasting feeling of gloom.
@@grilla4464 It is when you're having trouble connecting and that failure at connecting is having profound negative effects on your mental health and quality of life.
I’ve been struggling to just stay motivated lately, with myself, with what to do with my life. With isolation. This articulates a lot of I’ve been feeling. It helps to know I’m not the only one feeling…lost. Impressive, moving, and resonant... Great work, as usual.
Same, brother. Feels like a hamster wheel. Glad I clicked this one. Love the video on ‘Don’t Look Up’ that he did as well. This channel has really helped me, even though my modern squirrel brain forgot about it 30minutes later and went right back to the existential crisis.
What these last couple of decades has taught me is that Less….truly is More. Everyone I talk to always seems to romanticize their past decade and when you hear them explain why they love it so, they often explain how they DIND’T have to worry about this and that. How they weren’t overloaded with the infinite amount of things that now consume their time and needed effort. How the world didn’t seem to be so fractured, silly and frightening at the same time. Modern society with things like social media now have people living in several different realities at the same time, always needing to try to perfectly stage their digital ambassador selves. Now it seems, people are living several different “lives” all at once so we are becoming increasingly disconnected and schizophrenic. Constantly wearing a mask wherever we go and never being our TRUE selves. We DO want meaning. We DO need purpose. We NEED things to truly matter no matter how much we try to deny that. Another absolute home run video LSoO!!! You’re truly the crown jewel of UA-cam as far as I’m concerned.
As far as I'm aware, not only have we always had multiple public faces, but we've always had multiple internal ones. How else would we have difficulty making decisions? How else would we create dreams, then wake up in the morning surprised at what we ourselves thought? In this context, Jekyll and Hyde isn't a problem because he is multiple people, he is a problem because he has severed the unity between the alternate selves within himself and allows one to take over without input from the others. From my observation, a healthy mind is one where the voices are willing to co-operate with each other, rather than one where there aren't other voices. A problem with the world today is people are moving from seeing themselves as individuals, and beginning to realize we are contradictory collectives, and most people have not built up the tools to handle that, as I have. Our social media doesn't provide the tools to support organizing these different personas, on Facebook or wherever you have the same face for all of your groups. But in real life we use different faces at work, or among friends, or family we don't like but want to avoid trouble with for the sake of other family members... I simply don't really use social media any more, more because I'm not social in general than because of anything against social media itself, but I did feel the lack of options for dividing my different selves properly there. Less can be more. More can be more. I find it a bit silly to say the past was significantly better when the main difference with the present is how people choose to allocate their time. Although, there are more things we CAN divide our time amongst. Solutions can be to become better at prioritizing and managing time, but I'm also a strong advocate for robotic and AI workers freeing humans to have more time to play with. In other words, I would like more time.
I overall found this analysis to be incredibly well made, although it does miss the final point of the movie; something that seems to be happening to most people I've interacted with who analyze it through a more "western" thought structure. As stated in the video; the movie is about the qualities of suffering/dissatisfaction, impermanence and "self" that we experience throughout life, as well as the inherent ignorance that we carry from our birth. The story follows this very process of ignorance to wisdom through Evelyn's character. As she becomes wiser, through the interactions she has with the people around her, as well has her own observations through increased mindfulness of how our actions affect the lives of ourselves and others, her entire approach to the world changes. First she becomes stronger, fighting for good. Realizing she is only promoting the problem (suffering and violence), she sees a new way through her husband, and starts approaching the issue with empathy, loving-kindness and understanding. As she says herself "I'm learning to fight like you". But even this ultimately is not enough, because her daughter doesn't want to listen, which we see when Evelyn clings to her as she tries to return to her nihilistic worldview. Here, however, Evelyn realizes the most important point of the whole movie. Even the most radiant intends cannot help those who don't wish to be helped; no matter how hard Evelyn clings to her daughter, nothing she can do will make her stay. So she *lets go*. She accepts reality for what it is rather than what she wants it to be. She accepts her daughter for who she is, rather than what she wants her to be. All her pain, all her ignorance, all her past actions of violence and more. She accepts the impermanence of the world, even in her relationship with the one she loves the most, but in a context of compassion, loving-kindness, generosity and understanding, rather than pure rational thought. This acceptance breaks her attachment to her daughter, not in the sense that she no longer care's about her (nihilism) but in the sense that no matter what happens, no matter what her daughter does or says, no matter how many she has hurt, Evelyn loves her unconditionally. And it's in this understanding that, despite having the possibility of going anywhere in all of the multiverse, Evelyn simply decides to go back to her old life, now with a new perspective and a new ability to find joy in every moment. She realizes that chasing some specific outcome of the world is not going to change anything and that any suffering she experiences is her own only comes as a product of ignorance. She understands that it's nobody's fault, there is no one to put the blame on, because those who suffer and harm others simply don't know any better. It's the deepest level of empathy and compassion we can strive for, and those who are touched by it will feel it. This is also why Joy comes back to her after they separate. Letting go of our attachments while staying mindful of suffering, it's origin, and it's cessation in tandem with compassion, loving-kindness, generosity, and the nature of reality as it is in every moment is what sets us free. It's a practice we should take into every aspect of our lives. Both in our relationship with those we love and those we hate, with those we know and those who are strangers. When we are alone and when we engage with others. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of all struggling beings. The movie is basically a 1:1 representation of Buddhist philosophy (I could mention a lot more reasons that would make it obvious, but that's another talk) presented in a much more relatable sense to the modern day person. The act of letting go is important to mention overtly, because the origin of all the suffering any of the characters experience is attachment born from ignorance. A reality we all face, but like in the movie, like Evelyn, we all have the power to overcome; by engaging with and cultivating the right form of wisdom, ethics and mindfulness. Nobody is doomed to be a "self" set in stone. The self is constantly changing as it integrates and let's go of information. Compassion, wisdom and generosity are skills that you can teach and learn for yourself just as any other. It takes practice, but it can be done; and the whole world will benefit from those who put in the effort. - some edits for clarification were made -
@@ROGUESPIRIT_ Understanding it intellectually is one thing; anyone can entertain and analyze an idea by use of mental discursive thought. The challenge is to understand it directly through awareness itself - to have it guide the very foundation of your thoughts, speech and actions by instinct. And to maintain it in every moment, as ignorance is in a constant process of rebirth. As soon as we lose sight of the goal we start slipping away from it. This is also shown in the ending of the movie, where Evelyn - despite having experienced the wisdom firsthand - gets caught up in the distractions around her, and her attention wanders away from their conversation with the NRA worker. Ignorance is reborn in every moment of existence. If we don't remain mindful and concentrate our attention of that which matters right now we will become distracted and forget. Can you show these qualities to those you hate? To those who are actively hurting you? To those who abuse, break and sometimes murder those you love? Can you give up everything at a whim, refraining from any and all desires that arise until the moment of death without experiencing any mental stress? Can you do so without relying on any substances, external, nor internal phenomena? Without clinging to your thoughts or sensations? There are multiple ways of knowing, and discursive analysis in the mind is a very unreliable and inherently flawed one, even when using perfect logic and rationality. Even if a trip shows the way briefly it will have no actual effect long term if you don't actively practice actively afterwards. In fact, while drugs are a possible gateway to first realizing these things, long term they only hinder our progress, as we start to rely on them for any insight, rather than relying on the practice itself. The very fact that you brush it off as easy show's that you don't yet understand. Even highly trained monks admit that they still put in effort to maintain their practice, and they practice under the best circumstances possible. But if anyone sees the benefit of this way of understanding I implore them to start aligning their actions with this wisdom in all parts of their life - with time and patience they will start to truly understand what the teachings are pointing towards.
@@christianlinneberg528 So in the end it's worthless since it's only temporary. You can easily lose it at any moment and making mistakes is what defines a human being. In order to hang onto this wisdom you need to be something else than human, which can't be done. That's no freedom, that's simply another form of binding
Man this is such a huge comfort. I feel like part of me was aware that obviously it's not just me feeling like I'm going mad and struggling to stay attached but not sink into delusion, but without the topic being commonplace in discussion and with me myself lacking the words to express these feelings to the actual people around me, which aren't a whole lot, I so often feel this pull into just confusion, fear, guilt and frustration. Thank you for this video. I'll recommend it to anyone I see struggling with these same issues.
This was one of your most powerful... And I realized your media references of some of my favourite works in recent times. The shared outlooks and searching in them is clearly something that resonates with me. Funny that lockdown made a lot of people question themselves, their lives, their purpose. I found it a relief and an escape. I'm finding this year to work out my place, what my purpose is, and trying to get out of a number of coping mechanisms I've developed in the in the last few months. A half hour reflection like this gives me some hope. 🌈🙏🏻
This takes me back to an old video of yours, The Art of Grief. I think society is going through its own form of Ego Death and trying to realize what communal/tribes can be built and solidified in this digital age world and how we can stop fooling ourselves into acting like we don't need it.
You are a very gifted writer and editor. As always, even when I don´t comment, thank you. For doing what you do. You said it in the video. But just so it´s clear: tearing down our walls and feeling seen is something we sorely lack. You do it. The internet allows for horrible, horrible things. Our world does. But being able to make others cry and feel like you do... I would say it is a talent. But I think THIS is one kind of genuine connection that the internet, that our world, facilitates nowadays. Thank you for connecting. Thank you for feeling. Thank you for allowing me to feel.
Truly a wonderful piece. I would love to see the perspective of the "broken soul" in relation to the dialogue. The person that chooses love, makes it their guiding principles. Only to experience the betrayal of life. To come to the point of realizing that in the experiences of helping others that maybe humanity isn't worth it. How it's crushing and destabilizing. How nihilism becomes the only way to stop the suffering of lost hope.
I cannot put into words what such films as Everything Everywhere All At Once and our collective approach towards a more cosmically conscious existence do to me. Watching people like you articulate these things, seeing and feeling this liberation of being everywhere but yet somehow finding meaning in the things surrounding us here and now gives me strength of living this life further. What a most interesting time to be alive. Let's do what we can to make the best of our own universe.
Just like leaving a comment on a YT video, hoping others will relate. Or scrolling through comments, looking for a meaningful view of the world that resembles your own. The ultimate responsibility has shifted from following the rules to creating the meaning all on your own. This reminds me growing up and realizing that adults are not omnipotent, not always right, and don't have the magic answer. Wishing everyone kindness ✨
The first existential thought I ever had, I was 4 years old, and I remembered the feeling by saying to myself “the whole wide world is just the whole wide world.” I have been grappling with the feeling that everything means EVERYTHING and NOTHING simultaneously since I can even remember.
I think there are 4 main things that can create an infinite amount of meaning for anyone if they are embraced, pursued, or fed. 1: Embracing what being alive truly means, and what being a human being means. There doesn't have to be a clear answer, but the idea of connecting to our living roots and embracing this concept of our primal, raw, and animal selves is one that has helped me a great deal personally. Living presently is a big part of this, as we can use our senses to observe all the things around us at any given time, and yet we choose to ignore them and stay in our heads, dwelling. 2: Embracing community and Love. Though it may be hard to see these days since everyone seems so isolated and apathetic, some people do actually care enough to want a community of other people who will open up and be human with each other. 3: Embracing the self, as in, exploring yourself and taking inspiration from all things in this world and universe to truly reflect on who you have been, are, and want to be as a living creature. 4: Embracing the infinite possibilities beyond our scope of perception. By this I mean that while we are generally arrogant and assume that we know everything about reality, there are many things (such as something as simple as color) that we cannot perceive. And to assume we know the origin, state of, and end of reality is quite assumptuous. Exploring these ideas together or just within the self can help remind us of what there is to see or experience.
This video compiles all the movies and series that I’ve really provoked and resonated with my world view in a previously indescribable way. You just described it. Great job sir!
What an excellent video. It cannot be overstated how absolutely amazing your editing is. The visual elements of this video tied every concept being explained back perfectly.
Your channel and this video essay always leave me in awe. You have such prophetic philosophical insights into the art form of cinema. Unpacking the meta interpretations we can pull from carefully crafted films and how that relates to our own lives. If your channel operated in any different multiversal paradigms I believe it wouldn't be as incredibly designed, packaged and thought out as this video I'm experiencing in this existence, right now.
i’ve watched this video over and over again. it inspires me beyond comprehension. it has allowed me to put into words into what i am feeling and progress and my own artistic concept on this feeling. thank you.
The videos you make.. are so beautiful.. everytime there comes a new is exactly the moment I need to hear this the most. It makes me a better human. It makes me able to feel empathy and forgiveness for all of us, but especially for myself. It's been so hard to find something that echoes my own thoughts and feelings, in such crystal clarity. The quote from this video "To love is not what weak men do" - I passed it along to a friend who needed to hear it, just as I did.
Came looking for a video essay about Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Was NOT expecting an unpacking of the exact struggle I've been experiencing in the past couple years. It is comforting to know that this nihilism is a larger cultural issue and not just a personal one.
Thank you for this …. Thank you for articulating such a complex and existential concept in such a beautiful and hopeful way Thank you for having the courage to define what so many people are struggling with at this point in time So moving - so true Incredible
I can't really explain how I feel right now, but the messeges these movies and shows present to us always revolve around love and family I truly believe that this concept is the most important thing in life doesn't matter who or what you love or what you consider family, but everyone has something that tethers them to this world and keeps us going. I'm not sure where this quote is from, but it goes something like "The immense pain of losing someone close to you is just an indication of how much love and affection you still harbour for them that you can no longer share with them."
I've watched this video 5 times and just can't get enough. It's a beautiful poem of stanzas randomly yet, so perfectly sewn together. The older I become to more I am a believer of the possibilities our universe has, yet the magnetic pull of each soul's compass with no real way to describe it. You have done this so well in a way that many will be able to understand. You are a true artist. Thank you and please continue your art!
Fantastic video, man ! I just discovered you as I was scrolling through everything about Everything Everywhere All At Once (just went to theaters to watch this movie for the 5th time, and still gobsmacked by it, this movie is a true cinematic miracle that will leave its mark on the history of filmmaking). And this essay is one of the most fascinating ones talking about the movie (even though not exactly just about the movie, more about the existential dread in our own society with the movie as a conduit). It is true that sadly, a side effect of knowledge and intelligence is that once you cross a certain treshold and you do realize that nothing makes sense and nothing really matters, it's easy to fall into the Jobu despair/nihilism/collective suicidal depression. Now, from a personal standpoint, I'd say one excellent way to combat this numbness we all feel is creativity. Writing down observation, then thoughts on a given situation is a great way to give meaning to something that seemingly has none. Drawing is a fantastic exercise of observation, one that makes you stop and ponder that one thing or person you're drawing for a few minutes/hours/days and let you realize how important it is. Nature or street photography is probably an even better way, as photography is not only about taking good images of what exists, but actual great photography is about telling a story out of a single image. Much like drawing, it forces the photographer to stop and admire a subject while trying to capture its beauty the best they can, be it with framing, angle, position of lighting, etc... spend some time on a flower to just realize how perfect it is... then do it with the next flower. Or tree. Or bird. Or river. Or person. Do it over and over again, and you start connecting the dots on just how beautiful our world truly is and how we're completely taking it for granted. And fall in love with life over and over again. It's not permanent, it's very easy to fallback into nihilism/despair/depression afterwards, but each little photowalk in nature or in the streets is a fantastic jolt to remind us how precious life is, like recharging batteries. Now, onto individual choice and individualism, sure, it throws us into an existential dread that we're so tiny in this vast universe (multiverse), but hey, what was the alternative ? Stay into archaic societal models where racism (most extreme example : crusades), sexism (most extreme example : Witchhunt and inquisition), and obscurantism (only the monks were educated, and the plebea was kept in ignorance to be better endoctrined into the fear of God and his last judgement, and give all their money to the Church), child labor (and abuse, funny how all these examples have something to do with the Church and religion in general). Sure, the evolution of our modern society now is riddled with flaws, but if you're asking me, I still believe we're better off now than just a few centuries ago. Now it also depends on the location. Some civilisation were more educated and functional than the west (talking about the Chinese civilisation, for example, or the Japanese, or the Indians, or quite a few african ones, or even meso-american ones... None of them perfect, but still highly structured and in balance... before the west wrecked them all thanks to their advance in military technology, because the industrial revolution happened to happen there, then imposing their wildly out of balance segregational and sexist norms to the rest of the world).
I have watched this movie a bunch of times and countless video essays. You have won the internet for this essay. Including lessons from the screenplay and Thomas Flight was a genius idea and you should be very proud of how well you pulled this off.
This is an incredibly important video. I’ve NEVER seen/heard a more succinct and clear way to label this “feeling” and in a world of false and irrelevant labelling, I think this is the one thing that actually deserve to be described, categorized, and explained, so that we can all get through this together. It is the one thing that can bring us all together so we can change this feeling for everyone.
I had a mushroom trip where I realized that nothing matters and if nothing matters then the only thing that is important is the relationships we have with one another. Funny how truths reveal themselves to us.
The section "Hope in the dark" (22:09) points to something really impactful and significant. Thank you for sharing Beck, it's a series of thoughts I've been struggling to put into a concise form.
All of this has happened before, not just in some alternate universe, but in the past of this universe. We can always go back and learn lessons that have been forgotten.
During the chapter “the burden of being” I got literal goosebumps and teared up a bit. The way you articulate modern issues of individuality is so accurate that it’s chilling. Phenomenal video as always. Thank you !
I've found that, in terms of acceptance and building confidence, the following helps. 1. There *are* possibilities in life. Including combining multiple possibilities. 2. You will always pick one. 3. Therefore, there was no other possibility that could have happened. 4. Therefore, you will have always done the only thing you could have. 5. "Right" or, Wrong" You will always have made the only choice you could have made. So own that choice, right or wrong, because it was yours, and all you could have ever done was that which you did. Grow from it if it was failure, continue normally if it was success. A pebble that is floating downstream can go one way or another, around a heavier rock. We do not care enough to jot down every factor going into the travel of the pebble, nor do we realistically have time to in the moment. Until the pebble passes the rock, gets stuck on it, or simply sinks to the bottom of the river, the pebble is only ever capable of doing one thing, and it will do that thing, no matter what. Because, we will experience that *one* event.
I think that a large part of this is that we are saddled with expectations, those of everyone and ourselves. This is further complicated by the fact that we essentially cannot escape our past actions. We can move, start up new accounts, go to new schools, any number of things, and everything finds a way back to us. Because of this, growing, changing, and developing is done in a pressure cooker that offers nigh unimaginable possibilities. As a result we are caught between the weight of the past, pressures of the future, and necessities of now.
That is a beautiful and thoughtful essay. I personally don't feel that weight on my being that you talk about, but I understand it and see it around me from time to time. Great stuff, keep it up!
This video came up as a random suggestion and I clicked on it not expecting to find such an amazing content. It’s beautiful made, incredibly well edited and above all it gives so much to think about. It warmed my heart to see it didn’t go down the lane of reducing big social matters to individual actions, but rather went the other way around to show we are social beings and we need to sort things out socially. Great video! Congrats!
This is what growing up with the Lord of the Rings and being surrounded by nihilists my entire life has taught me, and also has given me a headstart amount of experience with that battle. I used to have panic attacks constantly as a kid and teen but that was also because of traumatic experiences I was overcoming and processing. I still get a little agoraphobic but I consistently challenge myself to overcome it so I don't remain shackled against the beauty of the world and many times I succeed and sometimes I dont do as well but its a process and its ok to fail. My highschool senior quote was Frodo & Sam's: "What are we holding on to, Sam?" "That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for. Fuck I need to watch LOTR again lmao
"There's some good in this world and it's worth fighting for" along with the white tree and single flower blooming is a large rib tattoo I got many years ago. Glad to be with you, here at the end of all things.
“Something is off.” about a year ago i listened to a poem that got me thinking about these questions. i’ve watched everyone i know and love become more cynical, less hopeful, exhausted, doubtful of any “objective” truth or shared meaning or the ability to influence the world. This is simply not living. Life without hope and without connection is not living. “How do we get back?” i don’t know yet. i don’t think it’s about getting back to some older ideal, rather it’s about searching for and synthesizing a new one. other people really are feeling it. even the questions are not fully articulated yet. increasingly though these difficulties are being expressed in art and the conversations are starting-it’s a deep relief to watch this video and read the comments and know i’m not alone trying to take all this on, you are too, and that’s exactly the point, we’re looking for meaning together. try to connect with everyone you can. for me it’s often uncomfortable but this is the work, it’s not supposed to be easy. talk to strangers, talk to neighbors, talk about this with them, start the conversations, try to physically be around humans, not only consuming and interacting thru media. it will work. faith is an idea claimed to belong to religion but it’s larger than that. faith is a choice, faith is insisting that the future can be better even when the odds aren’t good and you’re scared, insisting that it’s worth it, the work and suffering are survivable and worth surviving, connecting with each other and experiencing the universe is worth it. so, have faith. we can already see the alternative sucks. have faith, create meaning, and connect with other humans-i’ll do it with you
I love the way that everything everywhere all at once fills me with existential dread then by the end I’m reminded of what really matters and crying happy tears
Now that you’ve pointed out the common themes of the stories that mainstream media seems to be picking up, I can understand the popularity of a group like BTS due to their own storylines and lyrics that dive into existentialism, meaning of being and struggle of trying to find purpose. Their Music Video universe has a similar multiverse theme too
Like Stories of Old pumps way more analysis and insight than I see most other channels do in 3-4x the length time. I always learn, think or am deeply moved whenever I watch a video. In fact, so much meaning is weaved into the writing that I almost have to sit and digest for a while after the video ends. Thank you for making these videos, they are beautiful.
The irony of the internet is that it has connected people who were otherwise suffering alone with the loss of meaning (see Spiderman no way home), while simultaneously thrusting the loss of meaning into public consciousness on a global scale. In a way the loss of meaning has spread like a virus, but it gives me hope that we are now collectively searching for the antidote.
Thankful this piece came across my feed. It really brought me back through the fog I was wading through before the Army, camping months in the cold and snow, a period of 2 weeks without food with blackouts, a near death OD. It really took me back years after the service, all of it feels like an old relic. There's always something else, but a meaning to it all even if I did meet that fate somewhere else other than here. I'm under the strong impression that a lot of us are trying to redefine what a human being is after a few painful traumatic events. All of it feels like a world stage play within the insides of a complex machine within another, just leaves me feeling most of us are all just phantoms just waiting to really be truly seen.
Wow! Thank you! This may have been the most poignant and heartfelt piece of media I've watched in a long time (maybe ever tbh). I can't believe how well you've been able to articulate the feeling of living in our modern time, gifted the freedom to shape our individual destinies within an increasingly interconnected and diverse world, and yet burdened with the isolation, doubt, and detachment that this freedom brings with it. I can frequently find myself slipping into this nihilistic despair when faced with the weight of the seemingly infinite potential paths that I could choose to live while at the same time feeling powerless to enact any real change or make any significant impact with my life in a world that now feels so gargantuan and filled with problems that feel so unsolvable. Yet, you've perfectly expressed how giving into this hopelessness and detachment is, in actuality, just a way to cope with our deep longing for connection and belonging, and it is through opening up to and embracing the world and through finding community, personal connection, friendship, and love that we can recapture this meaning in our lives. It's amazing, every time I watch one of your videos I have such an overwhelming feeling of being understood, of being validated knowing that someone shares my beliefs and worldview, and of feeling like I'm not alone. I think this is what's so amazing about your channel and from reading the other comments across your videos, it seems like your other viewers also feel the same. Thank you so much for creating these incredible videos! Your work is so appreciated and valued by me and so many! I can't wait until the next video that makes me cry and laugh and smile and feel sad and angry and joyous and most of all hopeful. Thank you ❤
...and I express my gratitude for articulating a similar impact on me. Your work saved me twenty-five minutes of typing and I couldn't have said it better! I sincerely appreciate you for that and it is beautiful to see you and everyone else commenting on this expression of true art! Thank you!
Thanks so much for this video and naming what so many of us feel on a daily basis. I watched EEAAO (Everything everywhere..) at home, because I thought it was a movie that I wasnt really going to enjoy and boy was I wrong. It was one of these movies, that had really touched my heart and soul and made me think about life on a societal level, yes.
“I'll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you... We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams..."
Fantastic video as always, loved the new style this time! This is very interesting to me, as a Muslim. I realised while watching this video that I have never needed to grapple with ideas of existential nihilism or the significance of my actions or whether anything is actually meaningful, simply because of this belief in a higher power. It automatically gives an unshakeable meaning and order to things. You spoke of the modern freedom, the breaking down of social constructs, as something that has led to this feeling of meaninglessness, that once the old is gone, we are drowned in choice and possibility and become a slave to what-may-have-been. I know the same feelings, but honestly, it's the structure of deen (religion) and the knowledge of a creator who's intimately aware of you and that you know only does what is best for you in the long run, that gives me something firm to hold onto when things get messy. Not saying it's easy lol, but the act of trusting something above and outside yourself that it'll be OK in the end, is simply profound. In Thomas Flights video on EEAAO, he was talking about how, in an infinitum of possibilities, do we choose which actions to do, and so make meaningful, as we can't do everything. I thought to myself that I don't need to wonder about that, because for me, an actions worth is defined by whether it moves me closer or further away from Allah. But at the same time, I know I'm only responsible for what is within my power. So in a similar vein to his conclusion, I don't need to care about everything, even a multiverse, because it's up to me to decide what I will do, and I'm only responsible for what I do. I realise that doesn't automatically stave off the effects of the internet and the overexposure to the mass of everything out there... I am GenZ after all and that's been pretty much unavoidable lol. But it does give me the tools to know how to filter things, foundations and anchors to return to if I drift too far, and a community to find belonging in for healing and support. I find it extremely fascinating how these things line up; what you say people seem to need to do to deal with these phenomena, and what I have that has effectively pre-dealt with these things for me already haha. Anyways, thank you for yet another superb reflection, and allowing me to think deeper myself! And Allah knows best.
I always love those messages about how important love is to life. It's like being repeatedly punched in the face by a bully gleefully flaunting their unattainable self-actualisation.
I'm actually with you on this... I'm sure it means everything to who have found it, on whatever level and for however long it graces them; but, at least for me, it feels like just another item on the shelf, an additional check-mark--another line, added to the infinite list of others--one more thing I failed at. An additional luxury item on an exponentially growing list of items which are far above my means; with little, if any, hope of upward mobility. A very real and very personal consequence of Einstein's theories of relativity. Bound by some unseen limit, conscripted to watch as those items, moving at the speed of light, go beyond my cosmic horizon, becoming lost forever
I think one of the only reasons I understood Everything Everywhere All At Once was because I read this comic book called Meanwhile by Jason Shiga when I was young. It’s a choose your own adventure comic that delves deep into choice and multiple realities, even considering how reincarnation works, the ethical and moral consequences of having a Time Machine and an entire world’s kill switch that is decided by the state of a coin in superposition between heads and tails. It’s an amazing graphic novel and a surprisingly emotional exploration into these topics.
This was beautiful. I normally don’t comment on these and choose to watch them before I go to sleep, but this one really touched on something. Thank you.
Thanks so much for watching everyone! If you want to help me make more videos, and get access to cool perks like annotated videos and exclusive Q&A videos, please check out my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/LikeStoriesofOld
By the way, a lot of your timelapse stock videos kinda reminds me of Koyaanisqatsi.
Where do you derive the grounding for your communal moral beliefs? A Christian would ground it God and a Utilitarian/secular humanist essentially has ungrounded morals/ethics of Christianity (love thy neighbor, charity, humility, pride cometh before the fall, etc.) How do you justify the morals you have which you seemingly believe are best applied to society on the whole, esp if the universe is amoral, teleology free, and just a booming, buzzing noise that will one day be extinguished?
I believe on can create their own morality and ethics and illusions to beat back nihilism but that means all morality is subjective and we live in a wilderness of mirrors, w no one moral value system being superior to the other. Do you agree w this or do you believe there are universal, objective morals which should be applied to society on the whole (the continuation of society is proper thus global climate change needs to be corrected for, etc.)? If the later, again, how do you ground that belief in a teleology free, amoral universe when attempting to communicate to others to behave in kind or that their more selfish behavior is "wrong"?
Do you know what Snowball Earth and the Great Oxygenation Event is? Simply, it was an event billions of years ago where one species (cyanobacteria) "wrecked" the climate through its actions and caused > 99% of the life on earth to be extincted. It Also lead to the change in biology of life that allowed for aerobic cellular activity vs anaerobic. This lead to multicellular life and the current human. Is it not also possible that another single organism (homo sapiens) "wrecking" the environment could not possibly lead to another "leap" in the evolution of life? This isn't me advocating against humanity and for annihilation, it is just me communicating why I believe ungrounded communal morality and ethics are wrong; we do not have enough information over a long enough timeline to do anything else other than make selfish choices; not judging selfish but they are literally choices in our own best interest and not fulfilling a teleology or in concordance w a grand, universally applicable ontological imperative. I also believe a lot of ppls BS detectors in our modern era are set to be so sensitive (due to the constant irony bore from our political climate, deconstructionism, nihilism, and post post modern life as you have shown in this video) that when they hear someone telling them "stop global climate change bc it is what is best for all life on earth and best in the grand scheme of things, etc." they call bullshit. "How can you know?" Better, I believe, we say, "selfishly, we need to do this for us bc it is what is in our best interest for a better tomorrow and to hell w everything else" bc that is all we can substantiate at present.
Veganism, climate change, carnivorism, climate denying, etc. etc. etc. is all sold as being "proper" for the human condition while never being grounded in anything except religion or old ways of grounding morality which have been shown to be false; 'dead... and remains dead.' They are all self serving attempts to mold the world into a more comfortable place for ourselves to exist under the auspice of some form of 'universal truth' that carries the weight of the universal truth our ancestors lived under w God. A reality where animals are treated better or old school values/traditions are still respected, whatever makes us feel like we are part of the winning team and conformable in our day to day life. (physically and/or mentally) What it is not is a grounded morality/ethic and the more ppl treat their beliefs and values and ethics as both 1. being grounded and 2. being universally applicable, the more I believe it will drive nihilism and the current modern condition to the foreground of being isolated in a 'packed house' to the forefront of society.
The answer, I believe, is counter intuitive, but, it is to indulge individualism, individual rights, and being individualized; abandon attempts at collective morality, and, unfortunately, be willing to sacrifice a generation or three to the nihilistic void. Crisis precipitates change and everyone wants their Hegelian "end of history" moment where they are the important generation whom is the nexus of change, while no one wants to be sacrificed. Yet as someone form an abusive family w children I can tell you, it takes sacrfice to precipitate change. I have to go wo parents as they were abusive, neglectful, and abandoning. In raising my children lovingly, I am breaking that cycle yet there is no comfort of what I am offering my children. I will live my life knowing I will not have that love that affection that connection that is the bond of a child to their parent, but, I can help make it some my grandchildren and great grandchildren will not know how that feels. But I must sacrifice myself to do that. I could have not had children since my childhood was horrific, but, that is just nihilism incarnate. Better to sacrifice by self and any hope of filling that hole through self serving, hedonistic/debaucherous pleasure seeking to help make more future ppl more healthy? Why? bc it's a grounded pursuit? Nope. bc it is my own morally meaningful pursuit. My own sacrifice to myself. My great grandchildren will have no clue of the sacrifice and yet I make it. It is going to take that for us to move fwd. Billions enveloped in nihilism, sacrificing their lives (lives that are not their fault that they never asked to be bore into), accepting the nihilism and pursuing their own selfish ends, openly and freely. From this orgy of self importance, self aggrandizing, and hopelessly cut off a real social experience, an ability to re-enchant our lives will come, born not out of moving back to the past and former ways of enchanting our lives, but, a new, post romanticism post idealism and/or post optimism. It will user in a new era of community and connectedness as a new generation eschews the self serving ways of their parents and grandparents before them.Or it wont and society collapses. Either way, those that follow will have an enchanted life: through transcendence of the modern condition or through the simplification of sheer survival in anarchy and post civilization life.
Sorry to ramble; I find your videos fascinating and helpful to my own re-enchanting of my life as I wrestle w rescinding my former belief in science uber alles and attempting to walk the tightrope over the void which is living a life affirming existence, free of the comfort of moral absolutes and belief in a safety net (heaven in the hereafter or utopia in the future). While I might not agree overall w the narrative you are creating, I do find value in it and it challenges me in meaningful ways. Thank you.
Hey man. I feel like we're on parallel journeys. I love the way you articulate, illustrate and create your content it always makes me tear up a bit, in a happy mix of gratefulness, sadness and wonder about how your experiences seem to resonate with mine. Thank you kind man for your creations. Cheers from Brussels !
@@Bringadingus In the general message academic accurate references are irrelevant, but thanks for wanting to educate people !
@@shaunkerr8721 I thought this was going to be an uninteresting read, I was wrong. I deeply empathize with your experience, I agree with some, disagree with other parts but in general I'm thankful for your act of sharing these thoughts. Personally I try to think as follows : Nothing really matters, in a cosmic way, thus we are free to ascribe our own meanings to what we do and how we engage in life. I find this quite empowering and it helps me when I struggle to make decisions. I hope you are well.
“How does one act when even the tiniest day to day decisions become these impossible negotiations with the greater good?”
Absolutely beautifully said.
What is the “good”? Nonsense 10 iq philosophy channel. Just watch Alan watts or McKenna clips if you want to dump your brain in battery acid.
You have the choice of scooping up water with the bucket or turning off the tap. The world will not be more sustainable because of individual choices. Making sure that Institutions and Goverments don´t get lobbyed against common interest will do way more good that not eating meat or planting a tree. But most people only do whats easy to do and in there emidiate range.
This quote reminded me of the story of the poor man who was the only person in the world almost capable of reaching heaven in The Good Place, who lived a miserable life trying to garner as many "points" as possible to get there, but who was still incapable of reaching it.
Omnia In Bonnum
It didn't really make sense where he said it though. In a video about the multiverse and Nihilism, the more relevant and important question he should have posed is "how does one justify the pursuit of moral choices in an infinite cosmos where the impact of our actions has proportionally zero effect?" In a multiverse, for every moral action you make there are literally infinite immoral actions carried out elsewhere. It's impossible to "make a difference" to the net moral wellbeing of the cosmos.
There are so many problems in this world it's impossible to solve them all. The sense of nihilism that has washed over this world is nothing I take any comfort in. It is deeply disturbing. Everyone is being pushed to give up while also being pushed to do more. It is exhausting. I don't have any answers , but I'm also tired of finding problems in everything.
Same.
Constantly overworked. Constantly aware that climate change will come crashing down on us hard. No own kids that stand for future because aforementioned. No real goals in life because of the aforementioned.
Just draining.
Very well-worded, thanks.
Your comment speaks for millions of us. Thank you.
what you should really understand is not comfort
You have to rediscover yourself and get up and find your purpose
nihilism is not nothingness
I suggest you find a legitimate faith
or understand Buddhism and Taoism
Awakening is not for negativity [it is for avoiding wasting life]
When your superficial cognition is destroyed
you will know your next direction
The best you can do is the best you can do.
Humanity didn't get here because of one or two people, but the collective force. Put your energy toward improving the world local to you, and everything else will work out. People are too self-centered in a variety of ways. Media has taught us that we are the key to everything through huge, world-influencing actions. But that's just not the case for almost everyone. Just influence what you can positively and the system will handle the rest.
Even the strangest things eventually become mundane just due sheer exposure, but the world is extraordinary if you take a moment to really look at it
It goes both ways really - everything is mundane when familiar and understood, and everything is fantastical when new and mysterious.
Nihlistically speaking even the act of experience the extraordinary can become a mundane process, when one becomes aware both perspectives are just rooted in human experience - the stimuli don't really matter at all, what matters is the interpretation and reception of said stimuli.
I do
@@pootytang69 well the stimulus isn't completely seperate from the interpretation so it does matter.
Pain always feels painful, there is little room for interpretation for example and without it you can't stay alive as the stimulus gives you relatively accurate feedback about the limits of your personal experience.
It's easy to say it is irrelevant when you sit in your chair, warm and comfy and can ponder on it however you like.
I get what you mean tough ^^
@@sonkeschmidt2027 “pain always feels painful” allow me to introduce you to masochism and kinks ;)
Joking aside I don’t think our relationship with pain is straightforward, as there are times we search pain, instead of only going away from it. At their most basic for example, when we exercise to the point we feel pain in our muscles, but instead of feeling (only) discomfort form the pain we also feel satisfaction, and therefore search for that state of pain again. There is also the emotional pain, for example when we search experiences where we feel fear, be it with extreme sports or horror media, or sadness like sad media.
So what I’m trying to say, interpretation is still very relevant, as reactions can surprisingly vary from individual to a stimulus.
I see your comments at Plato philosophy videos, closer to Truth, like stories of old and other places too. You're pretty awesome.
"We want to share the burden of living."
Man, that one hit really close to home... I think it sums up a lot of the loneliness I personally feel nowadays, only alleviated when I spend time with friends and family (and hopefully someday, a partner)... living is tough, living is wonderful... and both sides of this coin are more bearable and enjoyable when shared ;;;;
I completely feel the same. And is probably my main reason to search a partner, though I must not become illusioned that a future partner will completely share that burden. Just like friends and family cannot fully.
Life is an individual affair. No amount of relationships will change that. 😶
@@alphaomega1351 Well relationships ARE part of the life you live (if you desire them to be). Sure there's a part of life you'll only experience on your own / inside yourself, but that doesn't mean there's no meaning or importance to what is shared with others, too. It's two sides of a coin imo.
@@zellkabellk
You can capitalize, yell, scream 😱 but still the fact I stated will remain. You will never find lasting happiness in a romantic partner. You are likely too young to understand. 😶
@@alphaomega1351 I'm not looking at romantic love as THE access to happiness, or to lasting happiness. It's just a flavor of relationship I'll enjoy to have at some point in my life. Something to enjoy while it lasts, with one, or with multiple people.
Just like friendships and just like all the other relationships you have in your life.
Some last 1 hour (a stranger at the bar), some like decades (the longest one being the one you have with yourself), and I see them all as valuable, and as a part of life to hopefully experience someday.
If it doesn't happen, well, it doesn't happen ! Won't take away from the rest of life I get to experience in the meantime.
Im not very young, I'm not very old either haha, somewhere in my thirties.
This is your best one yet. I ugly cried. This is one of the biggest breakthroughs in just _naming_ what it's like to live in this postmodern/nihilistic/spectacle/etc time.
i'm at work so i held back my tears hhhhhhhhh
It's funny, Terrance McKenna had a theory about Novelty generation and the eascaton ( the last event at the end of time). He theorized that the closer we got to this event, the more new , and possible strange events would take place. The first time I considered it it seemed goofy, and impossible. Now, not so much...
Fuck it got me to cry haaard. That must mean that this art is hitting the problem. I felt validated in this unknown unspeakable feeling that it just rattled me.
@@joshfloyd7755 McKenna was one hell of a goof , dont take his theories literally =D
@@transsexual_computer_faery goof or not, more new things keep happening, at an alarming rate. I take McKenna as serious as I take most evangelist for this thing or that thing. At least the product he advocated for works in the way he claimed.
I think that, in a way, Interstellar was the among the first movies to try to truly capture this idea. The idea that throughout everything, a general acceptance of the situation and a genuine love for the people in it, while seemingly inconsequential, truly transcends time and space. You don’t have to be head over heels for everyone you meet. But life becomes a lot more tolerable, enjoyable even, when you decide to suffer through the onslaught of infinity with others instead of alone. It isn’t a grand, ultimate truth like Interstellar tries to portray, but it does seem to be a step towards one.
As a bigger nerd, I think this also extends back to 2001-2009, when Gundam 00 was released.
The Movie in particular, offered a similar resolution. Mutual understanding, love, and embracing of one another. Is what brings fulfillment, belonging and peace
Eben if you face down aliens and interdimentional travel 😂
Or then you could compare your aspirations with those of an ant, an elephant, a . . . . conceding you're merely an intelligent and loquatious ape, and squeeze as much experience into your short life as you can, and to the best of your many abilities. Evolution has designed us better than we can imagine.
I’m grateful to live in a universe where you make videos.
I'm from a universe where he makes existential videos about Dungeons and Dragons. They're good, but I saw his potential and emigrated here.
I remain grateful in this universe, despite its tribulations.
Me too o/
@@KajianTemp yes
I AM thats All
Over the last 6 years I have gone through traumatic event after traumatic event. Last year I randomly lost my dad out of nowhere and I sat on the ground in the rain like a movie and realized at that moment that life is so incredibly short and although nothing matters, it’s what you do with this short time that actually counts. I also realized every time something bad has happened over the last few years I could feel myself shift into another universe the fork in the road and it was out of my hands I can’t stop death but I can control my life and my happiness. External forks in the road are out of everyone’s hands. Enjoy your life.
Bless u❤
Sending loves. Idk if you've ever read/watched Never Let Me Go or The Fault in Our Stars, but they make that point beautifully. The Fault in Our Stars makes the point, there are an infinite number of numbers. But there are also an infinite number of numbers between 1 and 2. We are all existing within our our various experiences and the length of our lives has little to do with their meaning. We're all living in there various sizes of infinity, and what matters is what we do, who we share them with. I hope your enjoying your life. I'm grateful ours have overlapped here for a moment.
Hey guy, just seeing this comment today and I want to say I'm thinking of you. I'm sorry for your losses and hardships, and I hope things will get better for you or kinder for you. I hope you had something nice happen today.
Beautifully said! God bless my friend and thank you for sharing.
All of my life I have been trying to put into words what it is that I really experience about life.
The term "Nihilistic Multiverse" seems to say it perfectly!
I am Schrodinger's cat! I am torn between the two concepts of "nothing matters" and "everything matters". And I have spent my life trying to reconcile these two seemingly opposite points of view.
More and more it appears to me that it's all about choice. I can choose to let something matter, or to let it not matter.
When I choose to let something matter to me, then I feel the urge to engage, to get involved, and to care about it. When I choose to let something not matter to me, then I don't really feel connected to it and life has a hollow feeling.
Life will do what it will do. it is up to us whether we think it is worth our time to engage and to get involved.
i've been torn between "nothing matters =)" and "nothing matters =(" all my life.
i'm perpetually stuck in a state of undeath, walking the earth as a shadow, sometimes briefly crossing over into the light.
That's it. It's Kierk's "leap of faith". You have to choose to live as if everything matters, and when you do you find life manifests in a way that validates that perspective. And that helps us believe that everything might, in actuality, matters.
@@KevinMakins I think there's truth to that, but a feeling that everything matters when there is so much that's also out of your control that doesn't seem to be going right is frightening for a completely finite creature. I think there also has to be am abiding sense that everything will be alright regardless of what happens in the short to medium term, which is a hard thing to justify without some kind of religious or supernatural conceptualization of the universe
@@KevinMakins Living life like it mattered never did anything for me, only in living like nothing matters did I feel a little bit of relief. Ultimately life isn't even worth the time and effort you'd have to put into engaging with it
True. You can choose to play the game or not. The controls are right in front of you
Since I was a young teenager, I've had recurring panic attacks while thinking about space and time. The idea that the universe has existed for billions of years before I came along, and will exist for billions more before eventually turning into a void. I have a very hard time feeling that anything matters, in that context. This video allowed me to reflect a bit about that, and for that I thank you. I don't know that it will rid me of the recurring panic attacks, but even momentary respite is appreciated. This is good stuff.
I can relate. But from the childhood, instead of panic attack, I was awestruck and really moved whenever I realised and reflected about it, like this is the life, I and universe which if didn't exist, what existed? And what mattered?
Fast forward after many years, at the age of 19, these awestruck moments which were not painful before turned into dreadful void. It was full body panic attack, existential crises (I didn't know the word at that time). Then I got in touch with philosophy and I could relate everything from Kierkegaard to neitzshe, and Deleuze.
But somehow for now, Ibn arabis mysticism and new quantum mechanics has been a leap of faith for me :)
Sorry that I'm replying to this so late, but:
Despite the universe being so massive, life is incredibly rare. If there is only one diamond in a whole rock planet, does that make the diamond irrelevant to the planet, or does it make it a unique wonder?
We are the only beings in our local area that can actually experience the universe. Without us, no-one would be researching the geology of the Earth. No-one would know about the biology of all the species on this planet. As far as we know so far, without us, the whole universe and its beauty would be known to no-one.
In my opinion, we matter a lot.
@@isaacdalziel5772 that's beautiful
@@isaacdalziel5772 100%✓
We, humans are the anormaly in a instinct driven, clock like working world. Our existance is the stone trown in a still lake to cause waves.
@@sasabelle140 Brilliant analogy. Even if the ocean is as big as a world, the waves will spread
As someone who enjoys a lot of film analysis channels, this was an incredible gift. Thank you.
I legit can't get enough of these channels! Can you send me some you recommend? I'm definitely subbing to this one :)
Interesting that you drew such a strong thematic connection between EEAAO and Fleabag; I hadn't drawn that connection myself, but these are easily the two pieces of media which have emotionally moved me the most in recent years
Nail on the head. I've been recently trying to articulate that freedom, in the sense of individuated freedom as you describe, is in a sense a drive to be "free from belonging." To be free is to escape an old paradigm, an old culture, an old framework of meaning which had ceased to serve us and to provide for meaning in our lives. We felt the chafing of this old paradigm as oppression. However, in finding freedom from belonging in what we did not want to belong, we have also estranged ourselves from any sense of belonging at all. The risky, chaotic, and generation-defining trait of the present moment is the turn back to belonging, away from freedom: we are free, and what we have discovered is that we did not want freedom for it's own sake, but rather as a means to belong to what we should like, to become integrated into a culture and community and worldview that actually provides meaning for us, that contextualizes our lives. We will need to becomes less free in the sense of having less individual authorship of our worldview through the sharing of worldviews with others in our lives, with whom we should like to live with as a community of collective meaning.
Meaning only exists in reference to some chosen fixed point of value in our perception, in the same way that movement only exists in reference to some chosen fixed point in our perception of space and time. It is relative, yes, but that does not make it unreal in the same way that general relativity in physics has not made motion unreal. Only relative to the observer's frame of reference. When everyone chooses a different fixed point of value, i.e: when everyone uses a different set of coordinates to describe motion, the result is confusion and miscommunication. But when we pitch our tents on the same hill, so to speak, when we agree on our zero-point and use the same coordinates to map our space, then we can communicate effectively with one another and derive a sense of meaning from the joy of knowing that "others can see what I see, I am not alone."
The challenge will be to find balance, of course. We shouldn't force others to adopt the same worldviews as ourselves, else the worlds we make will surely be the kinds that future generations will want to "become free" of. Nor should we compromise the integrity of our worldviews by neglecting to uphold any substantial values, for fear of alienating people. There must be a balance. One that, hopefully, will become apparent as time goes on and our situation becomes more well understood.
when did we become free tho? the iron hand of empire is still firmly gripping our societies and i still feel the boots of oppression trampling me in my every day life.
@@transsexual_computer_faery Well, you're right. Materially, empire still exists and continues to oppress. Seeking material freedom from empire is a present and future task. What I mean to talk about is ideological freedom, freedom of worldview, coupled with a state of "unbelonging" which is pervasive, at least in the United States (making sure to speak only from my experience, although I'm sure the Western world is experiencing something similar on a grander scale).
What produces, concurrently, ideological freedom and unbelonging? This is caused by the rotting of the empire from the inside out, because it can no longer even pretend to stand for anything in a positive sense. It is just, so to speak, Kronus, the titan that eats its own children to preserve itself. Standing for nothing, it doesn't quite care what the citizens think so long as they have no real power to threaten it. And so the people will come to various disparate conclusions about how the world is, based on disparate experiences without a unifying common ground of agreed upon truths (exacerbated by easy and plentiful misinformation and disconnection from reality fostered by the internet). As a result people become unable to talk to each other because there is no faith in the shared unity between in-groups, no faith in any unifying truth; nothing that passes for the bonds of fraternity. It is just my point to contend that material freedom will only come from ideological belonging, from the construction of worldview that can provide meaning for people and unite them in cause despite their other differences. If this unity can reach a breaking point in which it will not longer put up with material slavery, then it will emerge from the belly of Kronus not as a group of scared and squabbling children, but as the fully grown adults that will take their material freedom with the strength of a people unified by something more than their shared hatred of what had come before.
Take that as you will. I'm in no position to claim authority on anything, only to share what potential I see in the youth of the world.
How worthless
@@furiousdestroyah9999 I'm glad that you think so! I hope the weaknesses in my model help you to make a better one that brings benefit to yourself.
@@flavertex658 so alienation pretty much?
Fleabag looking back and letting the camera know that we can’t follow her anymore was so powerful and gets me emotional everytime.
It must be nice to feel things. I don't remember the last time I felt something while watching a show or movie.
@@oliviapenelopehope4497 sometimes wish I wasn’t so emotional.. fiction makes me cry too much for my liking lol. Hope you are well!
The fact that the daughter was suicidal depressed throughout the entire movie and I didn't see it got me the most.
As a lesbian who isn't accepted by my family, I saw it immediately. However, I'm sure others saw it too, who aren't any of those things.
@@ladyredl3210 man 😢 me a river
@@clo481bro fr? Someone relating to a character going through similar struggles that they went through and that’s your response. Sad.
@@clo481ah, the soft, weak comments of the insecure. Don't ever change, internet.
This video really touches me. It’s corny but loving your fellow man and moment to moment human connection really is all we have.
“Please be kind- especially when we don’t know what’s going on”
What incredible synchronicity. I was just musing about why so many multiverse stories have gained such traction in recent years, and you've elucidated the problem brilliantly. Thank you!
@_Hedura_ I meant it's a happy coincidence. It's not that deep.
@_Hedura_ Let’s be real, aren’t we all just a little crazy?
@_Hedura_ appreciate the concern but I'm not crazy, dude.
Hedura does not know about the spiritual side of life...
@_Hedura_ There is some kind of line that differentiates the mundane and the magic. But when you see it, you can’t unsee it. That doesn’t mean that everything is magical, but to deny the existence of a shared experience that produces an effect, call it whatever you want, is to deny what appears to be encoded in the framework of consciousness and the universe thus far. I’m fairly certain that what we consider “paranormal” will one day be understood as natural.
I think The Good Place could also be added to this discussion. Especially on the topic of feeling like all our individual choices have both the entire weight of the universe and are meaningless. When the group realizes that the point system is flawed bc of how complicated the world is now is such a turning point. Also the use of The Good Place and the afterlife as a comedic multiverse is really interesting.
I was thinking this same thing whilst watching ! Rewatched the good place j before this for like the 5th time lol
@@wd89601OMG literally same? today i finished my 4th rewatch and i was searching for similar topics and watched this!! the good place is my favourite show of all time, its genius
in my view: we are constantly battling between the overthinking and underthinking we do. trying to find the happy middle ground between our individual liberty and social responsibility.
if its even there at all. maybe we're just comfortable animals that are going mad cause we have nothing primal to focus on, maybe were just brats refusing to accept stuff around us cause we simultaneously dont wanna do anything and want to do everything. I find "meaning" or "purpose" as useless conjectures, who says you need purpose to be happy?
in a way having purpose is just a desire for some sense of security. and our negative reaction to our nihilistic reality is just us imposing that because nothing matters we shouldnt care. but who decided thats how one must be? I do not loathe a meaningless existence, because I find it inherently beautiful without the need to consider me big in it.
We are the only eyes the universe has to ponder itself, looking into the void to know that I came from it and will eventually return to it, is satisfactory enough to me to find it beautiful. I can dread the heat death of the universe, but at this moment- I am not dead, and the universe itself is still vibrant and alive. knowing its temporary I choose to be alive because I wanna see that beauty until I cant anymore- theres no rush to the end.
if everything is insignificant than nothing is insignificant. I can care about what I want, I can spend my time adding to the beauty and appreciating the universes many parts, every life and cosmic happening is not from a god nor does it matter that it isnt. If someone loves existence like I do, theyll be belligerently human; the good bad and ugly of it all. it all matters as long as I say it does; I think therefor I am.
thanks for the video essay; its givin me an excuse to say something Im not pretentious enough to say just on whim. brilliant nonlinear structure too.
I wonder what could you possibly see here that you would define as "beautiful". For me it's all hideous
@@furiousdestroyah9999 maybe any form or art.
I think that is the reason why Moss People & i choose to stay another moment her, but when my Joy is no longer linger to this form of expression, think i will be 100% agreed with you
@@furiousdestroyah9999 perspective is a trick, get far enough away from tragedy and its comedy, get too close and its trauma; Its beautiful and disgusting , think of it like ying and yang. Buddhism often considers enlightenment as similar to what I speak of; content and appreciation for all of it.
its detached but not uncaring. and while I share no mystic explanation for this the perspective is a rejection of our natural bias. to see beyond our limitations as animals and appreciate existence.
to be a cynic is to over value the worst, to be an optimist is to overvalue the best. to fully appreciate how our world is you have to first recognize that all of it exists. and it all effects each other. the tragedy of my mothers death is creating the beauty in building my own family now- I cant deny the hurt nor the way ive turned it into actualization.
Apathy is death. and I want to live.
@@36inc I can't even begin to imagine how depraved one would be to actually appreciate any of this
@@furiousdestroyah9999 Have you ever looked at a particularly beautiful flower? Or seen a puppy wiggle its whole body in excitement? Or felt a calm cool breeze on a hot day? There is always beauty, even in the midst of ugliness. They coexist, and it’s up to us to understand and accept both. If you don’t see beauty, that’s because you don’t SEE it. Not because it isn’t there. Change your perspective and you change your world.
You know a video is well made when it's able to make you feel sad and hopeful at the same time!
I often use optimistic nihilism to cope with loneliness and depression. Even so, I can never permanently shake that natural urge to connect with someone. The other coping strategy is to remind myself that we can't experience happiness without the contrasting feeling of gloom.
Why would you want to permanently shake your urge to connect with someone ? It's not a negative desire.
@@grilla4464 It is when you're having trouble connecting and that failure at connecting is having profound negative effects on your mental health and quality of life.
Niiicccee. Optimistic nihilism.. that’s a complex two words to put together but I’m rooting for you.
Dude, you spent some time carefully crafting this video. It was amazing, thank you.
I’ve been struggling to just stay motivated lately, with myself, with what to do with my life. With isolation. This articulates a lot of I’ve been feeling. It helps to know I’m not the only one feeling…lost.
Impressive, moving, and resonant... Great work, as usual.
Same here.
Same, brother. Feels like a hamster wheel. Glad I clicked this one. Love the video on ‘Don’t Look Up’ that he did as well. This channel has really helped me, even though my modern squirrel brain forgot about it 30minutes later and went right back to the existential crisis.
with you brother.
The videos you make are some of the GREATER pieces of work that exist. Your interpretations are infinitely valuable.
God is smiling down from the universe he exists in
What these last couple of decades has taught me is that Less….truly is More. Everyone I talk to always seems to romanticize their past decade and when you hear them explain why they love it so, they often explain how they DIND’T have to worry about this and that. How they weren’t overloaded with the infinite amount of things that now consume their time and needed effort. How the world didn’t seem to be so fractured, silly and frightening at the same time. Modern society with things like social media now have people living in several different realities at the same time, always needing to try to perfectly stage their digital ambassador selves. Now it seems, people are living several different “lives” all at once so we are becoming increasingly disconnected and schizophrenic. Constantly wearing a mask wherever we go and never being our TRUE selves. We DO want meaning. We DO need purpose. We NEED things to truly matter no matter how much we try to deny that. Another absolute home run video LSoO!!! You’re truly the crown jewel of UA-cam as far as I’m concerned.
✨✨💫💫💛💛
This comment. Spot on.
As far as I'm aware, not only have we always had multiple public faces, but we've always had multiple internal ones.
How else would we have difficulty making decisions?
How else would we create dreams, then wake up in the morning surprised at what we ourselves thought?
In this context, Jekyll and Hyde isn't a problem because he is multiple people, he is a problem because he has severed the unity between the alternate selves within himself and allows one to take over without input from the others.
From my observation, a healthy mind is one where the voices are willing to co-operate with each other, rather than one where there aren't other voices.
A problem with the world today is people are moving from seeing themselves as individuals, and beginning to realize we are contradictory collectives, and most people have not built up the tools to handle that, as I have.
Our social media doesn't provide the tools to support organizing these different personas, on Facebook or wherever you have the same face for all of your groups.
But in real life we use different faces at work, or among friends, or family we don't like but want to avoid trouble with for the sake of other family members...
I simply don't really use social media any more, more because I'm not social in general than because of anything against social media itself, but I did feel the lack of options for dividing my different selves properly there.
Less can be more.
More can be more.
I find it a bit silly to say the past was significantly better when the main difference with the present is how people choose to allocate their time.
Although, there are more things we CAN divide our time amongst. Solutions can be to become better at prioritizing and managing time, but I'm also a strong advocate for robotic and AI workers freeing humans to have more time to play with.
In other words, I would like more time.
I overall found this analysis to be incredibly well made, although it does miss the final point of the movie; something that seems to be happening to most people I've interacted with who analyze it through a more "western" thought structure. As stated in the video; the movie is about the qualities of suffering/dissatisfaction, impermanence and "self" that we experience throughout life, as well as the inherent ignorance that we carry from our birth.
The story follows this very process of ignorance to wisdom through Evelyn's character. As she becomes wiser, through the interactions she has with the people around her, as well has her own observations through increased mindfulness of how our actions affect the lives of ourselves and others, her entire approach to the world changes. First she becomes stronger, fighting for good. Realizing she is only promoting the problem (suffering and violence), she sees a new way through her husband, and starts approaching the issue with empathy, loving-kindness and understanding. As she says herself "I'm learning to fight like you". But even this ultimately is not enough, because her daughter doesn't want to listen, which we see when Evelyn clings to her as she tries to return to her nihilistic worldview. Here, however, Evelyn realizes the most important point of the whole movie.
Even the most radiant intends cannot help those who don't wish to be helped; no matter how hard Evelyn clings to her daughter, nothing she can do will make her stay. So she *lets go*. She accepts reality for what it is rather than what she wants it to be. She accepts her daughter for who she is, rather than what she wants her to be. All her pain, all her ignorance, all her past actions of violence and more. She accepts the impermanence of the world, even in her relationship with the one she loves the most, but in a context of compassion, loving-kindness, generosity and understanding, rather than pure rational thought. This acceptance breaks her attachment to her daughter, not in the sense that she no longer care's about her (nihilism) but in the sense that no matter what happens, no matter what her daughter does or says, no matter how many she has hurt, Evelyn loves her unconditionally. And it's in this understanding that, despite having the possibility of going anywhere in all of the multiverse, Evelyn simply decides to go back to her old life, now with a new perspective and a new ability to find joy in every moment. She realizes that chasing some specific outcome of the world is not going to change anything and that any suffering she experiences is her own only comes as a product of ignorance. She understands that it's nobody's fault, there is no one to put the blame on, because those who suffer and harm others simply don't know any better. It's the deepest level of empathy and compassion we can strive for, and those who are touched by it will feel it. This is also why Joy comes back to her after they separate.
Letting go of our attachments while staying mindful of suffering, it's origin, and it's cessation in tandem with compassion, loving-kindness, generosity, and the nature of reality as it is in every moment is what sets us free. It's a practice we should take into every aspect of our lives. Both in our relationship with those we love and those we hate, with those we know and those who are strangers. When we are alone and when we engage with others. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of all struggling beings.
The movie is basically a 1:1 representation of Buddhist philosophy (I could mention a lot more reasons that would make it obvious, but that's another talk) presented in a much more relatable sense to the modern day person. The act of letting go is important to mention overtly, because the origin of all the suffering any of the characters experience is attachment born from ignorance. A reality we all face, but like in the movie, like Evelyn, we all have the power to overcome; by engaging with and cultivating the right form of wisdom, ethics and mindfulness. Nobody is doomed to be a "self" set in stone. The self is constantly changing as it integrates and let's go of information. Compassion, wisdom and generosity are skills that you can teach and learn for yourself just as any other. It takes practice, but it can be done; and the whole world will benefit from those who put in the effort.
- some edits for clarification were made -
Yes, and I'd like to add I also see this essay as an outline of the Guardian Angel Protocols.
@@forbearancemp5283 It's the "outline" of quite a few areas of thought and study.
came to all of this after smoking weed for 3 weeks not really that hard is it
@@ROGUESPIRIT_ Understanding it intellectually is one thing; anyone can entertain and analyze an idea by use of mental discursive thought. The challenge is to understand it directly through awareness itself - to have it guide the very foundation of your thoughts, speech and actions by instinct. And to maintain it in every moment, as ignorance is in a constant process of rebirth. As soon as we lose sight of the goal we start slipping away from it. This is also shown in the ending of the movie, where Evelyn - despite having experienced the wisdom firsthand - gets caught up in the distractions around her, and her attention wanders away from their conversation with the NRA worker. Ignorance is reborn in every moment of existence. If we don't remain mindful and concentrate our attention of that which matters right now we will become distracted and forget.
Can you show these qualities to those you hate? To those who are actively hurting you? To those who abuse, break and sometimes murder those you love? Can you give up everything at a whim, refraining from any and all desires that arise until the moment of death without experiencing any mental stress? Can you do so without relying on any substances, external, nor internal phenomena? Without clinging to your thoughts or sensations? There are multiple ways of knowing, and discursive analysis in the mind is a very unreliable and inherently flawed one, even when using perfect logic and rationality.
Even if a trip shows the way briefly it will have no actual effect long term if you don't actively practice actively afterwards. In fact, while drugs are a possible gateway to first realizing these things, long term they only hinder our progress, as we start to rely on them for any insight, rather than relying on the practice itself.
The very fact that you brush it off as easy show's that you don't yet understand. Even highly trained monks admit that they still put in effort to maintain their practice, and they practice under the best circumstances possible. But if anyone sees the benefit of this way of understanding I implore them to start aligning their actions with this wisdom in all parts of their life - with time and patience they will start to truly understand what the teachings are pointing towards.
@@christianlinneberg528 So in the end it's worthless since it's only temporary. You can easily lose it at any moment and making mistakes is what defines a human being. In order to hang onto this wisdom you need to be something else than human, which can't be done. That's no freedom, that's simply another form of binding
Man this is such a huge comfort. I feel like part of me was aware that obviously it's not just me feeling like I'm going mad and struggling to stay attached but not sink into delusion, but without the topic being commonplace in discussion and with me myself lacking the words to express these feelings to the actual people around me, which aren't a whole lot, I so often feel this pull into just confusion, fear, guilt and frustration. Thank you for this video. I'll recommend it to anyone I see struggling with these same issues.
This channel is such a gem, I love how he articulates on such heavy topics with objective sincerity
This was one of your most powerful... And I realized your media references of some of my favourite works in recent times. The shared outlooks and searching in them is clearly something that resonates with me.
Funny that lockdown made a lot of people question themselves, their lives, their purpose. I found it a relief and an escape. I'm finding this year to work out my place, what my purpose is, and trying to get out of a number of coping mechanisms I've developed in the in the last few months.
A half hour reflection like this gives me some hope. 🌈🙏🏻
Keep searching, friend. I’m doing very similar work. May we both find something to grab on to, that feels worth going after
This takes me back to an old video of yours, The Art of Grief. I think society is going through its own form of Ego Death and trying to realize what communal/tribes can be built and solidified in this digital age world and how we can stop fooling ourselves into acting like we don't need it.
You are a very gifted writer and editor. As always, even when I don´t comment, thank you. For doing what you do.
You said it in the video. But just so it´s clear: tearing down our walls and feeling seen is something we sorely lack. You do it. The internet allows for horrible, horrible things. Our world does. But being able to make others cry and feel like you do...
I would say it is a talent. But I think THIS is one kind of genuine connection that the internet, that our world, facilitates nowadays. Thank you for connecting. Thank you for feeling. Thank you for allowing me to feel.
Beautifully put :)
Truly a wonderful piece. I would love to see the perspective of the "broken soul" in relation to the dialogue. The person that chooses love, makes it their guiding principles. Only to experience the betrayal of life. To come to the point of realizing that in the experiences of helping others that maybe humanity isn't worth it. How it's crushing and destabilizing. How nihilism becomes the only way to stop the suffering of lost hope.
Unironically who hurt you
@@TheTGOAC probably life
@@alexxx4434 it happens
@@TheTGOAC the fact that you're so dismissive of their perspective shows that you have no grounds or right to judge them.
Kind of like an infinite loop of tension of opposites..
I can't put into words how impactful, eye-opening and immense these videos are 🔥
Jesus Christ, I just got off anti-depressants and this video made me sob like I lost a loved one.
That last bit with scenes from various films was phenomenal...I cried🥺
Me2 ;-)
I cannot put into words what such films as Everything Everywhere All At Once and our collective approach towards a more cosmically conscious existence do to me.
Watching people like you articulate these things, seeing and feeling this liberation of being everywhere but yet somehow finding meaning in the things surrounding us here and now gives me strength of living this life further.
What a most interesting time to be alive.
Let's do what we can to make the best of our own universe.
"This is not what we truly want." Amen brother, never a truer word said.
Wooooooah that "Lessons from the Screenplay" edit was soooo so good.
I’m eternally grateful for this and sharing it with all of you. Knowing I’m not alone with these thoughts is such a relief I can’t begin to explain.
Laughing out loud while falling asleep. Did not realize the UA-cam algorithm thought I would like the comedy channel. Wonders never cease.
Just like leaving a comment on a YT video, hoping others will relate. Or scrolling through comments, looking for a meaningful view of the world that resembles your own.
The ultimate responsibility has shifted from following the rules to creating the meaning all on your own. This reminds me growing up and realizing that adults are not omnipotent, not always right, and don't have the magic answer.
Wishing everyone kindness ✨
The first existential thought I ever had, I was 4 years old, and I remembered the feeling by saying to myself “the whole wide world is just the whole wide world.” I have been grappling with the feeling that everything means EVERYTHING and NOTHING simultaneously since I can even remember.
I remember some small story about helping a bird mend a broken wing - it might not mean much to the world, but it meant the world to the bird.
You do good work my guy. This isn't a message I thought I needed. But hey, here we are. Hope your days are healthy.
I think there are 4 main things that can create an infinite amount of meaning for anyone if they are embraced, pursued, or fed.
1: Embracing what being alive truly means, and what being a human being means. There doesn't have to be a clear answer, but the idea of connecting to our living roots and embracing this concept of our primal, raw, and animal selves is one that has helped me a great deal personally. Living presently is a big part of this, as we can use our senses to observe all the things around us at any given time, and yet we choose to ignore them and stay in our heads, dwelling.
2: Embracing community and Love. Though it may be hard to see these days since everyone seems so isolated and apathetic, some people do actually care enough to want a community of other people who will open up and be human with each other.
3: Embracing the self, as in, exploring yourself and taking inspiration from all things in this world and universe to truly reflect on who you have been, are, and want to be as a living creature.
4: Embracing the infinite possibilities beyond our scope of perception. By this I mean that while we are generally arrogant and assume that we know everything about reality, there are many things (such as something as simple as color) that we cannot perceive. And to assume we know the origin, state of, and end of reality is quite assumptuous. Exploring these ideas together or just within the self can help remind us of what there is to see or experience.
This video compiles all the movies and series that I’ve really provoked and resonated with my world view in a previously indescribable way. You just described it. Great job sir!
What an excellent video. It cannot be overstated how absolutely amazing your editing is. The visual elements of this video tied every concept being explained back perfectly.
Your channel and this video essay always leave me in awe. You have such prophetic philosophical insights into the art form of cinema. Unpacking the meta interpretations we can pull from carefully crafted films and how that relates to our own lives. If your channel operated in any different multiversal paradigms I believe it wouldn't be as incredibly designed, packaged and thought out as this video I'm experiencing in this existence, right now.
i’ve watched this video over and over again. it inspires me beyond comprehension. it has allowed me to put into words into what i am feeling and progress and my own artistic concept on this feeling. thank you.
The videos you make.. are so beautiful.. everytime there comes a new is exactly the moment I need to hear this the most. It makes me a better human. It makes me able to feel empathy and forgiveness for all of us, but especially for myself. It's been so hard to find something that echoes my own thoughts and feelings, in such crystal clarity. The quote from this video "To love is not what weak men do" - I passed it along to a friend who needed to hear it, just as I did.
How dare you mix and connect the saddest and most moving and beautiful medias?! I'm sobbing
Stunning choices of clips and sequences from some of my favorite films and shows, really awesome video! :D
In complete seriousness, I think that this video just gave me a reason to keep on living. Thanks for all you do on this channel.
Your intelligence and sensitivity - your artistry is phenomenal. I am blow away.
Thank you.
Came looking for a video essay about Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Was NOT expecting an unpacking of the exact struggle I've been experiencing in the past couple years. It is comforting to know that this nihilism is a larger cultural issue and not just a personal one.
Thank you for this ….
Thank you for articulating such a complex and existential concept in such a beautiful and hopeful way
Thank you for having the courage to define what so many people are struggling with at this point in time
So moving - so true
Incredible
I can't really explain how I feel right now, but the messeges these movies and shows present to us always revolve around love and family I truly believe that this concept is the most important thing in life doesn't matter who or what you love or what you consider family, but everyone has something that tethers them to this world and keeps us going. I'm not sure where this quote is from, but it goes something like "The immense pain of losing someone close to you is just an indication of how much love and affection you still harbour for them that you can no longer share with them."
One of the most important videos on the entire platform right now. Incredibly grateful for this production. 🙏🏼
there are so many beautiful, honest lines said here. thank you
Ah, some lovely Sunday morning existentialism, can't wait!
i was about to say the same thing!! it’s going to be a good day lol
Arguably the most important UA-cam video of our time .
Thank you for this … thank you so much .
I've watched this video 5 times and just can't get enough. It's a beautiful poem of stanzas randomly yet, so perfectly sewn together. The older I become to more I am a believer of the possibilities our universe has, yet the magnetic pull of each soul's compass with no real way to describe it. You have done this so well in a way that many will be able to understand. You are a true artist. Thank you and please continue your art!
Amazing, I’ve had a complete paradigm shift in my way of viewing the world
Fantastic video, man ! I just discovered you as I was scrolling through everything about Everything Everywhere All At Once (just went to theaters to watch this movie for the 5th time, and still gobsmacked by it, this movie is a true cinematic miracle that will leave its mark on the history of filmmaking). And this essay is one of the most fascinating ones talking about the movie (even though not exactly just about the movie, more about the existential dread in our own society with the movie as a conduit).
It is true that sadly, a side effect of knowledge and intelligence is that once you cross a certain treshold and you do realize that nothing makes sense and nothing really matters, it's easy to fall into the Jobu despair/nihilism/collective suicidal depression.
Now, from a personal standpoint, I'd say one excellent way to combat this numbness we all feel is creativity. Writing down observation, then thoughts on a given situation is a great way to give meaning to something that seemingly has none.
Drawing is a fantastic exercise of observation, one that makes you stop and ponder that one thing or person you're drawing for a few minutes/hours/days and let you realize how important it is.
Nature or street photography is probably an even better way, as photography is not only about taking good images of what exists, but actual great photography is about telling a story out of a single image. Much like drawing, it forces the photographer to stop and admire a subject while trying to capture its beauty the best they can, be it with framing, angle, position of lighting, etc... spend some time on a flower to just realize how perfect it is... then do it with the next flower. Or tree. Or bird. Or river. Or person. Do it over and over again, and you start connecting the dots on just how beautiful our world truly is and how we're completely taking it for granted. And fall in love with life over and over again.
It's not permanent, it's very easy to fallback into nihilism/despair/depression afterwards, but each little photowalk in nature or in the streets is a fantastic jolt to remind us how precious life is, like recharging batteries.
Now, onto individual choice and individualism, sure, it throws us into an existential dread that we're so tiny in this vast universe (multiverse), but hey, what was the alternative ? Stay into archaic societal models where racism (most extreme example : crusades), sexism (most extreme example : Witchhunt and inquisition), and obscurantism (only the monks were educated, and the plebea was kept in ignorance to be better endoctrined into the fear of God and his last judgement, and give all their money to the Church), child labor (and abuse, funny how all these examples have something to do with the Church and religion in general).
Sure, the evolution of our modern society now is riddled with flaws, but if you're asking me, I still believe we're better off now than just a few centuries ago.
Now it also depends on the location. Some civilisation were more educated and functional than the west (talking about the Chinese civilisation, for example, or the Japanese, or the Indians, or quite a few african ones, or even meso-american ones... None of them perfect, but still highly structured and in balance... before the west wrecked them all thanks to their advance in military technology, because the industrial revolution happened to happen there, then imposing their wildly out of balance segregational and sexist norms to the rest of the world).
I have watched this movie a bunch of times and countless video essays. You have won the internet for this essay. Including lessons from the screenplay and Thomas Flight was a genius idea and you should be very proud of how well you pulled this off.
This is an incredibly important video. I’ve NEVER seen/heard a more succinct and clear way to label this “feeling” and in a world of false and irrelevant labelling, I think this is the one thing that actually deserve to be described, categorized, and explained, so that we can all get through this together. It is the one thing that can bring us all together so we can change this feeling for everyone.
You reminded me of the book “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”, I really recommend it
I had a mushroom trip where I realized that nothing matters and if nothing matters then the only thing that is important is the relationships we have with one another. Funny how truths reveal themselves to us.
I got the same message from the mushroom: "Life is about finding those you are close to and enjoying the moment for what it is."
this is simply brilliantly put together, it’s BEAUTIFUL i started ugly cried halfway through and haven’t stopped since
The section "Hope in the dark" (22:09) points to something really impactful and significant. Thank you for sharing Beck, it's a series of thoughts I've been struggling to put into a concise form.
Don’t know how you do it, but your videos just feel like they touch the soul.
He really does
Thank you, Tom, for your splendid analysis on how the revolutionary science of the multiverse is changing so much for the world.
All of this has happened before, not just in some alternate universe, but in the past of this universe. We can always go back and learn lessons that have been forgotten.
During the chapter “the burden of being” I got literal goosebumps and teared up a bit.
The way you articulate modern issues of individuality is so accurate that it’s chilling.
Phenomenal video as always.
Thank you !
I've found that, in terms of acceptance and building confidence, the following helps.
1. There *are* possibilities in life. Including combining multiple possibilities.
2. You will always pick one.
3. Therefore, there was no other possibility that could have happened.
4. Therefore, you will have always done the only thing you could have.
5. "Right" or, Wrong" You will always have made the only choice you could have made. So own that choice, right or wrong, because it was yours, and all you could have ever done was that which you did. Grow from it if it was failure, continue normally if it was success.
A pebble that is floating downstream can go one way or another, around a heavier rock. We do not care enough to jot down every factor going into the travel of the pebble, nor do we realistically have time to in the moment. Until the pebble passes the rock, gets stuck on it, or simply sinks to the bottom of the river, the pebble is only ever capable of doing one thing, and it will do that thing, no matter what. Because, we will experience that *one* event.
You always make me cry (in the best of ways). Your videos hit me really hard and I can't thank you enough for sharing them with us.
I think that a large part of this is that we are saddled with expectations, those of everyone and ourselves. This is further complicated by the fact that we essentially cannot escape our past actions. We can move, start up new accounts, go to new schools, any number of things, and everything finds a way back to us.
Because of this, growing, changing, and developing is done in a pressure cooker that offers nigh unimaginable possibilities. As a result we are caught between the weight of the past, pressures of the future, and necessities of now.
That is a beautiful and thoughtful essay. I personally don't feel that weight on my being that you talk about, but I understand it and see it around me from time to time. Great stuff, keep it up!
This video came up as a random suggestion and I clicked on it not expecting to find such an amazing content. It’s beautiful made, incredibly well edited and above all it gives so much to think about. It warmed my heart to see it didn’t go down the lane of reducing big social matters to individual actions, but rather went the other way around to show we are social beings and we need to sort things out socially. Great video! Congrats!
This is what growing up with the Lord of the Rings and being surrounded by nihilists my entire life has taught me, and also has given me a headstart amount of experience with that battle. I used to have panic attacks constantly as a kid and teen but that was also because of traumatic experiences I was overcoming and processing. I still get a little agoraphobic but I consistently challenge myself to overcome it so I don't remain shackled against the beauty of the world and many times I succeed and sometimes I dont do as well but its a process and its ok to fail.
My highschool senior quote was Frodo & Sam's: "What are we holding on to, Sam?" "That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for.
Fuck I need to watch LOTR again lmao
"There's some good in this world and it's worth fighting for" along with the white tree and single flower blooming is a large rib tattoo I got many years ago.
Glad to be with you, here at the end of all things.
this is honestly, probably the most well edited, well thought of video I have seen in yt for a while. 👏👏👏
The Like Stories of Old Ultimate Multiverse Theory is confirmed.
Such a fun video. Good job!
“Something is off.” about a year ago i listened to a poem that got me thinking about these questions. i’ve watched everyone i know and love become more cynical, less hopeful, exhausted, doubtful of any “objective” truth or shared meaning or the ability to influence the world. This is simply not living. Life without hope and without connection is not living.
“How do we get back?” i don’t know yet. i don’t think it’s about getting back to some older ideal, rather it’s about searching for and synthesizing a new one. other people really are feeling it. even the questions are not fully articulated yet. increasingly though these difficulties are being expressed in art and the conversations are starting-it’s a deep relief to watch this video and read the comments and know i’m not alone trying to take all this on, you are too, and that’s exactly the point, we’re looking for meaning together. try to connect with everyone you can. for me it’s often uncomfortable but this is the work, it’s not supposed to be easy. talk to strangers, talk to neighbors, talk about this with them, start the conversations, try to physically be around humans, not only consuming and interacting thru media. it will work. faith is an idea claimed to belong to religion but it’s larger than that. faith is a choice, faith is insisting that the future can be better even when the odds aren’t good and you’re scared, insisting that it’s worth it, the work and suffering are survivable and worth surviving, connecting with each other and experiencing the universe is worth it. so, have faith. we can already see the alternative sucks. have faith, create meaning, and connect with other humans-i’ll do it with you
You’re doing really important work, man. Keep it up.
I love the way that everything everywhere all at once fills me with existential dread then by the end I’m reminded of what really matters and crying happy tears
If nothing really matters then most certainly everything does 🙂
Now that you’ve pointed out the common themes of the stories that mainstream media seems to be picking up, I can understand the popularity of a group like BTS due to their own storylines and lyrics that dive into existentialism, meaning of being and struggle of trying to find purpose. Their Music Video universe has a similar multiverse theme too
Cmon man BTS is str8 trash 🗑️
Like Stories of Old pumps way more analysis and insight than I see most other channels do in 3-4x the length time. I always learn, think or am deeply moved whenever I watch a video. In fact, so much meaning is weaved into the writing that I almost have to sit and digest for a while after the video ends. Thank you for making these videos, they are beautiful.
The irony of the internet is that it has connected people who were otherwise suffering alone with the loss of meaning (see Spiderman no way home), while simultaneously thrusting the loss of meaning into public consciousness on a global scale. In a way the loss of meaning has spread like a virus, but it gives me hope that we are now collectively searching for the antidote.
LOVED this video. i highlyyyy recomend the series the good place netflix it covers all these themes in an amazing way and its such a good series!
Thankful this piece came across my feed. It really brought me back through the fog I was wading through before the Army, camping months in the cold and snow, a period of 2 weeks without food with blackouts, a near death OD. It really took me back years after the service, all of it feels like an old relic. There's always something else, but a meaning to it all even if I did meet that fate somewhere else other than here. I'm under the strong impression that a lot of us are trying to redefine what a human being is after a few painful traumatic events. All of it feels like a world stage play within the insides of a complex machine within another, just leaves me feeling most of us are all just phantoms just waiting to really be truly seen.
I love this line " all of us are phantoms waiting to be truely seen by another " how accurate ! Nice writing
Wow! Thank you! This may have been the most poignant and heartfelt piece of media I've watched in a long time (maybe ever tbh). I can't believe how well you've been able to articulate the feeling of living in our modern time, gifted the freedom to shape our individual destinies within an increasingly interconnected and diverse world, and yet burdened with the isolation, doubt, and detachment that this freedom brings with it. I can frequently find myself slipping into this nihilistic despair when faced with the weight of the seemingly infinite potential paths that I could choose to live while at the same time feeling powerless to enact any real change or make any significant impact with my life in a world that now feels so gargantuan and filled with problems that feel so unsolvable. Yet, you've perfectly expressed how giving into this hopelessness and detachment is, in actuality, just a way to cope with our deep longing for connection and belonging, and it is through opening up to and embracing the world and through finding community, personal connection, friendship, and love that we can recapture this meaning in our lives. It's amazing, every time I watch one of your videos I have such an overwhelming feeling of being understood, of being validated knowing that someone shares my beliefs and worldview, and of feeling like I'm not alone. I think this is what's so amazing about your channel and from reading the other comments across your videos, it seems like your other viewers also feel the same. Thank you so much for creating these incredible videos! Your work is so appreciated and valued by me and so many! I can't wait until the next video that makes me cry and laugh and smile and feel sad and angry and joyous and most of all hopeful. Thank you ❤
...and I express my gratitude for articulating a similar impact on me. Your work saved me twenty-five minutes of typing and I couldn't have said it better! I sincerely appreciate you for that and it is beautiful to see you and everyone else commenting on this expression of true art! Thank you!
This is it
This explains how I feel so so well
It's so amazing thank you for making this
Thanks so much for this video and naming what so many of us feel on a daily basis. I watched EEAAO (Everything everywhere..) at home, because I thought it was a movie that I wasnt really going to enjoy and boy was I wrong. It was one of these movies, that had really touched my heart and soul and made me think about life on a societal level, yes.
It was pretentious garbage
@@smartwater598 Hi 👋 do you want to elaborate on that? 🙂
“I'll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you... We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams..."
"I will see you in another life, when we are both cats."
This is one of the best, most poetically insightful videos I've watched in quite some time. Thank you!
Fantastic video as always, loved the new style this time! This is very interesting to me, as a Muslim. I realised while watching this video that I have never needed to grapple with ideas of existential nihilism or the significance of my actions or whether anything is actually meaningful, simply because of this belief in a higher power. It automatically gives an unshakeable meaning and order to things. You spoke of the modern freedom, the breaking down of social constructs, as something that has led to this feeling of meaninglessness, that once the old is gone, we are drowned in choice and possibility and become a slave to what-may-have-been. I know the same feelings, but honestly, it's the structure of deen (religion) and the knowledge of a creator who's intimately aware of you and that you know only does what is best for you in the long run, that gives me something firm to hold onto when things get messy. Not saying it's easy lol, but the act of trusting something above and outside yourself that it'll be OK in the end, is simply profound.
In Thomas Flights video on EEAAO, he was talking about how, in an infinitum of possibilities, do we choose which actions to do, and so make meaningful, as we can't do everything. I thought to myself that I don't need to wonder about that, because for me, an actions worth is defined by whether it moves me closer or further away from Allah. But at the same time, I know I'm only responsible for what is within my power. So in a similar vein to his conclusion, I don't need to care about everything, even a multiverse, because it's up to me to decide what I will do, and I'm only responsible for what I do.
I realise that doesn't automatically stave off the effects of the internet and the overexposure to the mass of everything out there... I am GenZ after all and that's been pretty much unavoidable lol. But it does give me the tools to know how to filter things, foundations and anchors to return to if I drift too far, and a community to find belonging in for healing and support. I find it extremely fascinating how these things line up; what you say people seem to need to do to deal with these phenomena, and what I have that has effectively pre-dealt with these things for me already haha.
Anyways, thank you for yet another superb reflection, and allowing me to think deeper myself!
And Allah knows best.
LSOO, your videos are incredible. I have no idea how much time you put into these, but it is beyond just analysis. I'm blown away.
I always love those messages about how important love is to life. It's like being repeatedly punched in the face by a bully gleefully flaunting their unattainable self-actualisation.
I'm actually with you on this... I'm sure it means everything to who have found it, on whatever level and for however long it graces them; but, at least for me, it feels like just another item on the shelf, an additional check-mark--another line, added to the infinite list of others--one more thing I failed at. An additional luxury item on an exponentially growing list of items which are far above my means; with little, if any, hope of upward mobility. A very real and very personal consequence of Einstein's theories of relativity. Bound by some unseen limit, conscripted to watch as those items, moving at the speed of light, go beyond my cosmic horizon, becoming lost forever
I think one of the only reasons I understood Everything Everywhere All At Once was because I read this comic book called Meanwhile by Jason Shiga when I was young. It’s a choose your own adventure comic that delves deep into choice and multiple realities, even considering how reincarnation works, the ethical and moral consequences of having a Time Machine and an entire world’s kill switch that is decided by the state of a coin in superposition between heads and tails. It’s an amazing graphic novel and a surprisingly emotional exploration into these topics.
Thanks for the spoiler warnings. Saved for after I watch Everything Everywhere All At Once.
This was beautiful. I normally don’t comment on these and choose to watch them before I go to sleep, but this one really touched on something. Thank you.