"Most kids after all who grow up in the suburbian waste lands of small town America all carry around an unspoken but ever present sense of meaninglessness, its present in everything they say and do, its an obvious void hanging over their whole way of life. Youth culture however, in the past 50 or so years has gone from being idealistic, utopian, and forward thinking, to being nihilistic, synthetic and blind."
Oh i can't agree MORE! Just listen to the music - It reveals all! For some reason the 1960's were able to manifest something which was the beginning of and which could have become exactly what the world needed; Zarathustra was reaching the ears of the masses and for the first time since perhaps even pre-holy-era-Rome did the human soul express itself as free and essentially beautiful. But that decade only lasted for a decade and since then people seem to have forgotten the dangers of nihilism. in fact, nihilism in many ways seems to have become a Goal to many. they embrace it perhaps because it is the easiest thing to embrace, and this "suburbian maddness" - which you put into words so very eloquently - certainly isn't helping. I'm glad that it can't hurt you. that is surely a sign of the overcoming of nihilism. unfortunately, far too many embrace it as reality. it places the value of life outside of life, and consequently life loses all value (to paraphrase nietzsche).
I really love the way you write max. It's poetry, and it reminds me a whole lot of my current favorite writer (cited above). It sounds like this summer has, at least in retrospect, been good to you. It's always nice to know that one has grown as an individual. However, as beautiful as the last sentence is, don't let anything make you feel that summers are a thing of the past. The future is all possibility, and as far as i'm concerned, summer seems to be the most tactile embodiment of possibility, of what is unknown and resting just on the horizon of being.
When I said it was the end of all summers, I didn't mean that there wont be more summers for me, there could be really great summers waiting for me or even worse ones in the future. What I meant was summers as summers use to be, the ''childhood'' or ''adolescent'' summer is truly dead to me after this these past few months, and I mean that.
With regards to 60s counter culture and youth radicalism. I think the renaissance and the enlightenment would be two better examples of the flowering of the human spirit. In my opinion the new left of the 60s was a failure, too much drugs too much peace and love. They should have spent more time making bombs and bringing the war home.
I expect to see mechanized society continue to grow and for youth culture to get worse and worse until there is a giant back lash against or until society is completely dissolved into a kind of monotone ''McWorld'' .
The truth is that I myself have embraced a kind of nihilism, suburbian madness cant hurt me any more because I don't care about the people who live in its world anymore. Thats been the great change. I used to want to fight and break the spell of suburbian madness before I understood what it was. Now that I do, everyone can go to hell. Things will happen and people will change, or they wont.
I guess thats not really nihilism, its an omission of personal responsibility, but for me as a person who used to think they could single handedly, through the force of their will change everything. It sure feels like nihilism.
Anyway, sorry for taking so long to respond to these I have been so busy and tired I haven't had the chance to sit down and address you comments like I felt they warranted.
I understand your stance on summers, but it is never to late to take part in this world like a child, at least in some regards.
And, actually, i kind of agree with you about the '60s and the renaissance. the 60's spat off a vague scent of what could become the next renaissance, but in it's over-emphasis on drug use, it was in it's own way quite nihilistic. drugs can be great for certain purposes, but they cought on as a mere fad which promised something much more than drugs could ever provide in themselves. However, the recognition of the freedom of the individual and the willingness to act out ones will, not as a mere knott in society's framework, but as something posessed entirely by the individual, are what made that era unique in it's potential for social growth.
You may not be able to change everything single-handedly, but you can certainly plot one more stone in the right direction. You are a very unique person, Max, and from my experiences with you, it seems that you certainly have the power to persuade. You have the potential to be a man of great words, and you can take that however you want. If i were you, i would do something with it.
waste lands of small town America all carry around an
unspoken but ever present sense of meaninglessness,
its present in everything they say and do, its an
obvious void hanging over their whole way of life.
Youth culture however, in the past 50 or so years has
gone from being idealistic, utopian, and forward
thinking, to being nihilistic, synthetic and blind."
Oh i can't agree MORE! Just listen to the music - It reveals all! For some reason the 1960's were able to manifest something which was the beginning of and which could have become exactly what the world needed; Zarathustra was reaching the ears of the masses and for the first time since perhaps even pre-holy-era-Rome did the human soul express itself as free and essentially beautiful. But that decade only lasted for a decade and since then people seem to have forgotten the dangers of nihilism. in fact, nihilism in many ways seems to have become a Goal to many. they embrace it perhaps because it is the easiest thing to embrace, and this "suburbian maddness" - which you put into words so very eloquently - certainly isn't helping. I'm glad that it can't hurt you. that is surely a sign of the overcoming of nihilism. unfortunately, far too many embrace it as reality. it places the value of life outside of life, and consequently life loses all value (to paraphrase nietzsche).
I really love the way you write max. It's poetry, and it reminds me a whole lot of my current favorite writer (cited above). It sounds like this summer has, at least in retrospect, been good to you. It's always nice to know that one has grown as an individual. However, as beautiful as the last sentence is, don't let anything make you feel that summers are a thing of the past. The future is all possibility, and as far as i'm concerned, summer seems to be the most tactile embodiment of possibility, of what is unknown and resting just on the horizon of being.
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Thank you for the kind words Jason.
When I said it was the end of all summers, I didn't mean that there wont be more summers for me, there could be really great summers waiting for me or even worse ones in the future.
What I meant was summers as summers use to be, the ''childhood'' or ''adolescent'' summer is truly dead to me after this these past few months, and I mean that.
With regards to 60s counter culture and youth radicalism.
I think the renaissance and the enlightenment would be two better examples of the flowering of the human spirit. In my opinion the new left of the 60s was a failure, too much drugs too much peace and love. They should have spent more time making bombs and bringing the war home.
I expect to see mechanized society continue to grow and for youth culture to get worse and worse until there is a giant back lash against or until society is completely dissolved into a kind of monotone ''McWorld'' .
The truth is that I myself have embraced a kind of nihilism, suburbian madness cant hurt me any more because I don't care about the people who live in its world anymore. Thats been the great change. I used to want to fight and break the spell of suburbian madness before I understood what it was. Now that I do, everyone can go to hell. Things will happen and people will change, or they wont.
I guess thats not really nihilism, its an omission of personal responsibility, but for me as a person who used to think they could single handedly, through the force of their will change everything. It sure feels like nihilism.
Anyway, sorry for taking so long to respond to these I have been so busy and tired I haven't had the chance to sit down and address you comments like I felt they warranted.
Reply
And, actually, i kind of agree with you about the '60s and the renaissance. the 60's spat off a vague scent of what could become the next renaissance, but in it's over-emphasis on drug use, it was in it's own way quite nihilistic. drugs can be great for certain purposes, but they cought on as a mere fad which promised something much more than drugs could ever provide in themselves. However, the recognition of the freedom of the individual and the willingness to act out ones will, not as a mere knott in society's framework, but as something posessed entirely by the individual, are what made that era unique in it's potential for social growth.
You may not be able to change everything single-handedly, but you can certainly plot one more stone in the right direction. You are a very unique person, Max, and from my experiences with you, it seems that you certainly have the power to persuade. You have the potential to be a man of great words, and you can take that however you want. If i were you, i would do something with it.
Reply
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