> Is the greatest possible boon, fortune, or blessing never to have been
> born??
>
> And the second greatest, to die as quickly and painlessly as
> possible??
>
> This philosophy is said to have been expressed by the mythical ancient
> Greek satyr Silenus:
>
> [From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silenus ]
>
> "Silenus shared with the king a pessimistic philosophy: That the best
> thing for a man is not to be born, and if born, should die as soon as
> possible."
>
> [From "A History of Greek Philosophy" by W. K. C. Guthrie, ISBN
> 0521387604 , Cambridge University Press, p. 66-67 ]
>
> On Aristotle's lost work (of which we have fragments) "Eudemus":
>
> "Eudemus of Cyprus, whom it commemorates, was a Platonist who died in
> the fighting around Syracuse in 354... When he was killed, the moral was
> drawn that the soul returns to its true home when death releases it
> from the body. The dialogue continued in the same strain. The
> greatest boon is not to be born, and the next best thing to die as
> soon as possible. So far we have a mere echo of a poetic commonplace,
> a pessimism typically Greek; by whereas the poets sought only oblivion
> as an end to the sufferings of human life, the philosopher does not
> stop there. The words are put into the mouth of a mythical person,
> Silenus, and the speaker himself adds the reason: "In saying this he
> clearly meant to imply that there is a better way of life in death
> than in our living."
>
> =========
>
> A second question, related:
>
> Nietzsche articulated the doctrine of the "eternal return" -- the idea
> that the universe would "repeat itself" over and over and over
> throughout eternity, resulting in each person living their life over
> and over and over again throughout eternity (though, of course, they
> would have no knowledge of their previous lives, the events of which
> were exactly the same as this one.)
>
> If you had a choice between living your life exactly as it has been
> (and will be) over and over and over again indefinitely OR choosing
> OBVLIVION -- never having been born EVER -- which would you choose?
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might share.
>
> --
I only post here because I know it will give you great joy to hear of my
sorrow and pain...and answer. I could have weathered, poverty, pestulence
in this life...even war if the cause was right.
But the thing that destroyed me was watching on as white women have become
mesmerized by the African black man sexually.
Can I be any more explicit?
I curse my existence for this one single thing...though perhaps like the
major straw that broke the camel's back, not sure. I just know I cannot
weather this. The world has demanded this, but it only means a spiritual
torture all my waking days the rest of what life I have left.
The experience is like a hot dagger in my chest that I carry around with me;
it burns with an intensity of phosphoric coals and seems to carry my life
force to depths I could not have dreamed existed, even in my worst
nightmares.
In Socratic emulation, as I watch my own demise, it becomes a wonder to me;
has any human being ever reached upon such lowness before? I can only
guess...surely in all the misery and torturous pain humans have endured
across the centuries...my own experiences must be only pinpricks in
comparison. But then the agony ensues and the depth...I can't explain the
depth. I feel my ancestors calling out in me; the very tail of a creature
that stretches back eons in time....screaming out in me as some holy ghost
consecrated over countless battlesfields and bloodletting that staggers the
imagination. I cannot comprehend that pain you see....but it exists IN ME.
I FEEL what is being done today...and I FEEL what is taking place between
the African man and the white woman. And I feel a betrayal so completely
abhorrently evil, that I am quite convinced it can only be the works of
Satanic delights I witness.
Why it is...I cannot say and I imagine those like turtoni would offer
volumes of tactical science to bolster their arguments against me. But they
cannot...I am quite confident and sure of this...they cannot understand the
pain I endure over this. I suffer...but it is not me somehow. I mean, yes,
I suffer...but it is so much more in me...crying out,
calling...deep...into
the earth itself almost. I feel for my father's father's fathers...or so it
would be descriptive.
Yes, how I curse the day I was born now...oh how I curse it with every ounce
I am. To have awoken here, a world with so much promise, only now to end in
this quagmire of shame and disgrace...and utter violation.
So you can cheer that; my suffering...and have your 'freedom of speech
before your next transaction'...except this kind of pain would render you
utterly speechless I'm sure. It hurts so awfully much to BE here...in this
world...and her beauty so close, but only that I must watch on this betrayal
and banishment from the very house I [my fathers] built.
I cannot know of course. Perhaps this is only a pinprick I suffer. But if
so, then I live in a world of superbeings...able to carry the universe
itself on their shoulders. And bow in homage and total disbelief.
