Quote: (06-26-2015 04:50 AM)Kaligula Wrote:
Hahaha. Yes and no. Just one remark: remember Stavrogin of "The Devils" by Dostoyevski... Stavrogin, an alpha and dark triad man, is a man with very strong will, so strong that he can bend not only women but men, too. But he chooses to die exactly because of his strong will. If I can be everything, and I am absolutely sure of this my ability, why should I be anything, anything at all?! That is his problem.
I think that the message of the article is much more simpler: there is some natural form of life for rats, which brings them close to happiness. Therefore, most probably such a solution does exist for humans, too. An answer is somewhere in history: we must just find a civilization with the low level of drugs use and absue... What we are essentially looking for is a form of life (Lebensform) in the Wittgensteinian sense, if you like philosophy. One caveat: a form of life, as something which bestows and creates meanings, is essentially communal. So, this is not art, for example. But the Babylonian Lottery (see my previous posts) could be, I think.
I believe Stavrogins problem is fictional. In real life there is no man powerful enough to have no rivals and no competition on imposing one's will. Also there is one challenge that will always be present and never let anyone to let his will dominate forever - old age. If we were immortal then Starogins question - why to be everything rather then nothing could be valid, but since we are mortal it has never come to this aside from fiction since fictional characters can never age.
Also a human cannot remain static in his desires. A human always wants more. Therefore one can never be content in this manner, one cannot be satisfied with any fixed utopia or lebensform. Therefore everything is fluid, empires and paradigms rise and fall.
One can only be satisfied in a higher level here one is happy about the challenge being before him. One must learn to find peace in activity and satisfaction in craving. Because all gain is transient and it is never enough anyway. A.k.a. one must imagine Sisyphus happy.