Borderline Solipsism

I apoligize for the seemingly random title. It was the only term that I could think of that comes close to describing my current philosophy/beliefs/worldview. Today I felt like describing what I believe for all of totse to read/ridicule/agree/disagree/etc...



God - I am probably considered an agnostic because I don't think that it is possible to prove or disprove the existence of god. I don't think about it anymore because it seems futile. However, from what I have seen I feel that he/she/it/they probably don't exist. This is more of an opinion gathered for observation than a "belief".

Self - One question that I continuously ask myself is "Why me?" I don't ask this in the stereotypical self-pity fashion. What I mean is; why did my conciousness end up in this body during this span of time? Why do I always wake up looking through the same set of eyes(with the same worldview)?

Solipsism - The thing that bothers me is that it seems that I am the only one asking these questions. None of my friends(both the intellectuals and the stoners) seem to have never even thought about this sort of thing. Everyone around me seems so shallow(intellectually) and cliche. It feels like I am the only being in the universe that is being controlled by a conciousness rather than simple cause-and-effect. It makes me wonder if everyone and everything around me is somehow "made-up" or imagined.

Religion - I'll make this one brief simply because I don't want to start a debate. I don't see how religion can be believed. All we have are stories and things that are obviously written by man(maybe under the influence of god/gods).

Death - I have absolutely no idea what will happen when I die. It sometimes feels like it would be impossible for my conciousness to die. This leads me to theories like resurrection.

Outlook - Despite all of the seemingly negative statements above, I am a pretty happy person. i'm just very curious about the "way things really work". I think that studying metaphysics(ontology,etc...) might help me discern some answers. Until then, all I have is questions.

I am 18 years old if it matters at all. Feel free to comment on all of the above. I hold nothing that I believe to be sacred or unquestionable. If anyone has similar or dissimilar feelings about any of the above, I would love to read about it. I'm sure there will be a number of flames or smartass remarks, but hey; this is totse :-)

[This message has been edited by techemer (edited 10-28-2004).]

It is not that everything around you is made up or imagined, it is that you'll never know anything outside of yourself, you are trapped in your head, with your questions, your virtues, your disbelief, your belief. Thats the solipsism.

quote:Originally posted by Sempre Solipsist:

It is not that everything around you is made up or imagined, it is that you'll never know anything outside of yourself, you are trapped in your head, with your questions, your virtues, your disbelief, your belief. Thats the solipsism.

I read your post as a correction, if this is an incorrect reading, please correct me :-)

I wasn't attempting to define solipsism; I was describing my observations/ideas/questions in relation to solipsism.

quote:Originally posted by techemer:



I read your post as a correction, if this is an incorrect reading, please correct me :-)

I wasn't attempting to define solipsism; I was describing my observations/ideas/questions in relation to solipsism.

lol. No, no, no. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to correct. I was just adding my random thoughts. I agreed with much of what you said. Just couldn't let a Solipsistic Post go unresponded too.

quote:Originally posted by techemer:

I apoligize for the seemingly random title. It was the only term that I could think of that comes close to describing my current philosophy/beliefs/worldview. Today I felt like describing what I believe for all of totse to read/ridicule/agree/disagree/etc...



God - I am probably considered an agnostic because I don't think that it is possible to prove or disprove the existence of god. I don't think about it anymore because it seems futile. However, from what I have seen I feel that he/she/it/they probably don't exist. This is more of an opinion gathered for observation than a "belief".

Self - One question that I continuously ask myself is "Why me?" I don't ask this in the stereotypical self-pity fashion. What I mean is; why did my conciousness end up in this body during this span of time? Why do I always wake up looking through the same set of eyes(with the same worldview)?

Solipsism - The thing that bothers me is that it seems that I am the only one asking these questions. None of my friends(both the intellectuals and the stoners) seem to have never even thought about this sort of thing. Everyone around me seems so shallow(intellectually) and cliche. It feels like I am the only being in the universe that is being controlled by a conciousness rather than simple cause-and-effect. It makes me wonder if everyone and everything around me is somehow "made-up" or imagined.

Religion - I'll make this one brief simply because I don't want to start a debate. I don't see how religion can be believed. All we have are stories and things that are obviously written by man(maybe under the influence of god/gods).

Death - I have absolutely no idea what will happen when I die. It sometimes feels like it would be impossible for my conciousness to die. This leads me to theories like resurrection.

Outlook - Despite all of the seemingly negative statements above, I am a pretty happy person. i'm just very curious about the "way things really work". I think that studying metaphysics(ontology,etc...) might help me discern some answers. Until then, all I have is questions.

I am 18 years old if it matters at all. Feel free to comment on all of the above. I hold nothing that I believe to be sacred or unquestionable. If anyone has similar or dissimilar feelings about any of the above, I would love to read about it. I'm sure there will be a number of flames or smartass remarks, but hey; this is totse :-)

[This message has been edited by techemer (edited 10-28-2004).]

Questioning our ontology is pretty important, and especially one it comes to things that people often take as givens, and yet are such powerful (and often devisive) factors in their lives (e.g. religion).

Just remember- "the only stupid question is the one that wasn't asked".