q335r49 posted:

You philosophy degree should help you answer that question.

I have two bachelors degrees (switched majors too late in the game, junior year -- I have degrees in Electrical engineering and Comparative Literature) from an ivy league school, and now I'm working a $10/hr night job at a hotel and attending a state university to get my MA in comparative literature (i.e. continental philosophy) and settle into the discipline -- under the advisement of a very famous philosopher of history and deconstructionist critic.

I love my life, it's not that hard to see the worthless and nihilistic pursuits of most of the unthinkers -- money, 'experiences', respect from idiots, etc.. I try to spend 4-5 hours thinking every day, some more time reading, and I can do this because I work as a security guard and have around 6/8 hours of free time every night.

I take breaks from thinking to go swimming, play golf and ice hockey. I made my break with my girlfreind, and don't really go out to bars or anything. Women do respect intellectuals, since no one wants to spend more than a night with a fit idiot. I'm active and fairly good looking, but you can't get married too early in a life devoted to independent thought, and you can't get too involved in relationships, fighting, going out to eat, chatting, etc. If I do get a girl, she'll have to love being alone and doing her own thing -- that is, be thoughtful and independent.

I've sold or thrown away most of my stuff and keep my spending (outside of nice pens and paper) to a minimum. I find that consumer goods have (mostly) lost their appeal -- I plan on driving my peice of shit car to the ground. I fill up about 1 journal every month, and I try to remain as focused as possible on the question of reality. I try to remain on the edge of my comprehension, open to the wisdom of the famous critics today, and try to write responses to them.

A lot of my friends are married now, or have nice jobs and nice houses, but whenever I visit them, I'm convinced that a life of asceticism and thinking is the life for me. Of course, I do aspire for fame and influence after I get my doctorate's, but I am mostly concerned with my own problems. And there is nothing 'personal' or private about these problems -- it doesn't take long to realize the stupidity of the vulgar-psychologism and introspectivism today, and to transform even your inner world into philosophical problems.

I think Nietzsche said, in the Gay Science (perhaps in a too exhalted rhetoric) that "We philosophers are no thinking frogs -- we cannot help but transform everything we know about pain, passion, fate and disaster into light and flame." I try to travel when I can afford it, and I do occasionally go party with freinds, but my purpose in all of my most banal activities is always directed, not at pleasure or 'experience', but this light and flame business.

I take most of the 'practical' elements of being a philosopher (i.e. 'learn how to live') from the Gay Science, which Nietzsche wrote while traveling in Italy, after his break with Wagner and the romanticism and drunkenness of Germany.
Positive Housemouse posted:
Fuck the American justice system. We aren't aloud to live anymore without these fucking pigs controlling every one of our moves. I am not even talking about this case, everything. From not being able to walk in the park at night because it's "trespassing" and getting a fine, to going to jail for having a plant on you.
Amused Chicken posted:
Ron Paul is not going to win. Yeah, he's a smart, moral politician and that sure is nice but the illuminati will never accept him. Like it or not, Hillary Clinton will become the next president. She will be forced down our throats, unless Jeb Bush runs. If so, then he'll win. He has more royal blood, which is what determines the winner.
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