Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
The world is a ####ing prison and we are all pretending it’s normal
We're all trapped in this massive prison called "society" and everyone's acting like it's perfectly fine. Nobody asked to be born into this bull####, yet here we are, forced to play by rules we never agreed to.
Think about it - we HAVE to work to simply exist. We have to pay taxes on money we earned by selling our time. We can't even act how we truly want without being labeled as "mentally ill" or "unstable." Want to opt out? Oh, you must be "depressed." Need "help." #### that.
The real insanity is how everyone just accepts this. School trains you to be a good little worker. Family pressures you to "fit in." Jobs demand you to conform to their culture. Every single institution is designed to keep us in line, to make us predictable, to strip away any real individuality.
You know who the only truly free people are? The "crazy" ones on the street who've completely checked out of this system, and the dead. Dark but true. Everyone else is just playing pretend, convincing themselves they're "free" while living in chains they chose to ignore.
I can't even feel normal emotions anymore - or maybe I feel everything too intensely because I see through all this bull####. It's like being both numb and hypersensitive to how ####ed up everything is.
There's no real freedom as long as we exist in this world. We're all just prisoners pretending we're not in a cage. The only choices we have are the ones our captors allow us to make.
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I think we accept it because there aren't really better alternatives. Nobody is blind or ignorant to this, but it's typically more beneficial as individuals and members of society to work with the system/go with the flow.
You really aren't trapped in a suburb, in a city, in a condo/house/whatever. You could literally drive to a parking lot somewhere in the woods, maybe push your car into a lake if you want to hide your starting point, and just walk a few mountain ranges over and start a life of seclusion playing 100% by your own rules. Go up north and you'll never be found.
Problem is that would suck. Cold, hunger, disease, discomfort, injury, seclusion, loneliness, toil, danger, etc.
I do think we're sold a crock of #### when young that happiness is a goal or a destination. Realistically, happiness comes and goes and you have to work and prepare and plan to achieve as many moments of stressless relaxation and happiness as you can, but they're punctuations in your otherwise banal, stressful, hard, tiring, normal existence. It's the way it is and it's okay. I do think we're treated to - and ungrateful for - general comfort: indoor plumbing, relative safety, healthcare, HVAC, abundant food, etc. The general state of humans for most of history (and probably still today) is suffering.
Happiness isn't guaranteed. It's not even possible to exist in a state of happiness or bliss as some sort of general or permanent state. Happiness is just an offset or nice feeling compared to general hardship.
Some people are wired better to just exist in a happier state than others, but suffering does come for us all throughout our lives.
Personally, I do my best to try to increase the probability of the best outcomes while preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Don't get yourself into debt. Save your pennies. Try not to make enemies. Do right by people. Take care of your ####. Don't procrastinate. Nurture your friendships. The basics. Also plan for a fun thing every weekend and try to do something chill every week day (exercise, play cards, go for wings, read, wax your car, whatevs). You have to carve out time for fun. It's mandatory.
All easier said than done, of course, and let's get back to our wiring is going to dictate so much of our mood/outlook/happiness; however, for what can be controlled you have to control to the best of your ability.
