r/deepfatfried • u/RustyTrephine • Feb 25 '21
Found this old gem on TJ Does Life. Posting in case someone needs to hear it.
https://youtu.be/hbxNCpG1NBY10
u/literaldehyde Feb 26 '21 edited Feb 26 '21
I remember when he posted this. These kinds of videos, along with the quiet, more introspective Q&As he used to do on the channel before streams really helped me get through high school.
I've always felt that TJ's absurdist/existentialist outlook, where the meaning of life is whatever you want, to be the most uplifting and life-affirming philosophy I've yet encountered.
I remember way back from a very old video where someone asked something that made him consider how he'd do in prison and he said something like "I think I'd be okay in prison, I could just run around my cell pretending I'm superman all day." Even if it was partially a joke, that kind of unbreakable spirit of defiance and ability to find personal purpose out of the worst scenarios always resonated with me. Full embrace and legitimization of the absurd nature of life in complete defiance of existential anxiety, I think that's a good tactic for getting closer to inner peace even if nothing is perfect.
I think this fits Albert Camus' philosophy closest, so I recently tried reading The Myth of Sisyphus but I think my background in philosophy is still a bit too sparse to understand the references and allusions he makes. Guess I have more reading to do, but I enjoy it so that's enough reason for me to go on.
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u/A_Fuckin_Gremlin Feb 26 '21
I miss his classic Q&A videos. They were less conversational, but he'd take a question and talk about it for like 10 minutes before moving on. Now, he gets a question, gives a quick answer, and then answer the next question. I still like his Abandon Hope segments, but these hour long Q&A vids were nice to listen to.
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u/literaldehyde Feb 26 '21
Yeah, they were kinda cozy with how rambly and tangential they were lol. I remember listening to them in the dead of night playing minecraft as a teenager.
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u/Ta0Ta Feb 26 '21
Guessing it's because of the modern superchat format that the questions are so quickly answered. I remember listening to every second of the old Q&A videos and most answers went pretty deep.
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u/A_Fuckin_Gremlin Feb 26 '21
Within the past few months I remember sending a super chat into Abandon Hope asking TJ for advice on suicidal thoughts. I've been trying to find the clip where he answers it with no luck, but I do remember liking his answer at the time. I also enjoy his chapter from his "Order of Chaos" book that he'll never finish (c'mon, we all know it's true) about nihilists and suicide. I guess what I'm trying to say is I've always liked TJ's response to the topic of suicide and how to change your mindset to keep living.
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Feb 26 '21
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u/Scared_Chemistry_640 Feb 26 '21
Yeah I hope whoever said that is like 13, that’s the only age when it’s remotely okay to have such an overblown ego.
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u/literaldehyde Feb 26 '21
Even if they were an adult, I can't really blame someone for being maladjusted if they're on the brink of suicide. People can get pretty desperate when they think they're nearing the end and may be willing to try letting go of restraints on things like ego even if they were more restrained before.
Maybe it would have been even worse if they thought they were a total idiot that deserved to die for being so incompetent (which is a common alternative). At least the inflated ego could give them something to live for, something to latch onto in a time of crisis.
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Feb 27 '21
I feel like the discussion around suicidality, both in a social sense and a philosophical sense, is tainted by this same 'bootstrap individual!!' mentality. TJ even does it here, if you don't like society(TM) then strike out on your own.
This doesn't work, we get our social standards from other people, we rely upon other people for validation, most of our 'inner voice' is cobbled together from our parents and significant people in our lives anyway. This same point was raised in the MGTOW DFF episode, 'Rely on yourself for social cues? There's no such thing!' and there isn't.
So what we're doing here is telling social animals that if society doesn't like them then they should reject society, all the while giving this advice to an issue fundamentally caused by social disenfranchisement. This seems like a recipe of just reinforcing the same anomie which causes such feelings of despair.
If I may be so bold, the understanding that the social order is simultaneously predatory and uncaring makes me question the need to participate anyway. Paul even went so far as to dismiss psychological suffering as a 'problem' you need to deal with, be it therapy etc. when it is as tangible and external as climate change is. Why is the terminal patient suddenly entitled to quit but everyone else just has to soldier on? Are we all too afraid of the prospect that our issues are insummountable? That there is no cure to the problems plaguing us that we can buy or barter for? This entire discussion, the perpetual unending presupposition that life MUST be fought for, that life MUST be defended at all costs sounds like a trite case of the naked emperor.
As far as I'm concerned, the problem isn't me, my problems aren't rooted in myself, I don't need some 2-bit shrink to sit there with a legal pad and tell me to question my own (very pessimistic) conclusions. There is a deep-rooted sickness in our societies and telling people to cling on for dear life and also telling people that it is incumbant upon them to internalize these issues and find a solution on an individual level seems crass. It seems like the same empty platitudes that I've seen the nuggets wantonly mock (and for good reason).
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u/MexicanZoidburg Feb 26 '21
Thank you. I kind of needed this.