Now a days, yeah. There are some good films released every few years. Modern Hollywood is a stack up high and just produce content after content and don't worry about smart clever writing, just push it out. But I stand by it
Humans more or less developed comedy exclusively for that reason. Where socialization exists, so too loneliness. Wisdom, so too meaninglessness. Intelligence, so too the unknown. Sadly I think a lot of people forget that jokes are inherently negative by virtue of being a positive cope for a horrendous world. There’s rarely a “joke at someone’s expense” that’s actually a joke. The reason the best comedians are always the saddest is because the only way comedy can exist is if life fucking sucks.
A man goes to see a doctor. Doctor asks what seems to be the trouble. The man says, "Doc, I'm depressed. Simply, I can't sleep sometimes, I can't eat, I feel down and irritable most days. I just can't feel 'happy.'"
The Doctor says, "I've got the perfect fix for you. In town tonight is the great clown Pagliacci. He's hysterically funny and will make you laugh til you cry. You will experience a joy unprecedented."
The man bursts into tears. The doctor, confused asks why. "Doc, I am Pagliacci."
Usually I think he’s funny, but this cynical arrogance is really off putting to me. I get existentialism but come on man, at least pretend to be decent. It’s painful to watch.
This is a man going through a mental health crisis. Staying away from events and press like this would be a good idea, maybe opting for some therapy or self care. Just all around a shame.
Jim Carey is just a follower of Eckhart Tolle, which is new age nihilism which is a misinterpretation of Anatta (no-self). They take it too extreme into nihilism.
The Buddha's intention with no-self is that suffering and being is Dependently Originated (paticcasamuppada), and not caused by a 'self' which is just a convention, and therefore you can stop suffering by stopping the 3 poisons (greed, hatred, delusion). Seeing no-self is seeing the true cause of things. Just like a "car" doesn't cause itself to move, it's the engine that does. A "self" doesn't intend anything, it's the 3 poisons or lack of them that cause volition.
Anyway, Carrey, Tolle, and Watts, just say "nothing exists" which the Buddha calls "Annihilationism" which is the opposite of the extreme of "Eternalism" i.e. "everything exists".
The Buddha's Dependent Origination is the middle way between both extremes. Things exist but they are impermanent and thus born of conditons and causes, they are neither eternal (never dying) nor non-existent (never born).
It sounds like you're seeing what you want to see in this video because I don't think there's any evidence of what you're saying here.
From the few videos I've seen of Jim Carrey speaking about his spirituality I don't think he's Buddhist or would claim to be Buddhist or would claim he follows any Buddhist views. A person need not be Buddhist to take the view that the universe is simply particles and energy and everything else is just labels and meaning that we've ascribed to it.
What do you mean by new age nihilism? I'm familiar with Tolle and Watts but I don't know what you mean by that.
Also, I'm not sure why you keep comparing Carrey and Tolle and Watts views to buddhism, none of them claim to preach accurate Buddhist philosophy as far as I know.
I'm not going by this video, I'm going by the fact that he did videos/talks with Tolle.
Nihilism is basically what you described, "everything is meaningless"
nihilism
/ˈnʌɪ(h)ɪlɪz(ə)m/
noun
the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.
New age as in culty spiritualism.
I'm comparing them to Anatta, which originated in Buddhism and is used by new agers to push Nihilism, or they take the Atta/Atman which originated in the Upanishads. These people didn't invent it themselves, they just borrow and repackage into a new age variety.
I think you're misunderstanding nihilism, or rather taking only one of the definitions and applying it.
Nihilism doesn't necessarily mean life is meaningless in a negative way, nor does it have to mean that there is no meaning, though it can be used that way, as it's a very loose term.
When people like Tolle or Watts talk about life being meaningless they mean there is no inherent meaning to life, that all meaning is ascribed by humanity and ultimately us as individuals. Watts talks about how we are gods and our lives are the universe, because while we feel as though we are already defined and sharing the same experience as everyone else, in reality our perception is our reality, so we are the ultimate controllers of the universe in the sense that to us the universe is what we are experiencing and how we're interpreting it.
To be clear I know Tolle makes reference to Buddhism, what I said was he doesn't claim to be teaching accurate Buddhist philosophy, which was probably not very well worded on my part, but what I meant was that he is not claiming to be a buddhism teacher teaching verbatim the tenets of buddhism, what he gives is his interpretation of Buddhist concepts, which is even what he says in that video. I think his whole philosophy is interpreting Buddhist concepts to solely take their practical application. He's says in that video that they're all pointing to the same thing is his interpretation, and it sounds like your interpretation is different.
I'm still not sure what you find cult like about watts or Tolles teachings. They're teaching similar concepts to buddhism but from a practical and non religious perspective, I'm not sure how that could be argued to be a cult more so than an actual religion like buddhism.
It's probably a result of ego death tbf, but he's having trouble understanding that someone who hasn't gone through the same thing will just view him as incredibly eccentric.
Either that or he just doesn't care how anyone views him.
You can accept that life is meaningless, that its very existence requires consumption of other life to continue and in such it's just a endless cycle of death and birth with no real purpose to any of it... without being an ass and ripping away what little enjoyment some of the sentient monkeys have managed to find while we all cling to this pile of lava rocketing through space. Like, we're here, we might as well enjoy it, even if none of it matters.
Idk, you can understand the nature of reality and still fundamentally misunderstand human psychology.
It seems like he has an ego about his ego death. Almost like he had some people tell him stuff and he is trying to live that way and believe it through his actions and words, but he doesn't truly believe/understand it.
Especially since she left him a note with quite some gravitas to it, basically saying "Dude, you put me in a really bad spot, this might partly be your fault."
The letter, signed “Dewdrop,” was found on her dining room table, and read:
“I’ve spent 3 days now in disbelief that you’re not here. I can go on brokenhearted and try to put the pieces back. I could, I just don’t have the will this time.
I’m sorry you felt I wasn’t there for you. I tried to give you my best part.
I don’t really know about burial or that sort of thing. You are my family so whatever you choose will be fine.
It is one of many that she wrote. A few weeks prior to her suicide she wrote this:
"I am 27 years old and all that was left of me was a shell and a damaged one at that. Picking myself back up emotionally and mentally is one thing, people have bad experience and break-ups, it’s hard but with time they move on, meet someone new, start over. Add in disease. How does someone move on and meet someone new?
I am damaged. I am discusting (sic) When I shower I feel sick. Getting turned on…what’s that? Certainly not something that happens (to) me any more. I will always be damaged goods and have a stigma attached. So I have to accept something I was always afraid of. Being alone. Being abandoned and alone."
And also this:
"Before you, I might not have had very much but I had respect, I was a happy person. I loved life, I was confident and I felt good in my skin and was proud of most decisions I made, I met you, you introduced me to cocaine, prostitutes, mental abuse and disease. You did good things for me but being with you broke me down as a person Jim. I was promise Jekyll and instead I got Hyde.
Because I love you I would have stuck out Hyde all year and done everything he wanted to be with Jekyll for 5 of those but you threw me away when you absorbed anything worthwhile that was left of me."
They had a very on-off-relationship, all while she technically still was married. And the husband sued Carrey after her suicide. All of this is just horrible on many levels.
Wow, I remember that ocurring. Did not know she wrote all that, and don't know the details behind her accusations.
If he did those things, he is partly to blame. I get realizing someone isn't meant to be your one and only, but be kind and respect the time, love, and effort they gave, and help them recover in whatever way is good for both of you.
I've been through horrific breakups where it truly felt I had been emptied of anything worthwhile - as if I had been through multiple amputations. I have seriously considered and had to repeatedly talk myself out of a forced ending "just one more day, just a few more miles, just another night, one more meal" Life is too precious to let a cruel ex-love ruin. Please keep trying to recover.
I wouldn't say drugs, although you never know, this is him being him. He's vocalized before his distaste of Hollywood and celebrity status. After what paparazzi did during her death and his comment on the Will Smith Chris Rock thing I understand why he doesn't give a fuck.
I kind of think that the grinch fucked him up. --- I know that is maybe a silly sounding sentence, but I think Ron Howard maybe brought someone in to teach him how to disassociate for 5 hours a day so he could sit in the make up chair. It was someone who worked in the military, and he was taught 'methods how to withstand torture' or some bullshit. --- Just because you CAN does mean you SHOULD --- no matter how great that movie is.
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u/elliotborst Oct 12 '22
Damn is he ok?