Modern existential despair and loneliness

[Ninshub]

Was thinking about this question of despair and the role of materialism. Colin Wilson once said something that to me centers on the importance of parapsychology ->

"Now it should be clear why I think that ‘the paranormal’ is of such immense importance. Here is one field that is untinged by contemporary pessimism. The clear message that emerges is that man possesses powers of which he is normally unaware. As Richard Church watched the gardener wielding the axe, and noticed that the sound came after the blow, he says that he experienced a marvellous sense of freedom. His enemy so far had been ‘the drag of the earth’. Now he realised that he had been overestimating the enemy. It was at that moment that he made an instinctive effort and rose from the ground and glided about the room. When man can clearly recognise the existence of these powers, and incorporate that recognition into his everyday awareness—so that he is no longer subject to a permanent ‘leakage’ of vitality—then he will suddenly have become a totally different kind of creature."

- Wilson, Colin. Supernatural

Personally speaking, if the paranormal was only about "possessing powers", that wouldn't mean much to me in terms of existential despair. The issue in that despair is loss of meaning and continuity, not vitality. (Unless my vitality was so strong I'd be too constantly absorbed in that "high" to be thinking about the future! )

It's the idea (reality if one prefers) of 1) survival/immortality, and 2) connectedness/non-separation, that is the remedy.

Apart from the paranormal, I'd say non-dual teachings and mysticism provide the same (survival and non-separation). "I am not body, I am unlimited, eternal consciousness".

For example.



Here's another video I quite like where Francis dialogues with a person suffering from annihilation anxiety you could say and how to deal with it. You don't have to buy into all of the non-dual teachings (especially in regards to there just being one unlimited consciousness), to get the benefits. It's quite easy to transpose and use some of those Direct Path videos self-therapeutically, I would say, just thinking of the teacher talking about the unlimited and eternal essence ("I am not the body and I am beyond time and space") that is the soul or whatever you want to call it.

Personally speaking, if the paranormal was only about "possessing powers", that wouldn't mean much to me in terms of existential despair. The issue in that despair is loss of meaning and continuity, not vitality.

Oh yeah if we all became X-men I don't think that would stop existential despair. I was thinking more in terms of the sciences that all leech meaning from the world, whereas in contrast the paranormal at least offers the potential for meaning.

Like I think the varied spiritual paths could help people, but to even be open to such things I think people would need to feel that they weren't just fooling themselves.

The problem is that not being ideal is not the same as not being true.  Following a set of beliefs because they are nice might bring comfort but won't necessarily bring truth.  Why write about the damage materialism does as if that makes any difference as to whether or not it is worth believing.  Writings like that make the search for immortality sound like nothing but comforting fantasy.

Part of the issue is that the momentum in the sciences is to avoid or suppress anything that might contradict the materialist dogma.

For example from an article on religion as a buffer against suicide risk:

The scientific world in general, and the disciplines of behavioural health in particular, tend to be biased against matters of spirituality and religion. The existing literature is enough to show that these factors have large protective effects against suicide. If another variable had even half the value for any major public health concern, I suspect it would receive substantially more attention. I would humbly suggest that the suicide prevention webpages of organisations such as the National Institute of Mental Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Psychiatric Association be updated to include prominent mention of the science highlighting religion as a protective factor.

Clinicians should also be encouraged to discuss spirituality and religion with all patients – not just those who are religiously affiliated. As I’ve noted, the protective value of this domain may translate beyond specific faith communities. Moreover, many unaffiliated individuals believe in God.

Admittedly I just find materialism to be false regardless of the truth of anything else (God, Survival, etc) but even so I think the harmful effects of the materialist faith mean we should be working in hopes of falsifying it even if - against all logic IMO - it turned out to be true.

Part of the issue is that the momentum in the sciences is to avoid or suppress anything that might contradict the materialist dogma.

For example from an article on religion as a buffer against suicide risk:


Admittedly I just find materialism to be false regardless of the truth of anything else (God, Survival, etc) but even so I think the harmful effects of the materialist faith mean we should be working in hopes of falsifying it even if - against all logic IMO - it turned out to be true.

Materialism and science is not the same. The connection between them is that the methods of modern science often operate under a kind of methodological materialism. This means that science looks for natural explanations for phenomena and doesn't invoke supernatural explanations in its investigations. This doesn't necessarily mean that scientists believe only in material things, but rather that the methods of science focus on material causes and effects.

Materialism and science is not the same. The connection between them is that the methods of modern science often operate under a kind of methodological materialism. This means that science looks for natural explanations for phenomena and doesn't invoke supernatural explanations in its investigations. This doesn't necessarily mean that scientists believe only in material things, but rather that the methods of science focus on material causes and effects.

That is all well and good in theory, but it has gone waay out of hand - dismissing evidence simply because it doesn't have a 'scientific' explanation.

Methodological materialism is all well and good, but it soon degenerates into what we see today. Psychology should be particularly cautious about using MM.

There is an excellent book, "Irreducible Mind", that explores the edges between psychology and parapsychology. I think you should read it, and maybe start a thread about it.

David

Hi, newcomer to the website here. As a 16 year old I can definitely agree with the part you quoted about materialist teaching in the classroom and ESPECIALLY internet media. Many apps that I use occasionally (reddit,discord,tiktok) have a large community of people who mostly reject any scientific evidence for the existence of some sort of continuation after “death”. I am guilty of being in that crowd especially after my breaking away from a Christian view point and trying to find solace in the anti-theist atheist community for some time. Eventually I began to feel dread over the matters of life and death in an “Oh Shit” moment after learning more and more about the climate change situation that’s been going on. Eventually push came to shove and I became depressed for months with little to no motivation out of fear that eventually everything I do have been for nothing and absolutely everything I know will cease to exist. I personally have only just started limited research into the cases for life after death and non-materialist view points since about right at the end of 8th grade and it has helped a little bit with easing my existential fears over these last few years. On the brighter side of things, while there most definitely is a big community (especially on reddit) of people skeptic of NDE’s and OBE/Astral Projection phenomena I’m glad to have also come across the proponets of metaphysical/afterlife research over there on that platform. Digging through some comment threads actually led me to this site. Sorry if this ventured off topic in any way!

Hi xman

I can see how existential concerns and loneliness can be addressed, but perhaps not by the same treatment. 

One way to address existential concerns, and by that I mean whether or not there is an afterlife, as you probably already know,  is by personal research and keeping an open mind. I was very religious when I was younger and after leaving my religion (ok I was kicked out and shunned) it took me quite a long while before I was able to look with an open mind at the possibility of surviving physical death. Some of the obstacles were my previous religious beliefs which made accessing the necessary sources of evidence  taboo, the other was being aware of the relentless wave of cynicism about the paranormal from most respected scientific sources (or so I thought).

in short, and you may already know this, there is an enormous body of evidence supporting survival. The quality varies but at its best is very strongly suggestive of survival. Many, perhaps most, of the people waving away the evidence have either never really examined it and are relying on the opinions of others in my experience. Many dismiss it without giving a realistic potential explanation. The last resort is either fraud or gullibility as an explanation which is of course sometimes true, but there are many examples where this is either highly unlikely or even impossible.

That said, even people who I know have had, for them, incontrovertible evidence of survival are subject to a certain uncertainty and if not a fear of death itself then certainly a fear of the process. Especially as it approached them. This seems perfectly natural to me. 

One of the ways to deal with fear is knowledge imho. There is a lot to learn and it’s quite hard work (and sometimes inconsistent). It’s worthwhile though.

What reading have you done on the subject of survival may I ask?

Materialism and science is not the same. The connection between them is that the methods of modern science often operate under a kind of methodological materialism. This means that science looks for natural explanations for phenomena and doesn't invoke supernatural explanations in its investigations. This doesn't necessarily mean that scientists believe only in material things, but rather that the methods of science focus on material causes and effects.

I think there's only data in science, which we can see looking at varied scientists' interpretations.

It is true that scientific academia took up the materialist faith for a time, but that bias is different IMO than what science actually shows and can show. We can look to the "quantum fathers" as well as currently living physicists who reject the materialist belief system for example.