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Fucked Up College Kids File 555
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= F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. =
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An Alternative Heaven (and/or Hell)
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It's been awhile since I've read an issue of F.U.C.K., but today I
took a little time to peruse a few issues and found something I'd like to
react to. Atheist writers aren't uncommon in F.U.C.K., and as a whole,
they tend to have a very specific position on "the afterlife." That
position is mainly "it doesn't exist." I agree very much so with this
position, but for a different reason.
The common atheistic standpoint on the afterlife is either "when
you die, nothing happens at all," or "I don't know what happens when you
die, so I won't say anything to begin with." The much understood and
misinterpreted philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had a very interesting
position on the "afterlife," one which is often ignored, even when he is
the subject of discussion. His position was that there was no afterlife,
and in fact, there was no beginning, no end, no "becoming," just everything
in between, forever. He called it "the eternal recurrence," and few
actually understand what it means, or give a fuck about the idea to begin
with.
But the implications of eternal recurrence are endless. If true,
it would mean that there is no end to life, that at death, the same life is
lived again. This would mean that every mistake one makes will be made
again, every bad memory one has will be experienced again. All that sucks
will suck forever.
Of course there are positive implications as well. Every mother
(who cares) gets to see her kid grow up again and again and again, every
"first time" is experienced again and again and again. You get the point.
I would guess that one of the reasons eternal recurrence is rarely
(if ever) seriously considered is because it doesn't [offhand] make sense
to a lot of people. Without really thinking about it, few people could
see why and for what reasons the Universe would be stuck in an endless
loop with no "hope" of escaping.
But explaining how eternal recurrence "could be true" only requires
two basic assumptions:
1.The Universe repeats itself, or, "the universe exists forever, but does
not expand forever."
2.Randomness does not truly exist, all things are motivated by other
things, and nothing is ever arbitrarily guided.
Assumption #1 is basically the backbone of astrophysical/cosmological
debate as of now. No one really can tell whether or not there is enough
mass within the universe for it to collapse on itself. Right now the
consensus seems to be shifting towards a Universe that expands
indefinitely, that simply dies a pathetic "heat death" and is done with.
But Nietzsche had a different opinion. In fact, in "The Will to Power",
Nietzsche becomes a physicist and declares "The law of the conservation of
energy demands eternal recurrence." In other words, heat death "cannot
happen," for it would imply a halting of motion, and motion is energy, and
energy cannot be destroyed. In fact, one might be able to justify a
repeating Universe with OR without enough mass to "suck it back in," simply
because of the laws of thermodynamics. If the universe were to truly
expand "forever," for "infinite time," then it would HAVE to reach a point
of infinite expansion, of zero energy. This point is a contradiction in
itself, and so what do you have instead? Everything in between, again, and
again, and again.
As of now entropy tends to favor the expansion of the Universe, and we
mistakenly confuse it with time. Entropy is what kills us; time is simply
"a dimension in which things exist." (Including entropy) But who's to say
that entropy can just as easily be reversed when the Universe approaches
its "heat death," that the entire process simply reverts backwards and all
of our lives are lived in a completely reversed motion, with us unaware the
entire time? It would be completely natural, and completely fine. Any
physical or chemical equation can be reversed, so why can't you? The
playing field just happens to favor expansion right now, but looking at it
from the other perspective, there doesn't seem to be a reason that it
couldn't favor compression, either.
Point #2, that "randomness does not exist," is rather hard to discuss
in detail. One can't prove the existence or lack thereof of randomness.
I've "learned" in Chemistry that "electrons move randomly" because of the
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, but what the hell does that mean? Do
they truly move randomly because WE CAN'T SEE THEM? With the advent of
quantum mechanics science began to favor the concept of randomness, because
of the difficulty of prediction. But this says nothing about the Universe
and everything about us. Just because we're too big and clunky to look at
things without fucking them up doesn't mean they are arbitrarily moving in
random directions. Non- randomness simply implies absolute causality;
everything is responsible for the occurrence of anything. Calling it
"causality" almost does a disservice to Nietzsche, for he felt that cause
and effect were arbitrary distinctions in themselves, that there was no
cause and effect but instead a "re-distribution of forces." True or not,
it is merely a semantic issue and ties in with the reversal of entropy.
While I cannot "prove" the truth of eternal recurrence, I can at
least explain the rationale behind it. It needn't be a religious belief
of any sort; rather it is a scientific and philosophical position. It
rests on two assumptions, and no more.
It presents the ultimate version of "heaven and hell," where the
two are forever blended in a brutal and symbiotic harmony. Why aspire to
live forever in happiness by sacrificing the pleasures of carnal existence,
when carnal existence IS forever?
Eternal recurrence is ruthless and brutal; it offers no hope for
those who die young, who die painfully, who suffer throughout life. It is
the very nature OF nature itself to give a shit whether or not a few of its
components are satisfied with its processes. Might as well go with the
flow, when you're a part of the flow to begin with. Beats the hell out of
making up "God," and trying to explain how a completely loving entity also
causes pain, suffering, anguish, etc. God will soon slit his own wrists
with Occam's Razor. It just takes time.
It is my position that eternal recurrence is indeed true, and I
needn't sacrifice anything to live in accordance with that position. All
I've got to do is live my life as I see fit, and create a comfortable niche
for myself. After all, I'll be here forever. Might as well get comfortable.
--Lord_H
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