[Falconoffury]

The more I learn about how the world works, the sadder I become. Does anyone else feel this way?

[KiddieKorral]

Check the Psychology forum. You're not the only one.

[DriveElectric]

Xanax helps, for about 6 hours.

[MicroHydro]

This is a stage in becoming a mature adult. For some it happens early, for others later, for some never. One must realize that there is no Santa Claus, Easter bunny, great pumpkin, or tooth fairy and move on.

Perhaps in the distant future, genetic engineers will be able to tinker with human nature. For everyone alive now, we are stuck with the same H. sapiens that has been running amok and devastating the planet for 10,000 generations. Once you accept what people are, it is much easier to achieve your personal goals.

[entropyfails]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MicroHydro', 'P')erhaps in the distant future, genetic engineers will be able to tinker with human nature. For everyone alive now, we are stuck with the same H. sapiens that has been running amok and devastating the planet for 10,000 generations. Once you accept what people are, it is much easier to achieve your personal goals.

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', 'T')he more I learn about how the world works, the sadder I become. Does anyone else feel this way?

[BabyPeanut]

It helps to open your mind big enough to be able to have room for both the pleasure and pain in your life.

[holmes]

I have become angry but happy at the same time. Im even more manic as 2+ million acres gets flushed each year. Global warming is the biggie. Hang in there, pardner. as A-Ron said ya aint seen nothing yet.

[Grimnir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he more I learn about how the world works, the sadder I become. Does anyone else feel this way?

[MicroHydro]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('entropyfails', 'O')ur ancestors 200,000 years ago (10k generations) did just fine at preserving their environment and respecting the K-selection nature of mammal life.

[Raxozanne]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', 'T')he more I learn about how the world works, the sadder I become. Does anyone else feel this way?

[entropyfails]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MicroHydro', '
')Actually, no. The people who settled Australia ~ 50,000 years ago caused mass extinctions of large animals. They also used fire for hunting, leading to desertification that the continent has never recovered from. They were no wiser than oil age man.

In the preceding period 200,000 - 50,000 yrs bp, humans were probably equally destructive but too few in number to have an ecological impact that is easily detectable in the fossil record.

[entropyfails]

Now I have admonished all of you to listen to more They Might Be Giants, I think perhaps if you come to understand the meaning of this song you may see your predicament more clearly.

Or listen to BabyPeanut. He’s saying the same thing.

A part of Mr. Me by TMBG
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')nce a boy named Mister Me bemoaned a great regret
I've floundered in the misty sea, but can't abide its mystery
I wound up sad, you bet

So onward go and Edward Ho into the bounding main
Enjoy the show look out below but mind the misty sea
Or end up sad like Mister Me

He ended up sad
He ended up sad
He ended up really, really, really sad

So take the hand of Mister Me and mister, make him glad
To swim the Mister Misty Sea and cease the Mister Mystery
That mister, made him sad

He ended up sad
He ended up sad
He ended up really, really, really sad

[holmes]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MicroHydro', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('entropyfails', 'O')ur ancestors 200,000 years ago (10k generations) did just fine at preserving their environment and respecting the K-selection nature of mammal life.

[erl]

Prozac?

No.

Zoloft.

[Grimnir]

The Prince and The Magician

Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, and he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domains, and no sign of God, the prince believed his father.

But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace and came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore.

"Are those real islands?" asked the young prince.
"Of course they are real islands," said the man in evening dress.
"And those strange and troubling creatures?"
"They are all genuine and authentic princesses."
"Then God must also exist!" cried the young prince.
"I am God," replied the man in evening dress, with a bow.

The young prince returned home as quickly as he could.
"So, you are back," said his father, the king.
"I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God," said the prince reproachfully.
The king was unmoved.
"Neither real islands, real princesses nor a real God exist."
"I saw them!"
"Tell me how God was dressed."
"God was in full evening dress."
"Were the sleves of his coat rolled back?"
The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled.
"That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived."

At this, the prince returned to the next land and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress.
"My father, the king, has told me who you are," said the prince indignantly. "You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician."
The man on the shore smiled.
"It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom, there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them."

The prince pensively returned home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eye.
"Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?"
The king smiled and rolled back his sleeves.
"Yes, my son, I'm only a magician."
"Then the man on the other shore was God."
"The man on the other shore was another magician."
"I must know the truth, the truth beyond magic."
"There is no truth beyond magic," said the king.
The prince was full of sadness. He said "I will kill myself."
The king by magic caused Death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses.
"Very well," he said, "I can bear it".
"You see, my son," said the king, "you, too, now begin to be a magician."

from "The Magus", John Fowles.

[lorenzo]

Procreate and die. That's your only mission. If you happen to extract some joy during the process, good for you.

Remember: you are merely a pack of genes in God's huge selection pool. As an individual, you are irrelevant.

I hope this thought comforts you.

If not, try some Belgian beer.

[Raxozanne]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('erl', 'P')rozac?

No.

Zoloft.

[turmoil]

After talking with my uncle off and on for a few months about life, he said one day, "It doesn't matter, and it doesn't matter that it doesn't matter."

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'P')rocreate and die. That's your only mission. If you happen to extract some joy during the process, good for you.

Remember: you are merely a pack of genes in God's huge selection pool. As an individual, you are irrelevant.

I hope this thought comforts you.

If not, try some Belgian beer.