While brony and furry weren't exactly what I had in mind, I think you're 100% correct. And also a great example of finding happiness in simple places. Whatever gets your juices flowing (figuratively speaking).

I thought bronyism sort of died out and that the furry community sort of subsumed it.

I'd also add that I think the increased self-ID of young people in the LGBTQ community is in and of itself sort of a means to access a sort of alternative lifestyle. Many of these people live somewhat hedonistic, bohemian, artsy lifestyles that disregard traditional notions of success or traditional standards and mores in relationships and love.

There is this feeling where it's futile to do anything, the world is big and miserable and you're small and insignificant.

I'm slowly getting convinced that some political players are spreading this view on purpose. It is an easy way to block people who try to stop the erosion of society.

It also isn't true. You can easily improve the world on a small scale by doing anything positive. On world scale, trying to change things is like buying into a lottery. Most attempts will fail, but the more stakes you have, the bigger the chance of winning.

In my corner of the world, over my life, I saw flemish people, woman, LGBTQ, vegetarians all stand up and demand the rest of the world treat them as equals. They all started tiny and were laughed at for the futility of their dreams. But I speak dutch, woman go to universities, gays are holding hands publicly and getting married, and vegetarian options are normal in restaurants. These causes won, because lots of little nameless people fought for it, even if there are still haters pushing back each of them.

Yeah, a bit of this. Speaking from Europe, there is the latent feeling of war, and the fear that an even larger one may come. It's also becoming increasingly clear what kind of visions the powerful people are trying to realize, and don't have much to do with the kind of optimistic visions for the future that I grew up with. Lastly there is a feeling of helplessness in the face of all this.

There is still a lot of counterculture in spite of all this - and honestly, it even feels more enticing than it used to. But it also feels more hedonistic and escapist than like a genuine alternative way of living.

Things feel less like the 1980s and more like the 1920s...

“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.”

The above quote is from a character from one of JRR Tolkien’s books. (Gandalf from Return of the King.)

Tolkien fought in the Battle of the Somme which was one of the most destructive battles in human history. So I think his views have some weight here.

Bad things have always happened in the world. Despair is a useless emotion that just precludes action that can better the world or even better a single other’s person’s life. For each person belongs to the world and by improving one life you improve the world. This cannot be accomplished through despair but through joy.

If Mahatma Gandhi had lived in despair over the horrible things the British were doing to the Indians, would he have been able to help anyone? It was through joyous resistance that he managed to inspire a movement to defeat them.

> God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Sorry for the cliche quote, but I feel it's relevant. As an atheist, I wouldn't appeal to God, but rather would look within for these things.

I agree to the extent that you can impact things around you, but is the general chaos and suffering in the world outside of that sphere really a responsibility? At some point you have to accept you can really only impact the sphere unless you end up being a major historical figure.

I'm going to say it will be similar to the experience prior to birth / conception, ie. we were nothing, and to nothing we shall return.

It's a scary feeling if you can grasp it. Grasping non-existence from within existence is difficult, I've consciously tried to do it and succeeded a couple of times, but it's fleeting and both times it affected my breathing and heart rate in a similar way to fear or panic or pain.

I think that once the power supply to my brain shuts down, that's likely the end of my conscious experience.

Dead brains don't feel

Its a beautiful thing to be able to have these chats. In the past you had to spend a lot of time and resources searching for the person not just with the knowledge but the patience, time and capacity to communicate it well. Open Yale courses has great free phil courses, and then chating about that content with an LLM adds a whole lot more to depth.

Solomon seems to give a glimpse into a life of "what happens if the only challenges you have are the ones you freely pick?" He had everything one could dream of and more, including an unprecedented era of peace.

Yet he struggled to pass the time. Having the equivalent of billions of [insert favorite currency here], most folks fantasize about the ideal life. We often believe all of our immediate problems go away, free to do whatever we want. Yet, at least in Solomon's case, he seemed to become incredibly fed up with these grand projects and plans of his own devise.

While I certainly wouldn't mind a fraction of that wealth myself, I do recall my college weekends. Free to spend time however I pleased, with my basic needs met and no homework looming, I spent hours playing my favorite video games. And yet, no matter how good they were, I remember how dull and boring they eventually became in only a few hours.

The Hebrew word used is Elohim. While the book ever explicitly uses the word, it stands to reason the author is speaking of YHWH, historically rendered as Jehovah or Yahweh. And as Jesus is the Son, the second person of the Trinity, it refers to him as well. The book is written by Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel, and hence it comes smack dab in the middle of the covenant history of Israel. Solomon describes Elohim with attributes of Jehovah throughout the book. He is the creator, sustainer, law-giver, etc. Not to mention the many times in the rest of the Scriptures that use Elohim to refer to Jehovah. Finally, the closing verses invoke the covenantal language of Israel being bound to Jehovah’s law, “Fear God and keep his commandments” would remind the original readers of Deuteronomy 6:2 or 10:12, which clearly do invoke Jehovah.

The first three are the same, and the latter three are in no way related to the passage.

I've accomplished nothing of note ever. Most people don't. They just live their lives, trying to get by as best they can.

understated throwaway line. its often the small stuff that we gnaw on for too long.

Beautifully put, in four letters.