Interesting story. Thank you for sharing.

I remember the day I started getting tics from Tourette's Syndrome. I just had this weird feeling in my eyes, like I needed to roll them back in my head. So I did it, again, and again, and again, until I got one of the worst migraines of my life, culminating in me puking and wishing I could die. I was terrified that this was going to be my life.

People love drama. It's interesting, so long as it is not happening to them. Then it sucks.

If it helps at all, I've always treasured this quote (from a forgotten source): pain in life is inevitable, but suffering is optional. It's something that I try to apply to my life on a daily basis.

In fact, I won't ever deny the data of my senses. — Mongrel

What if you are on LSD and see a zebra prancing down the street? Is that zebra real?

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. That sounds awful.

I have experienced withdrawal from medication before and it sucks. Like, panic attack at two in the morning, barely able to breathe, just trying desperately to keep from losing control. Scary stuff, would not recommend.

When did you find out you had epilepsy?

I have to agree with you on philosophy. Philosophy has made me horribly depressed at times, but has also led me to many feelings of eudaimonia (such as when I "get something" and it "clicks") and liberation. A cursory, and thoroughly misinterpreted, introduction to antinatalist philosophy a few years back landed me in the hospital due to obsessional, suicidal thoughts. After that, I started therapy and was diagnosed with OCD. I'm okay for the most part now though.

I fall into a depressive state often, usually when anxious or in a state of boredom. I find that a large amount of sleep actually makes things worse. My usual mood is melancholic with short lived spurts of energy.

I am sorry to hear that you don't hold much vitality for life.

Let us imagine that the concept of categorical/unconditional imperatives/obligations was sensible. Let us also imagine that these are true. What then? How would this world differ from one without objective/inherent/intrinsic/absolute/universal morality (henceforth simply referred to as "morality")? — Michael

You are assuming these don't exist? For many people (excluding myself), there are moral obligations.

Reminds me of the time a friend and I were running an elevation workout together for the cross country season and decided to race down the hill. The hill is about a quarter of a mile long, with the steepest part at the end. When we started sprinting, I quickly lost my center of gravity and ended practice with a bloody knee and forearm. I totally wiped out :P

Presumably, if one can assume they are in a rational state of inquiry (not dreaming, high, or hallucinating), then things that are perceived by the senses can be seen as real, as in existing.

Agreed. How could science even start to try to uncover the rationality, or lack thereof, of the universe?

Does this mean that any assertion that the universe is meaningless or irrational is based purely off of a gut feeling?

@Wosret Tell me all about it, I'm a zombie, and only pretend to understand.

Dennett would have laughed.

I think the experience of qualia is directly related to consciousness, as in, consciousness is a necessary prerequisite for qualia.

However, Hume argued that we are qualia - the self is a conglomeration of sensory inputs. I have to ask what experiences these sensory inputs, though. For if there is nothing to experience these inputs, they aren't qualia, they are just electrical impulses.

Good post. How do we know if a universe is rational?

Don't...tempt me...:P

I have thoughts, ideas, and questions that I want to discuss. I don't know anyone in person to discuss these topics with. Philosophy Forums and other online forums are a refuge for me to get down my thoughts and hear some feedback. Mostly I use them to reorganize my thinking and tidy up the clutter bin that is my head; it's a type of therapy, so to speak.

I consider woo to be anything that attempts to explain a phenomenon without the use of rigorous rationality.

This is exactly what I am saying. Posting is easy to do. Whereas in the old PF it seemed like people took more time with their responses.

No, just in general.

I completely agree, the like/dislike option always bothered me in the past forum. It made it difficult for me to judge a submission by its worth and not by its popularity.

The best possible future for humanity, in my view, is one where we collectively agree to cease reproduction and live our lives for as long as we desire to. We would be abstaining from forcing people into existence while pursuing our dreams for as long as we can sustain them.

Why would someone need faith if life is not absurd?

Quoted directly from the SEP:

"Camus centers his work on choosing to live without God."

I wasn't trying to be the first the make a death-related post. :\

To address the non-sequiturs:

Camus thought there were three methods of dealing with the Absurd, either by faith, suicide, or apprehending the Absurd directly. When following the path of faith, a person is denying the Absurd. So I assume that if there is no god, then there the Absurd is very real. This is based purely off of Camus and a bit of Nietzsche (god is dead).

Awesome, got it to work. Thank you.

I typed in "philosophy forum" in Google, and the old forum was the first suggestion.

Slightly off topic. I'm still getting used to the format here, but for some reason my avatar isn't showing up.

Yeah, kudos, this site looks fantastic.