What is your overall outlook on life?

[Shpongled]

This is sort of a two part question I guess. I was taking a walk through the park at lunch today, enjoying the bright warm sun and looking at the mountains across the sound. At the same time I was listening to one of my all time favorite metal albums on my mp3 player and kind of laughed at the irony of how much I was enjoying the beauty I saw in front of me while listening to music about the apocalypse. It made me realize that I don't necessarily "connect" with the attitude of certain music that I used to before.

When I got into metal, it was because it was pissed off and the bands weren't afraid to shout their negative thoughts to the world as loud as they could. This is what initially drew me to it. I used to make art based around these kinds of lyrics from my favorite songs. I wasn't a pissed off kid, but I looked at everything from a pretty bleak point of view. Looking back, I'd say now that it was more apathetic than bleak, but it didn't result in very much smiling or happiness either way.

These days, things are much different. I've found that life is EXACTLY WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT and that if you want it to be awesome, it will be awesome. If you want it to be horrible and filled with drama, that can be done easily as well. You may not be able to control everything that happens, but you can control how you react to it and how it will affect you in the future.

My overall outlook on life is that it's really pretty fantastic, even if there is some bullshit involved along the way. But the bullshit doesn't have to change how fantastic it is if you don't let it. It's all about challenging yourself, not being lazy, being reliable to the people you care about, and stepping back to take time for yourself when you need to. I think that if you keep those things in mind at all times, there's nothing anybody on earth can't do.


The second part of my question is: What do you personally believe the future holds for humanity? Are we doomed, or have we only just begun to realize what we're capable of as a species?

My thoughts on this are a little bit more grim. I'd love to think we still have lots of potential, but I think there are too many people out there that just don't care about the future. I will elaborate on this more as I think about it. I just wanted to post this thread before I lost motivation (which unfortunately happens to me a lot).

And finally, I was going to get a turkey and pesto sammich for lunch, but when I walked through the work kitchen to go to the deli across the street, there were 5 boxes of free pizza sitting there. I had a slice of pepperoni and a slice of sausage, canadian bacon, mushrooms and olives. It was lukewarm but still tasty. 6.5/10 food stars.

 

[Will Bozarth]

When I started listening to metal, it was never for the lyrics. Afterall, how could a 9 year old relate to Walk, Enter Sandman, or War Ensemble? It was only as I started to get older and listen to more "personal" bands, then did I realize that I could relate to lyrics.

My outlook on life changes frequently. As you catch me right now, I ate a Cheesesteak Calzone while drinking Dr. Pepper. I just looked back on the pictures from this weekend's MonsterMania convention. Needless to say, my outlook is good. I know awesome people, and I do awesome things. I'm in the process of recording cool music, and the people I'm doing the music with are cool people. I'm content with my overall situation.

Humanity, in general, is doomed. The only thing that will get better is technology. As technology advances, people have to retain less and less information. I remember when I was little, we had to memorize phone numbers. Since cell phones have become "the norm", nobody needs to remember ANYTHING! No phone numbers, no appointments, no shopping lists, no to-do lists... It's all on our phone. As we get dumber, our quest for knowledge continues in the form of using Google and Wikipedia on our phones. It seems to be contradictory, but we're getting dumber as we get smarter.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

Good thread.

Lately I've been very pleased with life. I've realized how good I have it, and that the world overall is a pretty awesome place with tons of cool people and sweet ass shit.

I think that the human race will endure, as we have an amazing capacity to adapt, the only question is how long will it take to get us to the point where we can realize our true potential. The largest factor and obstacle, I believe, is religion, which stands in direct opposition to human advancement in all categories (technological, social, cultural, etc). Education should be the priority here, as that is the most effective means of minimizing ignorance in all its forms. I am often astounded at the things humanity has accomplished, and filled with wonder when I think of what we could do in the future.

For lunch I had "Royal Rama" Chicken from a local Thai place. Cooked with a yellow curry and broccoli, then covered in a tasty peanut sauce, it was awesome. 9/10 food stars.

 

[Shpongled]

Humanity, in general, is doomed. The only thing that will get better is technology. As technology advances, people have to retain less and less information. I remember when I was little, we had to memorize phone numbers. Since cell phones have become "the norm", nobody needs to remember ANYTHING! No phone numbers, no appointments, no shopping lists, no to-do lists... It's all on our phone. As we get dumber, our quest for knowledge continues in the form of using Google and Wikipedia on our phones. It seems to be contradictory, but we're getting dumber as we get smarter.

Delegation of responsibility. Everyone wants less and less to be accountable for. I totally agree with you that this is a major factor that will play into the end of the human race.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

I don't think the increasing reliance on technology is a bad thing, as long as it doesn't replace our intellectual and creative capacities. I don't really see how remembering phone numbers and shopping lists effects our intelligence.

 

[Dead Winter]

When I was younger I held onto a belief that if you work hard, be responsible, and plan for the future, you will have a good life. I believed that we as a country were genuinely good people and that the rest of the world looked up to us for guidance. This flies in the face of everything I have experienced, however...we're no different than anyone else. I have come to the realization that life is just a random set of events set in motion; sometimes you have a little control over these events, but most of the time you're just trying to keep your head above water while the rest of the world is pushing you down. I also then realized that life, much like Kevin said, is basically what you make of it. Most things in life are not going to go according to plan...sometimes for the better and sometimes for worse. You can have a bunch of shitty things happen to you and still be blissfully happy; it all comes down to how you handle your situation and how you either rise above it or let it drag you down. The people who have let these things drag them down will try to drag you down with them simply because misery loves company. We as human beings must cut the cord and let these people drown because a person will never bring themselves up on their own if they have strength in numbers and wish to spread the misery around.

For nearly ten years of my life, namely my 20's, I wasn't a part of real life since I was in the military. It's another existence that has its own rules and will make you form different ideals and perspectives than if you were on the outside. You live 2 years ahead, that's it....when's my next duty station, where is my next duty station, when's my next promotion, etc., and you just rake in the money while you just EXIST in this sort of purgatory. Now that I'm out, I have once again re-connected with real life and in my opinion, it is as I described: just a series of random events in which the real change comes from your reaction to said events.

As for the human race, I think we're doomed BECAUSE we're realizing our potential as a species. We are a little too self-important and could stand a few worldwide apocalyptic incidents to put us back in our place. However, we are capable of making great strides in the furthering of humanity, but ironically, due to our nature we'll never see it because we're so self-absorbed, lazy, and dependent upon so many things that we ourselves invented.

In short, bring on the cyborgs.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

right now im bored with life. everything is very meh.
ammo is too expensive, no open land to shoot at
My metal band is still pretty far from being an actual metal band.
friends are lazy
females... wut?

Humanity? last thing Im worried about. No big changes coming or going.
Technology still has a long ways to go.
We still cant easily get to the moon
energy sources are still the same

 

[Morbides]

I'm in limbo.

 

[freewill]

i am one manic depressive individual....my outlook changes every 1-3 weeks

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

Humanity I think is doomed but more because of war than anything else. One day a radical Muslim is going to set off a nuclear bomb in the USA. I am sure of it. After that, all hell will break loose.

 

[Morbides]

I'll give my two cents on this: all is wrong with the world.
Every new generation will forget the legacy the ones before left and we will continue to spin in a never ending circle, mostly rediscovering what's been forgotten with time.

From what I noticed about people, as we get older, we stop caring about such philosophical matters like ‘the future of humanity’ and just concentrate on making our own lives more pleasant or on making ourselves easier to live with. Most of us at least. Then there’s the very few who achieve something for others as well.
But I do have a lot more to learn, live and experience before I come to a conclusion really worth something.

 

[El Stormo]

Morbides nails it. Although I do wish to add that if everyone only concentrated on making his life more pleasa,t we wouldn't have the slew of problems we have now. The problem is that some people want to make their life more pleasant, to the absurd level, without giving a damn about the lives their behaviour destroys. I'm talking about, say CEOs who fire hardworking people just for a bigger bonus, people who log entire forests without caring what it does to the world, people who send young people off to die just so they can build an oil pipeline, those people. That's beyond selfishness, that's evil.

 

[Lord Foul]

Bear in mind that CEO's, at least under US law, are legally bound to make money for the shareholders first and foremost, and any other concerns are secondary.

 

[Lordlucid]

Lifes good, could use more money but what hell, who couldn't?
Lost a few pounds, getting married eventually* (see previous sentence), and watching my neices and nephew growing to be little buggers like my brothers and I once were. My lifes outlook seems pretty sweet.

As for humanity, I would have to agree with Max on this one. May seem like I pressed the easy button but thats almost exactly what I think. Cudos to Max.

For lunch today; a Spring mix Salad, with carrots, cucumber, and tomatoes. Covered with a lite Italian tomato and basil dressing. To drink, water.
Yay!

 

[El Stormo]

Bear in mind that CEO's, at least under US law, are legally bound to make money for the shareholders first and foremost, and any other concerns are secondary.

Really? I don't think there's such a law over here. I mean, they're expected to make money of course, but the "all other concerns are secondary", that's a bit disturbing. Over here, they're also expected to be somewhat humane. Of course, none are.

 

[Dead Winter]

Bear in mind that CEO's, at least under US law, are legally bound to make money for the shareholders first and foremost, and any other concerns are secondary.

Start at 4:40, and that's what I think about corporate mentality.

 

[Anvil]

There are weeks where I'm in love with everything around me. Life is amazing. But then there are weeks like the current one, where I'm depressed for no reason, I'm getting panic attacks every second day, and I'm just generally miserable to everyone. This has been my cycle for about 7 years now. It's a hard thing to come out of the down sides too.

Generally speaking, life is grand. My issues are always frustrating, such as money problems, work problems and family problems, but nothing that I shouldn't be able to cope with.

As for humankind? I'd like to think we're slowly advancing in the right way now, what with a renewed belief in saving the environment. Though it's still a large minority of people who act as such, that's not to say it's not a step in the right direction with comparison to where our beliefs were 15 years ago.

Dennis is right. Each generation is more self-centered than the next. But is that such a bad thing? Happiness and joy in life and with people starts from within. Peace starts with one.

 

[El Stormo]

Start at 4:40, and that's what I think about corporate mentality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WBgONjhxHU

"An error has occurred, please try again later" >_<

Dennis is right. Each generation is more self-centered than the next.

Yes, and no. Most people of our generation would not, for instance, bicker, fight, and start a family feud over the inheritance of grandma while she's not even cold yet. All generations are self-centred, it's just priorities that change.

 

[Super Mahrio]

All generations are self-centred, it's just priorities that change.

Thats true. However the current generation's priorities are really fucked up. They are less concerned with the world than i think, any prior generation. At least ours wanted to make a statement and do stuff. They are far too concerned with themselves.

As for life, yeah mine could be better but things arent too bad. I dont really listen to a whole lot of metal right now because im not really in that "AGGRESSIVE LOUD AND ABUSIVE" type state. Thats why im listening to stuff thats a bit more chill.

 

[theoden236]

I say whatever to life. Sometime it sucks, sometimes it doesn't. Either way I still think humanity is a cancer to this planet, slowly destroying it by the square-mile.