When a family farm is ravaged by heroin.

[starting_over]

Yea I'm not sure any of the reasons listed by starting_over are actually in any way indicative of "the greatest time period ever". In fact I could name five negative consequences each of them has had on the individual and society itself.

Technological progress does not necessarily equal progress. There must be growth elsewhere to balance it otherwise imbalance, dis-ease, and the like occur.

Well we could be in an era with no clean running water

I like drinking tap water and using toilets. Having refrigerated food is nice too.

The idea of the stock market is incredible, you could be a millionaire with luck and enough starting capital.

Willing to hit the books hard in high school? You just may collect a scholarship to a university. Maybe even a full ride, if you have a stellar application with volunteer hours etc.

Religious tolerance, same sex marriage, ability to make fun of politicians

All of us on BL could have been born in an impoverished country, envious of everyone living in a place like Canada or the USA. I think we are all incredibly fortunate to even have been born where we are.

 

[cj]

So your saying being addicted to heroin is not like living a false life that you have created with few links to real experiences? That is what i meant by it, not some black and white thing about economics. It is literally living a false life that one must drag himself out of and adjust to the real world. At least that is literally what shooting dope and stopping was like for me but maybe its not the same for everyone.

I dont blame anyone for my failures other then myself. I dont care what generation i am from or what one proceeds or which i followed those are not really relevant to my existence and only serve to categorize things i do not care about.

My life on heroin was just as real as my life now. I just had different priorities. I don't think any human has the right to decide what is best for anothers life. I didn't qu it until I wanted too no amount of dragging me was going to do shit

 

[szuko000]

I didn't qu it until I wanted too no amount of dragging me was going to do shit

It is meant to be read as an internal struggle for my example. I.E you live a life of fake emotions and fake existence. If the driving goal is to get and use dope that doesnt benefit you or anyone so its shadows of a life. Only when your willing to drag yourself out of it can you see the beauty in the world.

Maybe I getting clean just changed me more then most but i definitely have a different way of thinking, relating, and a higher drive and am more passionate about my personal endeavors. I am not the person i was when i was shooting dope at all.

 

[Gaz_hmmmm]

They live on a farm, why not illegal grow opium on a secluded patch?

 

[gh0stmAn]

Our grandparents had opportunity, our parents were in the right place at the right time and we are left to eat the crumbs until everything fails and society as we know it is over.

I feel like my parent's generation has become so parasitic upon my and younger generations, they are to blame for the state of things yet tell us we're the problem and are lazy all the while taking money out of our pockets for social security and other doomed entitlement programs.

They have ruined the real estate markets and made it impossible to live like they had at our ages.

So many "essential" tools of life come with monthly bills that they did not have to pay in our time, it's just very obvious we're getting screwed and it's hard to keep marching uphill in the rain knowing that we won't have anything like they did.

We had 9/11 and the recession mixed with two of the longest wars in American history, that takes a toll on one's psych.

Exactly..most of all FUCK THE FEDERAL RESERVE and their fake ass paper money and the system of perpetual debt that turns us all into slaves. we need to take back control of our money supply, that alone would fix basically every problem in the country and the wealth generated by each and every single citizen would be on a scale never seen before in human history. It would be akin to a utopia. You must realize just how much wealth is concentrated in a handful of families connected to the people who run the federal reserve. The Fed is a private bank.

 

[PantyRaiders]

Please tell me you're kidding ?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Housing prices are ridiculous... but in general, Canada (and I would assume the USA) is currently in the greatest time period ever.

Wi-fi, streaming media, smartphones, reliable vehicles, tinder, hd porn, skype, online shopping,

Easy and cheaper access to rec drugs, a wider variety of drugs, longer lifespans due to advances in medicine, more international cuisine in restaurants and grocery stores,

Of course some of the above are debatable in how "good" they are.

No offense, but this is not what I think of when I combine the words "meaningful" and "life." I see a much bigger problem in how we have learned - how we have conditioned ourselves and trained by a culture of mass consumption - to conceive of the good life than any material quality of life that is the problem these days.

It is meant to be read as an internal struggle for my example. I.E you live a life of fake emotions and fake existence. If the driving goal is to get and use dope that doesnt benefit you or anyone so its shadows of a life. Only when your willing to drag yourself out of it can you see the beauty in the world.

Maybe I getting clean just changed me more then most but i definitely have a different way of thinking, relating, and a higher drive and am more passionate about my personal endeavors. I am not the person i was when i was shooting dope at all.

Being a junkie (in America) certainly lends itself to what you describe. That was essentially my experience using heroin. But if we look to other places in the world, places that actually have an effective public health system and have learned to treat drug use primarily as public health issue, as opposed to the war on drugs' emphasis on only addressing it as a public safety issue, the situation is remarkably different (and this despite how we have pushed our war on drugs on the international community).

There is nothing inherent about opioid use, not even about heroin, that leads to this kind of alienation. The history of drug law enforcement and drug policy in our country is enough to make this evident. It's the stigma, demonization of users, criminalization of drug use and the social alienation attendant to all this that drain the soul far sooner than the drug can.

You'd enjoy reading Chasing the Scream and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. Same with High Price.

 

[szuko000]

^social effects aside the idea of relying on something for your happiness and enjoyment does change your view on life. Its like how as a scientist i cant not view things scientifically, as a junkie i couldnt help but compare activities to the use of dope. Without dope i have activities as comparison to activities so im more likely to be active... as hard to understand as that phrasing is

 

[starting_over]

No offense, but this is not what I think of when I combine the words "meaningful" and "life." I see a much bigger problem in how we have learned - how we have conditioned ourselves and trained by a culture of mass consumption - to conceive of the good life than any material quality of life that is the problem these days.

Being a junkie (in America) certainly lends itself to what you describe. That was essentially my experience using heroin. But if we look to other places in the world, places that actually have an effective public health system and have learned to treat drug use primarily as public health issue, as opposed to the war on drugs' emphasis on only addressing it as a public safety issue, the situation is remarkably different (and this despite how we have pushed our war on drugs on the international community).

There is nothing inherent about opioid use, not even about heroin, that leads to this kind of alienation. The history of drug law enforcement and drug policy in our country is enough to make this evident. It's the stigma, demonization of users, criminalization of drug use and the social alienation attendant to all this that drain the soul far sooner than the drug can.

You'd enjoy reading Chasing the Scream and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. Same with High Price.

None taken. However I strongly prefer mass consumption and technological advancement over living 50 / 100 / 1000 years ago. Now that I've been using the internet for 20+ years, it's impossible to give up. All this potential knowledge at your fingertips, it's an amazing thing.

If you were to measure global happiness, what would the results be when comparing x years ago to present day? Are we leading happier, more meaningful lives as a whole in North America? The world? Impossible to measure but this has become more philosophical than I had intended.

Also seconding the rec for In the Ream of Hungry Ghosts, what a fantastic book.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Honestly, I doubt we were happier in the past. However, I do believe we have had moments in our history as a species when, although perhaps not collectively, we were more connected with one another (at least in localized societies) than we are today. With the advance of communication technologies, things have become able to get really diffuse and spread out, which has been both wonderful aspects and also alienating ones.

In any case, I didn't mean to imply I believe in any kind of idealistic version of the past - times have been different given how our lives have been different on a material level for sure, but the whole "making X great again" mantra is old news, more a form of social control as the open signifier that it is (similar to calls to "law and order" or "justice" by a political establishment).

^social effects aside the idea of relying on something for your happiness and enjoyment does change your view on life. Its like how as a scientist i cant not view things scientifically, as a junkie i couldnt help but compare activities to the use of dope. Without dope i have activities as comparison to activities so im more likely to be active... as hard to understand as that phrasing is

Very true, although what I was getting at is more the issue of how a junkie is created in the first place, as opposed to changing long engrained thought patterns or the powerfully engrained kind of worldview that comes from living the junkie lifestyle for any extended period of time (although this too is possible with enough practice IME, just takes a shit load of effort and is really hard to accomplish in our culture).

 

[bobby1978]

greatest time period ever.

Wi-fi, streaming media, smartphones, reliable vehicles, tinder, hd porn, skype, online shopping,

Anyone else think this is really sad, that this is what one points to when talking about being in a great era?

And that's not a jab at you starting_over, the things you mentioned are fairly typical, but that's the point I'm trying to make.

 

[starting_over]

Anyone else think this is really sad, that this is what one points to when talking about being in a great era?

And that's not a jab at you starting_over, the things you mentioned are fairly typical, but that's the point I'm trying to make.

I'll admit they're the first things that came to mind, it reflects how consumerism has taken its toll on me. Perhaps it's sad (I disagree) but also what I use the most.
Then I gave it more thought and expanded with my second post.

 

[ro4eva]

Anyone else think this is really sad, that this is what one points to when talking about being in a great era?

And that's not a jab at you starting_over, the things you mentioned are fairly typical, but that's the point I'm trying to make.

Subjectively, I more-than-empathize with your viewpoint. And furthermore, I'm glad that I no longer am residing in the lower 48, given the crap that lower and middle-class Americans have on their plates.

Objectively, I firmly-believe we are living in the greatest era ever experienced by mankind (and I am grateful for it). But I am also well-aware that it can come crashing down on us without warning.