(no subject)

"Though I am surrounded by people, I am always alone."
"She'll kill herself. She'll kill herself over something that doesn't seem to matter."

Though I am nowhere near suicidal at the moment, I have been appreciating the above two quotes all day today. Part of it is having an abnormal psychology test that consists mostly of short answer and essay questions; part of it is just being in a reflective mood. And part of it is probably the fact that I've got two shots of espresso and a thing of Snapple Lime Green Tea running through my system. Damn caffiene.

So many people go through life without any sort of meaningful human contact - the sort that makes us realize that we are both alive and also human. Even if you are a socialite who constantly throws parties, if you don't actually connect with people, you're not going to feel like a person. City life, especially in larger cities, is notorious for dehumanizing people, but the psychological damage of teaching people to ignore those around them is often underestimated.

As for myself, I don't currently life in a city, nor have I for the past three years. And yet I still feel alone much of the time, simply because so few people seem to relate to each other on anything but the most superficial of levels. Does anyone actually care about each other anymore, or must topics always stay on "safe" subjects such as classes, food, hair and clothes? Don't people ever wonder what is going on emotionally and mentally with others? Even when studying psychology, which is supposed to be about what goes on in people's heads, I find this detachment - a lack of value placed on the subjective person, and an emphasis on what can be objectively measured. Which then begs the question: Considering that everyone percieves reality somewhat differently, can there be such a thing as "objective reality?" Or is the world created through the collective perceptions of millions of people?

My apologies for the incoherence of this entry. Extreme amounts of caffiene do that to me on occasion. I'm reminded of another quote: "Philosophy generally consists of deciding that there is no such thing as reality and then going to lunch. You should major in philosophy if you plan to do a lot of drugs."

Brownie points to anyone who can identify the three quotes...

@->--Rose

(no subject)

"Though I am surrounded by people, I am always alone."
"She'll kill herself. She'll kill herself over something that doesn't seem to matter."

Though I am nowhere near suicidal at the moment, I have been appreciating the above two quotes all day today. Part of it is having an abnormal psychology test that consists mostly of short answer and essay questions; part of it is just being in a reflective mood. And part of it is probably the fact that I've got two shots of espresso and a thing of Snapple Lime Green Tea running through my system. Damn caffiene.

So many people go through life without any sort of meaningful human contact - the sort that makes us realize that we are both alive and also human. Even if you are a socialite who constantly throws parties, if you don't actually connect with people, you're not going to feel like a person. City life, especially in larger cities, is notorious for dehumanizing people, but the psychological damage of teaching people to ignore those around them is often underestimated.

As for myself, I don't currently life in a city, nor have I for the past three years. And yet I still feel alone much of the time, simply because so few people seem to relate to each other on anything but the most superficial of levels. Does anyone actually care about each other anymore, or must topics always stay on "safe" subjects such as classes, food, hair and clothes? Don't people ever wonder what is going on emotionally and mentally with others? Even when studying psychology, which is supposed to be about what goes on in people's heads, I find this detachment - a lack of value placed on the subjective person, and an emphasis on what can be objectively measured. Which then begs the question: Considering that everyone percieves reality somewhat differently, can there be such a thing as "objective reality?" Or is the world created through the collective perceptions of millions of people?

My apologies for the incoherence of this entry. Extreme amounts of caffiene do that to me on occasion. I'm reminded of another quote: "Philosophy generally consists of deciding that there is no such thing as reality and then going to lunch. You should major in philosophy if you plan to do a lot of drugs."

Brownie points to anyone who can identify the three quotes...

@->--Rose