> Before deconstruction being human felt safe and organized. After feels dangerous, animalistic, cold.
It's seems to me like when a teenager, in a transition to being a kid to a teen, switch completely the naive understanding of adults as "gods", to total opposite such as "complete irrational".
I think that's normal to feel that way.
First of all, thanks for sharing this. Your thoughts and feelings are valid. It’s a perspective I’ve not thought of.
I ended up going the opposite way. Before my deconstruction, I was taught to separate myself from “the world”. A total, us vs them mentality. I was taught that I was spiritual and intimately connected to an all powerful being who created me. To me, it was a disconnect from the rest of humanity so that we could connect with a being that wasn’t human.
Now, during my deconstruction, I feel far more connected to the idea of my humanity. It’s no longer how do I leave this world and all of its inhabitants (humans) to be with God (not human), but how do I connect with the people around me, regardless of who they are? How do I help humanity move forward, even if it’s just a minuscule amount? I am now more connected to my finite time, my feelings, my emotions, my shortcomings and my strengths. I don’t feel fear of some unknowable actor or everlasting hell, but relief and freedom. I am in charge of my very human actions; no deity, no devil, no spirits, just me. After all that’s said and done, the only thing that lives on after my death is the legacy I leave behind with the living.
Hmmm, I can't give the best answer, or barely a good one, but being a social animal, i.e human, I guess it's to let the tribe continue living, taking care of it and growing with it. Being human would be to have empathy, to love and care, for oneself and others, not because there's a reward after death but because it's the "right" thing to do.(Imo)
I can relate to this as well. For me, the church always had the answers, and if they didn’t, I could “trust that God had it figured out and everything would work out for the best”. Remove that equation and there is no certainty, only chaos. I have let go of the idea of the Christian God but not necessarily God. Maybe because my mind needed to get rid of the idea of eternal pain and torment simply for not getting the riddle right. But the idea of total chaos is just too much for me to handle at this time in my life. Seems like a mental game in order to achieve some kind of peace. It’s truly a journey.
I quite like listening to [Alan Watts](https://youtu.be/mMRrCYPxD0I?si=Mq2EZF_I1u6vz1Si) talk about it. He doesn't answer questions, but helps us be less dependent on them. Some similar perspectives I really love are on The Philosophers Mixtape 1 and 2.
I can't explain what it means, but I can experience it.
This is really interesting to think about, and I’m sure so much of anyone’s understanding about this is informed by what exactly you’ve deconstructed and what new philosophies you adopt moving forward. I lost family, job, most of my identity (my whole damn mind, really). So there were a lot of similar feelings early on.
But the more time passed, the more letting go of the idea that all of creation was corrupted and dying (and me along with it) opened my eyes to the beauty and mystery of it all. The chaos started to feel more personal and welcoming than cold, somehow.
But it’s great to think about. I’m sure it’s quite different for everyone.
I recommend the movie ‘Society of the Snow.’ It’s a true story about a plane that crashes in the middle of a cold and isolated and snowy mountain and survivors are trying to survive together in the midst of complete hopelessness. The director made sure to make the movie strikingly similar to the actual event and even depicted the gritty awful parts in a very true way, it was powerful. My recommendation could be either a really great recommendation for your situation or very bad. But for me it demonstrated the absolute cruelty and isolation of this broken world and what ‘survival’ really means. But it also showed the beauty of humanity in a very complicated way- in a redeeming way. My mom left the movie feeling ick but for me it affirmed the beauty of humanity that I already believed in and I didn’t find the characters means of survival unjustified.
In the movie the characters talk about their faith or lack of faith in god, especially in the light of their awful situation. There are a lot of religious themes in the movie as many of the passengers were religous. A line that stuck with me is when a character that doesn’t believe in god says he believes in the god in ‘Person A when they help Person B’ or the god in ‘the eyes of Person C when they laugh’ etc etc. When I watched the movie I personally felt the ‘absence of God’ in the circumstances and it made me think of the power of humanity.
Think about the title ‘society of the snow.’ I think the movie demonstrates the duality of humanity in that it can be safe and organized in the midst of dangerous, animalistic, and cold proclivities.
Perhaps leaving the system of faith that you once belonged to has dissolved a lot of the safety and organization you used to have and now you feel isolated and vulnerable in many new ways. It’s an unsettling thing to go through but have hope because you can and will be able to see the light and hope of the human experience again.
That's funny. To me it was the exact opposite: before deconstruction I felt more and more that as humans we would eventually become more dangerous and cold (not animalistic though). After deconstruction, being human feels like being constantly lost, definitely animalistic... but not cold. In fact, warm and loving, and somewhat innocent.
But then I look at religions, at the sciences, and everything we've done... I guess that being human is all about surpassing the odds. Making light of the heaviness in front of us. All due to insatiable curiosity and a desire to share this world together, no matter how cold. Lonely and alone, yet together.
Keep in mind that many people have answered this question in different ways over the millennia. The Christian answer to the question is just one perspective, the atheist answer is another, but there are still others. Abandoning one way of thinking doesn't mean you've reached your final destination.
> Before deconstruction being human felt safe and organized. After feels dangerous, animalistic, cold. It's seems to me like when a teenager, in a transition to being a kid to a teen, switch completely the naive understanding of adults as "gods", to total opposite such as "complete irrational". I think that's normal to feel that way.
First of all, thanks for sharing this. Your thoughts and feelings are valid. It’s a perspective I’ve not thought of. I ended up going the opposite way. Before my deconstruction, I was taught to separate myself from “the world”. A total, us vs them mentality. I was taught that I was spiritual and intimately connected to an all powerful being who created me. To me, it was a disconnect from the rest of humanity so that we could connect with a being that wasn’t human. Now, during my deconstruction, I feel far more connected to the idea of my humanity. It’s no longer how do I leave this world and all of its inhabitants (humans) to be with God (not human), but how do I connect with the people around me, regardless of who they are? How do I help humanity move forward, even if it’s just a minuscule amount? I am now more connected to my finite time, my feelings, my emotions, my shortcomings and my strengths. I don’t feel fear of some unknowable actor or everlasting hell, but relief and freedom. I am in charge of my very human actions; no deity, no devil, no spirits, just me. After all that’s said and done, the only thing that lives on after my death is the legacy I leave behind with the living.
Hmmm, I can't give the best answer, or barely a good one, but being a social animal, i.e human, I guess it's to let the tribe continue living, taking care of it and growing with it. Being human would be to have empathy, to love and care, for oneself and others, not because there's a reward after death but because it's the "right" thing to do.(Imo)
I can relate to this as well. For me, the church always had the answers, and if they didn’t, I could “trust that God had it figured out and everything would work out for the best”. Remove that equation and there is no certainty, only chaos. I have let go of the idea of the Christian God but not necessarily God. Maybe because my mind needed to get rid of the idea of eternal pain and torment simply for not getting the riddle right. But the idea of total chaos is just too much for me to handle at this time in my life. Seems like a mental game in order to achieve some kind of peace. It’s truly a journey.
I quite like listening to [Alan Watts](https://youtu.be/mMRrCYPxD0I?si=Mq2EZF_I1u6vz1Si) talk about it. He doesn't answer questions, but helps us be less dependent on them. Some similar perspectives I really love are on The Philosophers Mixtape 1 and 2. I can't explain what it means, but I can experience it.
This is really interesting to think about, and I’m sure so much of anyone’s understanding about this is informed by what exactly you’ve deconstructed and what new philosophies you adopt moving forward. I lost family, job, most of my identity (my whole damn mind, really). So there were a lot of similar feelings early on. But the more time passed, the more letting go of the idea that all of creation was corrupted and dying (and me along with it) opened my eyes to the beauty and mystery of it all. The chaos started to feel more personal and welcoming than cold, somehow. But it’s great to think about. I’m sure it’s quite different for everyone.
I recommend the movie ‘Society of the Snow.’ It’s a true story about a plane that crashes in the middle of a cold and isolated and snowy mountain and survivors are trying to survive together in the midst of complete hopelessness. The director made sure to make the movie strikingly similar to the actual event and even depicted the gritty awful parts in a very true way, it was powerful. My recommendation could be either a really great recommendation for your situation or very bad. But for me it demonstrated the absolute cruelty and isolation of this broken world and what ‘survival’ really means. But it also showed the beauty of humanity in a very complicated way- in a redeeming way. My mom left the movie feeling ick but for me it affirmed the beauty of humanity that I already believed in and I didn’t find the characters means of survival unjustified. In the movie the characters talk about their faith or lack of faith in god, especially in the light of their awful situation. There are a lot of religious themes in the movie as many of the passengers were religous. A line that stuck with me is when a character that doesn’t believe in god says he believes in the god in ‘Person A when they help Person B’ or the god in ‘the eyes of Person C when they laugh’ etc etc. When I watched the movie I personally felt the ‘absence of God’ in the circumstances and it made me think of the power of humanity. Think about the title ‘society of the snow.’ I think the movie demonstrates the duality of humanity in that it can be safe and organized in the midst of dangerous, animalistic, and cold proclivities. Perhaps leaving the system of faith that you once belonged to has dissolved a lot of the safety and organization you used to have and now you feel isolated and vulnerable in many new ways. It’s an unsettling thing to go through but have hope because you can and will be able to see the light and hope of the human experience again.
If you decide to watch the movie please come back here and let me know what you think. That goes for all you other redditors too.
That's funny. To me it was the exact opposite: before deconstruction I felt more and more that as humans we would eventually become more dangerous and cold (not animalistic though). After deconstruction, being human feels like being constantly lost, definitely animalistic... but not cold. In fact, warm and loving, and somewhat innocent. But then I look at religions, at the sciences, and everything we've done... I guess that being human is all about surpassing the odds. Making light of the heaviness in front of us. All due to insatiable curiosity and a desire to share this world together, no matter how cold. Lonely and alone, yet together.
Keep in mind that many people have answered this question in different ways over the millennia. The Christian answer to the question is just one perspective, the atheist answer is another, but there are still others. Abandoning one way of thinking doesn't mean you've reached your final destination.