Metaphysical Exile

Text: https://www.metaphysicalexile.com/2023/09/confirmation-of-life-elsewhere-in.html

Music by REPULSIVE.

Patmos is the Greek island where John wrote the book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible. There, while waiting for the end of the world, the disciple of Jesus remained isolated, without producing any descendants. Even if we do not agree with the thesis of cosmic pessimism that states that sentient life itself is a constant flight from negative states to fleeting and illusory positive states, we live under the threat of climate catastrophe and, although the Cold War is over, we still live with the possibility of destruction by nuclear war. For all intents and purposes, today, the whole world is Patmos.

In memory of my cousin, Juliana (1977 - 2023)

There are conditions with such horrifying prognoses that it's easier to find people claiming to have been “cured” of them by taking highly dubious dietary supplements than to find reports of cures through faith. It's as if even God doesn't want to get near these diseases, and all that's left are the lowest forms of charlatanism.

Music by REPULSIVE

Essay: https://www.metaphysicalexile.com/2023/04/sleight-of-hand.html

Music by CO.AG: https://www.youtube.com/@co.agmusic1823

In this essay, I discuss the possibility that our yearning for things such as artificial general intelligence and intelligent extraterrestrials come from a need we have to not be the only beings endowed—or cursed—with deep consciousness. I also briefly discuss "longtermism", the newest philosophical fad in the first world.

Text: https://www.metaphysicalexile.com

In this essay, I discuss how almost everyone is dissatisfied with the world of becoming. Religious optimists, religious ascetics, unbelievers who create their own meaning, unbelievers who reject the illusion and existence: they all started their careers realizing that there was something wrong or strange with reality.

Essay: https://www.metaphysicalexile.com/202...

Music by REPULSIVE

In this essay, I discuss how work was viewed as a curse during most of the last 2,500 years. It was only in the last few centuries that work came to be considered an activity that ennobles men. This aura of nobility regarding work became the object of dispute between antagonistic political movements. However, from the perspective of philosophical pessimism, the modern conception of work is somewhat fantastical. Within this perspective, the medieval and ancient peoples were closer to the truth: work is akin to a curse. 

Essay (with references): https://www.metaphysicalexile.com/202... 

Music by REPULSIVE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCndF...

In this essay, I start by commenting on a heated political argument that occurred among Brazilian musicians during an episode of famous podcast in order to discuss the idea that conflict is inherent not only to human societies but to existence itself. Utilizing the perspective of negative or pessimist philosophies, I argue that, given the intrinsic role conflict has in existence, we humans can either accept or reject existence, be it in an explicit or implicit way, and that it is not possible to truly be neutral in regards to becoming: you either approve the world of becoming with all of it's suffering and horrible attributes (either implicitly or explicitly) or you reject it. 

Blog version: https://www.metaphysicalexile.com/202...

Music by REPULSIVE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCndF...

In this essay, published in April 4, 2021, I despair about how Brazil tends to become a militarized banana republic with a theocratic flair. While in the 1960's the religion of most anti-democratic reactionaries was Catholicism, today this role is played by neopentecostal churches—churches that had an absurd growth in the last 5 decades, especially since the incentive given by the military dictatorship starting in 1964.  

Essay: https://www.metaphysicalexile.com/202... 

Music by CO.AG: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcav...

In this essay, I talk about how the unsuccessful attempt to unite the creator deity with the savior deity in the first centuries of the Christian era ended up producing a sea of violent fanatics throughout the centuries — fanatics who are willing to murder people so they can be saved, an attitude divorced from logic that could only be brought about by a belief in a God that is, at the same time and contradictorily, entirely good AND capable of committing the worst atrocities.

Essay (published Dec. 28, 2020): https://www.metaphysicalexile.com/202... 

Music by REPULSIVE