
Emil Cioran: Anti-philosopher of Life and Death - AlexeyBrin
http://www.fourbythreemagazine.com/issue/death/emil-cioran-the-anti-philosopher-of-life-and-death
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jadbox
"Buddhism was too foreign a fantasy of escape for a deracinated westerner."

This is where Cioran missed his 'escape latch' from the egocentric fear of
death's grasp. It's challenging to explain this concisely:

We die all the time. Every time you go to sleep, every time you learn
something that changes your behavior, every time you leave your home, and
ultimately, we die pretty much any time we engage in life. Why? Because
everything about you changes over time- the cells on your body (they get
replaced every ~7yrs) and the neuron behavior in your brain. The ego is an
illusion the brain sometimes manufacture to internalize action. Talk to people
that have experience "ego-death" via meditation or hallucinogens- they often
drop the feeling of death's sting, in my experience. Death of oneself only
causes the amount of fear in proportion to the attachment to 'oneself'. It's
like being afraid that magic will die one day... which might be a terrible
fear provided you truly believe in magic. But if you do believe in your ego,
then you have no other choice than to fear non-existence. You might ask how
does one carry on in the world without ego? You engage in the world much like
the natural world engages with you. You live your values, which will prompt
you to action. There's nothing wrong unboxing your ego when you need it from
time to time, provided you dispel it when it's no longer useful... just like
how we decide to believe in magic when we go see a magic show.

There's an amazing class taught by Professor Kagan on Life and Death that I'd
highly recommend:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2J7wSuFRl8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2J7wSuFRl8)

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bitexploder
I can't help but thinking, for those of us interested in living the life we
have until we can't any more, that this line of thinking is ultimately much
more helpful. Death is a single, important, instant in our existence. We must
give it the consideration it is due, but I also don't like the idea of being
trapped by my own mortality. It will come when it comes, and I don't want to
cheat myself of all the moments in between wrestling with its specter.

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alphonsegaston
I think Ciorian is interesting to understand as a case study in how an
ecstatic nihilism can lead one to embracing all kinds of horrors. Before there
was /pol/ recruiting white supremacists and online ISIS pledges, there was a
young Ciorian aligning himself with the Nazi-affiliated Romanian Iron Cross.

Understanding the draw of his thinking can help one understand the
intellectual premise on which disaffected young men and women are seduced
further into darkness.

~~~
sebastianconcpt
Mechanicism combined with nihilism is a solid foundation for amoral realism.
Of you give power to that thinking you'll basically fabricate an opportunist
personality that will do social engineering justifying means thought ends.
Invariably, genocide will be closely lurking.

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antinatalism
It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself
too late. -E.Cioran

~~~
slau
Emil Cioran is a pretty twisted individual, but his writing is amazingly
beautiful. In particular, _De l 'inconvénient d'être né_ is pretty fantastic,
especially in French (haven't read any translated versions, so can't vouch for
it).

I was introduced to him by my previous boss. I was going through some rough
times, and my boss recommended some of his books, summarising Cioran's
thoughts on the matter of suicide as being a crutch to survive.

He saw suicide as an eternal escape hatch. No matter what happened, he still
had the comfort (and control) of being able to say "Stop."

I'm not sure I would agree that it is the main message, but it is true that
_On the Heights of Despair_ does allude to that way of thinking.

I highly recommend Cioran, to anyone who is interested by philosophy. As with
most philosophers you will read about, there will be major disagreements
between you and the author, but his works have definitely shaped how I
perceived parts of life.

~~~
dakull
Indeed, I'm a native Romanian — his original works are almost lyrical. They
did wonders during my depressive stages, especially “Pe culmile disperarii”
(“On the Heights of Despair”) — will try it in English soon.

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weatherlight
Another poignant anti-natalist/pessimist/nihilist that is not to be missed is
Thomas Ligotti. He picks up right were Cioran leaves off.

Both have terrific yet bleak senses of humor and beautiful prose.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
Hell, I don't know.

He's definitely a gifted writer, there's no doubt about that. But the core of
his writings... I've tried to read his stuff, since it was quite popular in
some circles I was frequenting back in college. I just couldn't. I had a truly
physical reaction of revulsion. I literally felt like throwing up.

Very gifted individual, but deeply afflicted by depression. His was a medical
case.

~~~
weatherlight
Are you talking about his short stories or his nonfiction?

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grondilu
> The Ancients are no good; to think about death is not to experience it – to
> believe one is not afraid of it only shows one has not yet met it:

What about people who thought they will die and were ok with it? Or those that
did indeed die and were, at least apparently, ok with it? Those cases are not
so rare.

It seems to me that, all philosophical attitudes apart, fear of death is a
matter of character. Fear, after all, is an emotion and as such it is
difficult, though probably not impossible to control consciously.

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mcguire
And then there was Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, with the cynic's version
of Buddhism.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Robert_Eduard_von_Hartm...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Robert_Eduard_von_Hartmann?wprov=sfla1)

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tiatia
Yeah. Love this guy.

If you like him and aphorisms, you may enjoy this Colombian:
[https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/340970.Nicol_s_G_mez...](https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/340970.Nicol_s_G_mez_D_vila)

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BafS
Albert Caraco [1] is even darker than Cioran. He committed suicide right after
his father's death.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Caraco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Caraco)

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Cryptoboss
I love this quote: "If philosophy struggled to make sense of life, what could
it possibly offer on death?"

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jaza
Bit of a gloomy chap, isn't he?

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coldtea
An unbearable philosopher-wannabe writing the same platitudes and whining for
decades on end while living a cushy literary/academic life.

Pass, and go directly to someone like Schopenhauer...

~~~
RodericDay
You're a pretty great poster and I hope you know that the frequency with which
your posts are greyed out is a good indicator that you often push the right
buttons.

A bunch of tech-nerds who routinely act skeptical of women testimony about
harassment, waxing poetic about the nuances of the thought of a Nazi
sympathizer.

~~~
RodericDay
> "there is no present-day politician that I see as more sympathetic and
> admirable than Hitler",[1] while expressing his approval for the Night of
> the Long Knives—"what has humanity lost if the lives of a few imbeciles were
> taken"

HN: "wow; beautiful, thoughtful stuff. really makes me think."

