Why are my parents so pissed off that I quit my easy job because of philosophical despair over human nature

My dad is so pissed of that I quit one of the easiest and decent paying jobs you can get especially in this economy, because I was reading too much of Schopenhauer's pessimism about the cruelty of man, nature and existence. The stupid will to survive that "just is" and defies all reason. The selfish egoist sexual sadism of all nature and man. How can I live in a world like that? Maybe if I had been educated since childhood that thats the way the world is I could have accepted it. But in school they taught us lies about good guys and bad guys that I was the only fool stupid enough to believe.

My dad thinks I'm depressed because I have no friends or girlfriend. But this is a philosophical existential depression not a personal psychological one! I just can't move, get out of bed or live in this world under such cruel conditions!

How do I convince dad not to throw me out of the house because I wont get any job where I'm ruled by authority

I know that there is a libertarian argument that capitalism is the natural sister of democracy. That the free market is true economic liberty of personal responsibility, free will and voluntary choice. And you have an uncle named John Galt who used to have to lick toilets clean but then invented a autolicker and became a trillionaire. For the moment lets just leave that theoretical argument to the side.

What is the reality? In the USA all workers are at-will. Which means you can be fired for any reason whatsoever save race or sex. For rooting for another sports team, for complaining about an abusive employee, for doing your job too good, for listening to your manager, for asking for a raise or a pay decrease. For any reason whatsoever. So your boss has basically godlike omnipotent power over your life. Since there is limited welfare, its not impossible to starve from poverty so it literally is life and death. Without getting into a theoretical debate about capitalism, on a personal level its hard for me to just accept that some of the worst people in the world, the alpha male wolves should have such arbitrary power over my life. When you think that the lion's share of your time revolves around work, and your job pays your bills for the offhours. Since we're all such individualists, whats the solution for the individual. I guess theres the claim that anyone can be an entrepreneur. But for a young guy right out of college, what are the options really? Boss or death. I don't know if I can endure hierarchy and authority. Perhaps a public sector job would be better since then at least there is a system of checks and balances between unions and management, so its more like a constitutional monarchy. And in an indirect sense you are working for yourself since you elect the government you work for. Technically you can elect your boss out of office but its a rather tortuous process and not reality. Most you can really do is write your congressman complaining.

So I guess for me the question is both personal and philosophical. They feed off each other. I can sort of predict the responses. Its the boss' property so he can do whatever the hell he likes. And I should just toughen up and take my punches. Democracy has been such a big deal in my life politically and philosophically that I forgot to examine democracy in my personal life. I think this was a big mistake in college, because I took a pretty antagonistic view towards college life, when in reality there is more democracy there through hall councils, SA, and clubs than in the real world. Now college is over, and there is very little democracy in the real world. It seems individualism is valued over democracy. We are all lone atoms. There is value to that. But on the other hand you deal with your neighbors as atoms, not as a democratic body. Few people even know their local government. I'm very political and have no idea. And the small town Dem and Rep parties are surprisingly closed off, you would think they would WANT more members. So I started off with a sort of Jeffersonian democratic vision of the yeoman farmer breaking up the landed estates and farming his own land ruling his own nation like the Atheninan democrat or the New England Town meetings. With the values of a old New England town. But as I searched for daily life democracy I became more radical.

So I don't know what the solution is metaphysically or personally. Can this world be made livable? Can I put up with a job? To get a job is the ultimate affirmation of life. Its saying to the universe I'm satisfied with the decades that have come before, and I'm willing to work, fight and struggle to preserve whatever I already have. I'm not sure if I'm ready to take that leap of faith and affirm my past life for the future

Firstly good on you for posting this, rather than keeping it all bottled up inside.. I can tell from your post you are a very intelligent articulate person.

Secondly do you smoke weed? cos that stuff sometimes distorts views, even though sometimes you think it does help. I have been down this path personally myself.

It is a cruel world out there and it seems to me that you are asking yourself some pretty deep questions. Life isn't always fair and it doesn't always make sense, some people turn to religion to answer some of these deep questions, while others like myself and by the sounds of it you included, have to form our own views, which inherently can be the harder path to walk. Alot of people go through life oblivious and never ask such deep questions - the fact that you have shows you are intelligent person and I have faith that you will get through this hard time.

existential depression can be hard to deal with, have you considered talking to a councilor trained in dealing with people going through this?

other things I suggest is exercise 30 mins a day of jogging or being active released endorphins in the brain which can give you a natural lift. You like to read? you could read books such as "The road less traveled" which tries to answer some of these hard questions. Also another good book which deals almost specifically with esistential depression is the "The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression" I got a fair bit out of this book.

You are not alone.

Taking comfort in people who have been through depression. Alot of very intelligent famous people have suffered depression. Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and many more, below is a link i found at least a little comforting... find someone who you relate to, and research them! interesting to see how they battled with it.

http://www.geocities.com/coverbridge2k/ ... ssion.html

Be kind to yourself, you are going through a hard time its disappointing your father isn't overly supportive of you, support is very important and its sad to hear you haven't any friends or girlfriend even that you can turn to. Have a look in your area for what support can be offered for depression.. you can join a support group. I joined a depression support network, a good way to share your pain with life amongst others. A problem shared is a problem halved.

I myself was in a similar situation. through my depression I lost an awesome well paying job and a gorgeous girlfriend of 6 years almost simultaneously - was a double blow. I was very sick with depression for 6 months hardly even getting out of bed - let alone leaving the house. Unfortunately my mum who was supposed to be helping me kicked me out at the lowest of low times - she thought i was being lazy. I was forced into a either sink or swim situation.

I am since working again and have been for over a year now. I do still battle this black dog, I have learnt to tame him. His bite isn't as strong and sometimes - SOMETIMES even.. he's in his kennel.

All the best and I will leave you with a positive quote from Sir Winston Churchill...

"If you find yourself going through hell, keep going. I wish you all the peace and consistency in life that we all deserve" - Winston Churchill

Having philosophical beliefs is fine. I think it's good that you are so thoughtful and insightful both about your own personal believes and the world around you.

However I see a major hypocrisy in your argument. You believe work to be bad so you quit. Yet you have no qualms about living off of someone else's hard work. If you truly believe what you believe, then your father is also a part of the rat-race-America and you should also be morally opposed to living off the income he provides to support his family-- this includes providing shelter, clothing, and feeding you. By your behavior you've essentially said to your father "I am too good to work, but I still expect you to provide for me by your work". Furthermore, since you are over eighteen your status in your father's household is an "at will" arrangement. You are no longer a child. He has no legal obligations to take care of you. You are an adult capable of working-- you are simply choosing not to.

People are struggling just to hold on to their jobs and you quit because of some abstract sociological ideology? It's no small wonder your father wants to throw you out. Honestly if you truly believe what you believe then you should have no problems with being on your own. If human nature causes you so much despair go live in the woods for a while away from society. Try not having food in your stomach or a bed to sleep on or even a roof over your head. These are all comforts brought to you by that capitalistic human society that causes you so much despair. You'll quickly realize that being a part of society means that you need to compromise some of your ideals to live a comfortable life.

Make no mistake, you are not unique or original in your thinking. All of us have had these thoughts before. At some point we all realize hard work and being a part of society is the only way to have the comfort, safety, security and well being (not just material possessions mind you) that any of us want in life. And those that don't... well you see them pushing shopping carts full of bags or muttering to themselves outside of liquor stores. You decide.

Best of luck,
~Antithesis