Woody Allen - do you agree?

[Rum]

I am a fan of his movies generally speaking. He has a new one out called ' You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger'...his obsession with death etc..

"One must have one's delusions to live. If you look at life too honestly and too clearly life does become unbearable because it's a pretty grim enterprise," Allen says.

"This is my prospective and has always been my prospective on life - I have a very grim, pessimistic view of it.

"I do feel that it is a grim, painful, nightmarish, meaningless experience and that the only way that you can be happy is if you tell yourself some lies and deceive yourself."

Do you agree?

[Feck]

So I see CBT didn't work on you either ?

[virphen]

Nope.

Or rather, if I am using delusions to help me surprise I'm totally unaware of them, or they are delusions we all share (such as seeing solid objects when physics tell us they're all 99.9% empty space)

[Rum]

So I see CBT didn't work on you either ?

Well I would class myself as a deeply pessimistic (and relatively cheerful) optimist!

[orpheus]

Yes, I do agree.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Woody Allen is a uniquely insightful, funny and creative person. Even his worst films - and he has made a few stinkers - contain moments of sublime genius. Above all, he has never been ashamed of his intelligence and never paid lip-service to any common denominator nor respected any sacred cows.

His obsession with death and mortality is long-standing and well documented. Basically, he recognises, as do all honest atheists, that he has nothing but a short vacation in this life in which to make his mark. From my point of view, of course he is right. But then again, considering myself an honest atheist too, I would say that, wouldn't I?

[charlou]

I am a fan of his movies generally speaking. He has a new one out called ' You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger'...his obsession with death etc..

"One must have one's delusions to live. If you look at life too honestly and too clearly life does become unbearable because it's a pretty grim enterprise," Allen says.

"This is my prospective and has always been my prospective on life - I have a very grim, pessimistic view of it.

"I do feel that it is a grim, painful, nightmarish, meaningless experience and that the only way that you can be happy is if you tell yourself some lies and deceive yourself."

Do you agree?

I don't like staring into the abyss .. even a glimpse over the edge is more than enough. I just keep trying to look outwards and assimilate myself with what I see ... successfully enough to keep me going most of the time.

[FBM]

Nope.

Or rather, if I am using delusions to help me surprise I'm totally unaware of them, or they are delusions we all share (such as seeing solid objects when physics tell us they're all 99.9% empty space)

There are 13 9's after that decimal: 99.9999999999999% empty space. [/pedantry]

To be somewhat serious about the OP, I think that's what Buddhist training is all about. Learning to see life as it really is, i.e., getting rid of one's illusions/delusions. Faced with certain death and not much prospect of an afterlife, without sinking into despair.

I'm going to go take a dump now. brb lol

[Hermit]

Woody Allen is OK in small doses. I cannot think of another film maker right now whose works can so consistently be described as "it's about me, me, me". His self-indulgent, barely disguised autobiographies border on wankery. (As an aside, can anyone tell me if he has been courageous enough to produce something concerning his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn?)

Having said that, despite that weakness he is a good film maker, and I do enjoy watching his output - every now and again - especially those films of his that are less obviously about him.

As for Allen's opinion that "If you look at life too honestly and too clearly life does become unbearable because it's a pretty grim enterprise", I don't share it, and I feel no necessity to entertain delusions to mask it.

[Feck]

I can't justify my opinion on this (it's my opinion i'm allowed it ) I can't stand the bloke maybe he reminds me of My worst tendencies but I think he is self-absorbed whiny little git .

[Tigger]

I'm with Feck on this one. I don't rate Woody Allen, and from a personal perspective, I disagree that you have to be a miserable cunt.

[Animavore]

I don't even like the look of Woody Allen. I've never watched one of his films. I've seen clips of so-called "classic comedy moments" on clip shows and never found him funny
I don't agree with him either. He seems like someone with a deep fear of death. Maybe that's why he's so desperate to be immortalised? The harsh reality of life does not bother me. Lying to myself does. Ever since I was a little boy praying before lunch in school and wondering why I was doing this? Or when I was a Buddhist for a while meditating and thinking This is a waste of time. It's delusion that bothers me. Reality is a piece of piss. It gives me great comfort accepting things as they are. No conflict in the mind.

[floppit]

No - I don't think he's right, nor do I think the recognition of happiness is delusional or requires that it be eternal.

"One must have one's delusions to live. If you look at life too honestly and too clearly life does become unbearable because it's a pretty grim enterprise,"

What determines unbearable? God knows I can bitch and moan and I honestly think I'm comfortable with people knowing where I struggle/lack courage, but unbearable? No, I've not thought of life as unbearable in the last 10 years, nor have I wished it away. There have been times in my past when I have, mostly because there's been this expectation from life, the horseshit spewed by media, expectation of myself an others which was about as likely as finding a gold pot at the end of a rainbow. I believe it is the other way round, that the delusions create swathes of suffering.

"I do feel that it is a grim, painful, nightmarish, meaningless experience and that the only way that you can be happy is if you tell yourself some lies and deceive yourself."

I think life has within it nightmares beyond scale. I remember looking after a horse impaled on a gatepost - his guts had fallen on the floor but he was still alive, we were not trying to preserve that life just stop him ripping himself further apart before he could be shot. I knew then and now that this is nothing, that in terms of scale it's nothing, that in terms of numbers it's nothing, although thankfully in terms of detail it is the most nightmarish thing I've ever seen. But, it doesn't make watching a stall holder give a child a doll FOC any less a pleasure, or the feeling you get watching two people caring for each other, seeing a child develop compassion, or watching a young dog play.

Life's a job lot - nightmares and dreams, to wilfully only view part is delusion no matter which part. I would buy life if it were for sale, with everything I know, with all it's hard and easier bits I would still snap it up. I no more need it to be eternal than I need omnipresence - the lack of both means I'll miss stuff but that's not the point, the point is what I get.

[Trolldor]

You are born, you live, and when you die you fade in to obscurity like every other creature that has ever and will ever live.
...and?

I'm waiting for the point where that necessitates that any of your experiences are thus delusions.

[Feck]

You are born, you live, and when you die you fade in to obscurity like every other creature that has ever and will ever live.
...and?

I'm waiting for the point where that necessitates that any of your experiences are thus delusions.

You wouldn't know if they were ..so why worry about that .