INTELLIGENCE AND FEAR

If you've read the first 3 topics from the SocioNihil vision, you may have noticed that this vision is rather tolerant towards any attitude, view on life, way of life, belief, behavior and so on.
Sure, we renounce everything they stand for and sometimes even doubt whether they are helpful for us or even state that they are destructive for us, but the SocioNihilist won't find the person in question less worthy or less interesting, pleasant to be with, if that is the case, at least.
A progressive, social and benevolent arsehole is still an arsehole; an islamic, fundamentalist and racist comedian is still a funny guy.

So to the SocioNihilist it doesn't really matter which choices people make in life, but there must still be a clue to make "good" choices, leading to a "good" life. Good, in this case meaning it's good for the person in question, the person making the decision, not "good" as in following what the society the person lives in defines as what is a "good" life to live.

A "good" life only is a good life when you feel right about it, when you make only choices you want to make (and are able to make!), and feel no regret about any of them. The SocioNihilist's life is a selfish life, it's all about "you", no one else. It's your life you're living, when you die, only you have to look back at the life you've lived, not the people living with you, not the people not living with you, not the people trying to define how you should live.
Note, though, that selfishness is not necessarily a bad thing (it's only gotten a bad name), and that altruism also is a form of selfishness.

Of course, it's not all that easy. If it was, there wouldn't be divorces, suicides, murders; even this site might not even be created if it were all that simple.

Not everyone is able to make such decisions or live such a life. Hence the 2 crucial factors for these decisions and choices: Intelligence and fear.

INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence is a very broad concept, in this case meaning mostly social intelligence and emotional intelligence, not just the ability to learn stuff pretty quick. Also, the social heritage is a very important factor. If you come from a poor family you're less likely to be able to study and learn new things, let alone to further develop your different fields of intelligence.

Intelligence understood in this way, is thé factor to see what's right for you, to be able to compare the pro's and con's of certain decisions, choices and situations.

Sure, drugs are all very nice, so it'd be smart to use them if you want to live a nice "joyful" life. However, they alse screw you up badly physically and emotionally and mess up your life as well, so that's a choice you've got to make. You could, of course, also just lack the intelligence to realize drugs are bad, in which case I'd wish you a lot of fun and all the best. But if you know that they're bad for you and still use them, hey, you're on your own, but the choice (and the consequence) is yours.

Religion can be good for people, it can give you solace in hard times or even your entire life, it can solve existential crisises and uncertainties, it can bring people who've made bad choices in life  walk a "good" path; yes, it has a lot of pro's.
However, it's all a load of lies and made-up pile of bollocks based on archaically written stories, so you'd be living happily, but in a lie. More on this in the religion page.
So, if you're intelligent enough to realize this, you can either say no to religion and create your own vision on life, or you can choose to live in some fantasy world with gods and angels and pixies and trolls and demons and fairydust and all that other made up crap, make everything that's bad look better than it really is and refuse to accept the physical reality. So hey, if that makes you happy, go on ahead! The choice (but also the consequence that there just might not be an afterlife, hope you're good at gambling) is totally yours!!!
There are, of course, also people who aren't intelligent enough (yes it sounds rude, but that's the way it is) to realize their God is made up, and who actually believe that their holy book, even though it has been copied for over 2 millenia, cannot possibly contain any typo or mistake, and thus must be followed to every detail (or whatever interpretation my religious superiour makes of it)! Those people can only be happy, right? How can you blame them for not having had the chance to read Darwin (not enough libraries around, I suppose), become an archeologist and dig up the earth to discover it contains earth instead of hellfire, or become a pilot and learn that there is no emergency procedure for when you happen to pass an angel flying by in the opposite direction.
Yes, i'm being sarcastic I know, but I mean it though, they can only be happy with what they know.

The chances for a childless marriage to fail are far higher than that of one with offspring. Keeping that knowledge in mind, the choice is still yours and yours alone to decide whether to have children or not! If you do become unhappy (not when, but if!), there's not much to regret, is there? You knew it could happen, you knew the possible consequences, you were smart enough, and it happened. So live with it (or seek councelling, obviously; we're not fatalists).
Of course, you could also just be dumb and breed like a fucking rabbit just because you think that's what you're supposed to do, even though you don't really like kids all that much... well, tough luck, hope you're happy, sorry you didn't have better chances at life.
Now I'm not saying everyone with kids is a dumb-ass, I'm just saying that nor a life with or a life without kids is an unhappy one, and that the choice ànd the consequences are yours, there is no right or wrong choice (see morality).

FEAR

Intelligence isn't the only factor. After seeing what YOU want to do, what you think is right for you considering your current chances, intellect and knowledge, there might often be several boundaries that seem to have to be crossed.
There are always unwritten sociological rules that define your choice as bad or good even before you've made it.

Your family could be against your relationship with a foreigner. Your neighbourhood might not like your loud drugparties. The society you live in might frown upon your clothes, carreer, lifestyle, language, political view, interests or hobbies. The SocioNihilists doesn't see any of these as wrong or right, but that doesn't mean others think the same.
Often that is a reason for people not to make decisions that they find are good for themselves, things they wànt to do, but don't because of other people's reactions.

The intellect to define what's right for them is there, but it is obstructed by fear.

Fear, lack of courage, lack of assertivity, oppression,...

Fear.

It deprives people of happiness, chances, opportunities, luck and personal succes.

People who are afraid to joyfully sing on the street because people might look weirdly at them.
People who are scared to talk to their boss for a raise or promotion after hard work, because he just might not like their question.
People who keep living with their fury of a wife even though they loathe her, just because people might look down upon them if they called it quits and moved on.
People who only wear what they think people want them to wear.
People who only say what they think people want them to say.
People who are frightened to talk to girls/men they like, just because they're afraid to blush or that they might not like them.
People who keep acting as if they believe in some deity promising goodstuff when they die as long as they follow his rules, just because they're scared of people's looks and thoughts when they show them they quit believing what the mass believes in.


They're smart enough to KNOW what the optimal choice is to make their own life a better life, but are too scared to go on with it.
THEY choose to live a life in fear.
THEY choose to live a life in unhappiness and lack of feeling complete and fullfilled.
THEY choose to piss on their own intelligence, knowledge and self-respect and self-worth, to waste their life in the name of unwritten rules that show no respect for the individual in question.
THEY choose to live in a lie and to die unhappily.

You are not a charity institution for the mentally enslaved, you are someone who chose not to die, so why let your way of life die in the name of what a big bunch of scared sheep call "what's right"?

CONCLUSION

Intelligence and fear are not the only factors for a happy life, obviously, but they are extremely crucial to have a chance for a selfish, rational, happy, emotionally liberated and fullfilled life.

Being selfish does not necessarily mean that you've got to be mean to people and become an egotist.
Being an altruist and trying to help people as much as you can may just be what you think you need to live life happily. If that's the only way you can feel fullfilled and know people might take advantage of you and that you'll put more energy in other people's lives than into your own, then that's your selfishness. You'll be happy, as long as you can live with the consequences.

So that's the theory. Whether to keep it theoretical or practical, is your choice.

Your consequences.

Surt                                                                                                                                                   top