Woody Allen about meaning of life on Earth

Humans ar entities with their own goals: perpetuation of species and survival (based on reward and opioid system). But there are opioids in milk or cereals that disrupts this mechanisms, and signal to us a non-existent survival advantage. At the individual level there is no such big deal on short term, but at the specia level, the cultural dimensions are altered. And there we have THE CIVILIZATION ! Show Must Go On :)
***************
Greg Wadley & Angus Martin
www.ranprieur.com/readings/ori...
The evidence presented so far suggests the following interpretation.
The ingestion of cereals and milk, in normal modern dietary amounts by normal humans, activates reward centres in the brain. Foods that were common in the diet before agriculture (fruits and so on) do not have this pharmacological property. The effects of exorphins are qualitatively the same as those produced by other opioid and / or dopaminergic drugs, that is, reward, motivation, reduction of anxiety, a sense of wellbeing, and perhaps even addiction. Though the effects of a typical meal are quantitatively less than those of doses of those drugs, most modern humans experience them several times a day, every day of their adult lives.
............
We suggested further that constant exorphin intake facilitated the behavioural changes and subsequent population growth of civilisation, by increasing people's tolerance of (a) living in crowded sedentary conditions, (b) devoting effort to the benefit of non-kin, and (c) playing a subservient role in a vast hierarchical social structure.

[@abhishekkandwal5753]

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve by not dying ~Woody Allen

[@boborrahood]

That's the first two of the four sentences. The third and fourth are "I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen. I want to live on in my apartment."

[@HansDelbruck53]

@@boborrahood Don't forget, "I'm not afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens."

[@onefoot7]

or banging my adolscent stepdaughter, yeah that's it, yeah that's normal

[@didactic318]

The answer he refuses is in Jesus Christ.

[@redmed10]

​@@didactic318 To you, I'm an atheist. To God, I'm the loyal opposition. Woody Allen

[@TheMalibuDar]

Praise the interviewer for letting Woody speak this stream of thought uninterrupted.

[@spudwas]

Woody once said (which I totally agree with) "I don't mind dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

[@ritter89]

Mortality, the great leveler. Woody knows the score.

[@dekubaner]

“It was in the reign of George III that the above-named personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now.”...the end note from barry lyndon, one of kubrik's masterpieces. it says it all.

[@ananyo_kazi]

"One must imagine Woody Allen happy." - Albert Camus

[@waynej2608]

His work makes me 'happy.'

[@user-qz6pf6hb7q]

I think Camus had died when Woody Allen make movies so I don't think he said that.

[@user-qz6pf6hb7q]

@Existential Weirdo I don't understand what you said.Essays?

[@ericfelds6291]

This comment made my day

[@lepetitchat123]

I wish I had his motivation, but I don't. How can you have it when you realise the truth? He is lucky that he is talented. But what about mediocre people like me?

[@MAKEITWORK]

this was oddly comforting. thanks Woody!

[@paulcatania1315]

"The universe is expanding........What's the point?" -- Alvi Singer

[@paulcatania1315]

Congrats Pat......you caught it!

[@davitfisher104.5]

what is that your business?!

[@tomfisher9089]

"What is that your business?" -Alvi Singer's Mother

[@kevdieg]

I'm into leather

[@waynej2608]

@@kevdieg Nice! 😎

[@shanio21]

Just when you think you've heard it all woody Allen sums up existence whilst sipping coffee in two minutes.

[@jessiedoggie1]

I've thought about some of this when I was around 7 or 8 and it frightened me. But now at 76 I put it out of my mind and take joy from such things as watching the birds in my backyard drink and bathe, the hummingbirds feed and fight with each other, and watching our puppy develop so fast compared to us humans. They don't worry about the meaningless of life and theirs is so much shorter than ours. And I'm a scientist and very well versed in the fate of the universe. Btw, I learned a short time ago that Woody and I besides both attending PS 99 in Brooklyn (albeit 7 years apart), were bar mitzvahed at the same synagogue and must have sang our haftorahs from the same Torah. A lot of good that did. many s

[@jeremyfoster8726]

those animals have no awareness of death. Hello?

[@joseluiiiis]

Rest in peace Richard

[@fntime]

@@jeremyfoster8726 Because they lack an intellectualized mind. Will is born into a creature BUT ego is the product of intellectualized mind. Dogs are what human could be if they didn't 'think' Intellectualization creates expertise to go to moon or get 6% rather 5% on your money. But it's also the cause of most sexual fetish, child molestation & death cult behavior see nuclear arms race in general & Ukraine specifically. Jeremy, jessie came off human. You came off rude, sign of over intellectualization :)

[@sunofgod480]

@@joseluiiiis Is Richard the original poster? He's gone down the 100 year toilet flush ala Woody's explanation? What happened to him? Amazing how quickly time flies....Woody gave this interview in 2014, now (2023) it's already been 9 years and so many have experienced the proverbial "toilet flush" in that time....

[@WeAreYU]

I totally agree with Woody's assessment and have thought that way since my teens. For me, the only really useful thing to do with your life is to spend it trying to help and entertain your fellow beings get through it all. Woody has always managed to help me pass some time by capturing my attention for a short while. So have a lot of other people. Friends who spend time with me help. Musicians and artists who make you think and entertain you. Interactions with strangers are chances to make them feel better. We can all help each other through whatever this experience is if we try.

[@oldsteamguy]

not just artists. thank you Woody Allen for all of your contributions

[@walkertongdee]

The true reason we cary on is we need the eggs

[@funkster007]

I prefer the bacon.

[@dyakushov]

frederick steiner it is the last line of Woody Allen’s film called Annie Hall

[@heekyungkim8147]

What. ? Eggs 🥚 🍳 why eggs ??

[@waynej2608]

I'm reminded of the old Groucho Marx joke, when he says, 'I wouldn't want to be part of a club, that would have me, as a member'. - Alvie.

[@pjcallens]

@frederick steiner you know, a guy walks into a psychiatrist's office and says, hey doc, my brother's crazy! He thinks he's a chicken. Then the doc says, why don't you turn him in? Then the guy says, I would but I need the eggs. I guess that's how I feel about relationships. They're totally crazy, irrational, and absurd, but we keep going through it because we need the eggs.”

[@DerivedEnergy]

“I never thought I was doing anyone a favour by bringing children into the world. With people as cruel to each other as they are, it’s a terrible proposition. The best of lives are sad and tragic. The best of them. My general conclusion is that it’s not a nice thing to do. The world doesn’t need it. The kid doesn’t need it.'' --- Woody Allen

[@THX-2208]

Ever since I was very young I was always terrified of death and no longer existing. Now as I've gotten older the fear has started to subside and when I was diagnosed with Cancer last year I no longer have any fear whatsoever of death. Its really weird its almost like an acceptance washes over you. Saying that I still want to live and enjoy life. 👍

[@bill8985]

Alvie has been an inspiration to me since early childhood. "It was something he read. Tell Dr. Flicker" .... "well, the universe is everything, and if the universe is expanding, eventually it will break apart and that will be the end of everything." "What is that your business!? He stopped doing his homework!" "What's the point?"

[@justicewillprevail1106]

I never realized how humorous and interesting woody Allen really is... I'd love to be able to carry a conversation with him..

[@pagnol5509]

Where’s it going? Nowhere. But what a ride. We were here.

[@CarlosLorenzo]

I think that we all know how meaningless it all seems , but normally we try not to talk about it too much. Some people are more prone to dwell on these thoughts and some others apparently wouldn't care less, but they know. Woody Allen describes the big picture meticulously. These are the existential fears of a very talented mind. It took a lot of reading and a lot of internal debate to put it all so well. It is nice to read other people's comments and discover that they also reflect on that. Let's hope our flush arrives with delay.

[@Nick215NY]

One of the most brilliant descriptions of the reality of life that I've ever heard.

[@curiousgeorge555]

But isn't it all so obvious? "Cept the part about no heaven. How does he know that there is no heaven? He doesn't.

[@revokdaryl1]

@@curiousgeorge555 You're right. It's all very obvious, but hardly anyone ever stops to think about it. In this interview, Woody's words really stick because he's being slightly humourous about the absurdity of life. And I especially like the part when he says the world just flushes a big toilet and brings a new generation of people in. That exactly what happens. What worries me is that they are working on ways to make humans live longer!! I'm currently 36 years old and don't even know if I want to live to see 60 the way things are going.

[@TennaciousD94]

The most important thing about life is the present moment

[@RaviSingh-fv4sh]

The most important thing about life is that it wil over.

[@JonathanAllen0379]

In so far as what we consider the present moment actually occurs on a time delay and is instantly rendered past tense, there is no such thing as the present moment.

[@denzel7822]

💯

[@denzel7822]

@@JonathanAllen0379 shut up stupid

[@lepetitchat123]

The present moment ultimately leads to the final moment lol

[@LoHarryGirl]

Oh my god I love him so much I can't even

[@benstevinson764]

Woody Allen is a highly intelligent and intellectual individual!

[@SubconsciousGatherer]

Here’s my take on the dilemma: Pinch yourself, hard. Does it hurt? Sure. Did it feel good? No. Want to do it again? Of course not. You realize you’re still going to die one day, right? Right. Do you want to be pinched from now till then? Of course not. The point is, regardless of where things are heading, we are here NOW, and NOW is what matters. We want more good/less bad. Everyone does. We won’t experience an ultimate “THE END” but we WILL experience THIS CHAPTER. This chapter is all we have, Woody.

[@FirstPlace97]

Nice.

[@hildenermusic]

You will experience an ultimate The End one day. It's sure. And even you deny, this awareness drives you unconsciously in certain way. I said unconsciously. No single second were and are you free of this awareness. This is the main misconception of you. So here we are: each chapter, each 'here and now' is under enormous pressure of the limitation and obscurity.

[@SubconsciousGatherer]

hildenermusic What is it you want me to take away from what you've written? It's unclear what you are getting at.

[@ngshengying9570]

i completely agree.

[@pratyushasuhana4205]

What if more good dosent mean anything? What if its all there already.? Then y should we go on?

[@MYB63]

As a philosopher he's a great film maker.

[@lemorab1]

I think Woody Allen's philosophy of life is summed up by Billy Crystal in "Deconstructing Harry:" Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down, but in the end, the House always wins. Doesn't mean you didn't have fun.

[@helldrenn]

Neither both.

[@japsley6172]

lemorab1 good succinct explanation.

[@waynej2608]

As a filmmaker, he's a great philosopher.

[@henryulric]

Yeah, and who are you?

[@arealmench]

Things matter in life only because humans make things matter...but in the grand scheme of things Nothing Matters. - So Woody is right.

[@robotsrule5051]

If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy, I can only conclude I was not made for here. -CS LEWIS

[@scvman992000]

Well then whey did we end up here?? If we weren't made for this world, why do we have to put up with it?

[@robotsrule5051]

also my question

[@manu19870928]

I think woody allen is precisely sugesting not dedicating yourself to these imposible questions, "you can´ta actually live your life like that", but instead we should try to make use of our time apreciating beauty in everything.

[@katalipsi5]

This mentality seems "smart" and intellectual but it's just pure depression . It's just something you have to go through and then keep walking. A sad realisation that after you surpass it , you are stronger , more stable and find what really gives you hapiness. That's life, that's the rules , it's your job to find something that make your life worth living.

[@robotsrule5051]

Nightcrawler that's. Like telling an unfairly imprisoned person just be happy with your cell. Clearly we have the want and desire for more. Hence the quote of CS Lewis To give up on that insight just to "deal with it" for the sake of living is ugly to me. The fact that we have these desires as Lewis said is perplexing. Lewis a Christian, of course was saying these desires are in us becuase we are spiritual beings and this is not our home. I personally am a spiritualist but not constrained to to myopic views of religion. Even still. Lewis's statement resonates.

[@somethingyousaid5059]

I don't have to go to sleep in order to find myself trapped inside of a nightmare. I only have to wake up.

[@lepetitchat123]

Hell is already here

[@leschowmein9549]

I don't want heaven because eternity is boring and scarier than death. I don't want hell because I don't like pain. I don't want reincarnation because I don't want to go over this meaningless life all over again. Nothingness is the most merciful and wonderful possibility.

[@juancpgo]

Leslie C I don't think eternity is boring. If we are eternal, we will always live a moment at a time, and that's not boring. We always reinvent ourselves, we always find new stuff to be curious about. We are able to manipulate the physical world and always be entertained.

[@leschowmein9549]

eternity is like a weekday morning soap opera, you think all my children is exciting?

[@juancpgo]

Leslie C didn't understand what you mean at all

[@juancpgo]

mmm ok, I didn't know about “all my children”. I've never seen it. Actually, I don't think we can really say if eternity would be boring or not. Yes, it's a weird concept, but yet I don't think any of our minds can really understand or encompass something that doesn't end. We cannot really know what it would be like, so it doesn't make sense to say: “oh, it would be boring”

[@leschowmein9549]

Boring is simple a feeling of unexciting, lack of stimulation to the mind. Once you live through a certain age, your ability to get excited diminishes because you have experienced a lot of thing already. Any new thing is just incremental improvement of already existed things in the past. Young people get excited with Twitter, it reminds me of ICQ. Young people get excited with Facebock, it reminds me angelfire or geocities . My depression comes from not being able to experience happiness because happiness involves novelty, and I can't get excited about anything. I want to get the feeling the first time I played Street Fighter II on SNES, but I will never be able to rediscover that feeling and it depresses me.

[@southshore516]

Agree with Woody completely, what a brilliant piece of compressed wisdom. I wish all people, everywhere on this planet, could just get this idea into their heads... it all really is meaningless, the universe is indifferent, it's all over when you die - and all of this really isn't such a bad thing if we're willing to shed our fears and imagined self-importance.

[@eargasm1072]

We're here today, gone tomorrow!

[@fntime]

@@eargasm1072 "It all is meaningless" is true if you don't see the Plan. BUT yes, it is indifferent it treats us Individually the same way most of us treat the cells of our body. The 'gift' was the experience! If you don't like the experience it will change in your next life, but don't expect the totality of the experience to change much. Religion has answers but unfortunately the wrong ones. As far as Woody, a pessimist with small man syndrome whose 'mind' gives him answers unfortunately the wrong ones. He intellectualizes his feelings of inadequacy to remove blame. Life is a struggle for every living creature in the material world. It generally comes down to are you a half full or half empty person. I think the choice was made for you by your initial circumstances, chemically, parental, socially. You are here to KNOW, not understand. When you know, you'll have 'realization' & break free of the endless wheel of life in the material realm & return home.

[@Taobeth]

Ah, existentialism.

[@Lainer1]

Man, I knew about this since I was 12 years old back in the 1970s. Since then, it's been an uphill battle to live the vision of what Woody says, doing art even after knowing the inevitable. Still, with this realistic horror comes happiness in the moment.

[@midguardz]

I've always felt like this.

[@pyannaguy4361]

Yeah... Thanks! Me, too. Not taking anything away from Woody, but my old hippy friends and I talked like this every night. It's kind of a DUH. If you're not dumb enough to buy into religion, you're pretty much faced with what seems like the obvious truth, and it sounds pretty close to the way he put it. Genius? Okay...whatever..

[@passionatebraziliangirl.4801]

I love Woody Allen so much, he is right the arts makes life worth while and a meaningful trip as Freud said the artiste is the happiest of all humans because he or she exercise their demons through art. Woody Allen you are my muse, I adore you.

[@glynx4438]

My first experience of a woody Allen film was in the early 70s in a cinema in Birmingham. You could stay in the cinema all day if you wanted back then and watch the film's a and b 3 times over. Watching take the money and run etc. I had to watch his brilliant films over again. Being a Monty python fan amongst many other great comedians of the day. Mr Allen is one of the best. He like most comedians writers and musicians have obvious influences. He has a little of Bob hope and Groucho Marx in his comedy and mannerisms. There is nothing wrong with that. All the great composers were influenced by the guys that were before them. Listen to Beethoven and you will hear a little of Mozart and Haydn. All this aside he is a brilliant comedian and one of my Heros.

[@robbieintokyo]

Yup. Did the same in high school with friends at a big, wide movie theater in Summit, New Jersey, a great place, now gone, sadly. (Remember seeing Tron there too). My GF at the time worked there, so she let us in free and we got free popcorn (against the rules, of course, but hey...). We watched one Woody Allen flick after another. I think the lineup was something like, Bananas, Take the Money and Run, Love and Death, Everything you Always Wanted to Know About Sex, and my favorites at that time: Sleeper, Play it Again Sam, and Annie Hall. This was around the time Manhattan was out in theaters, so it was not included as it was a fairly recent film. Had a great time, coming and going - as long as you had your ticket you could pop out for awhile and come back, no problem. The place was huge and not packed, so we moved around a lot to different seats to experience it different ways, with some girls flirting with us from a few rows back for awhile. Great times. No cellphones, no internet, no politics in conversation or in thought, and of course, no pandemic. Of course the world wasn't perfect then either, wars going on, as usual, people suffering, homeless, etc. The radio played music and we bought records and had stereos. We went to the theater to watch movies or caught old ones on TV. The rest of the time was ours. And we lived in fully. I have an exciting, enriching life now, but if I could, I'd go back, yes, I'd return to those days, in a New York minute, I would. Cheers from Tokyo.

[@artlover1477]

Woody always admitted to Bob Hope being an influence. He loved "the road" movie series. KZbin has a great clip of Woody hosting The Tonight Show in 71. Hope was the main guest, real fun to watch!

[@Dreama40]

My son asked my his grandfather(my dad) how long we're dead for when we die. I kinda liked his response, he said that imagine if you had a mountain as high as an airplane flies in the sky and it was made out of a giant diamond which is extremely hard. Now imagine if every 10,000 years a really soft feather was brushed against the top of the diamond mountain just once. So every 10,000 years the feather brushes the top of the mountain until the mountain is worn down to the ground. Now that's a long time right(he says) Now imagine that the time it took to wear that mountain down is represented by 1 grain of sand. So a new diamond mountain is made each time until all the grains of sand on the earth are used up. He then said so you see that's a long time right? then he said well we're dead alot longer than that, so you better enjoy your life while you have it.

[@voiceguy3635]

It's very simple:You try your best,with the skills that you've been born with--and that's it.Many struggles along the way,but to quit trying is the end of life--even before actual death.

[@alcohalic6338]

I feel so inspired now. What a great uplifting interview. Thank you.

[@krish5960]

Whenever I lost myself in doing things I watch this video.

[@somethingyousaid5059]

When my mortality finally became a reality to me it triggered from within me an existential crisis that continues to this day.

[@1kennylo]

same

[@crow9553]

Well said by Mr. Allen.

[@AstralFrost]

This has been one of the great struggles of my life. You know, to reconcile with this. I used to be religious, so I believed in all sorts of absolutes. Life is no longer so simple for me. I guess he is right. I have to not give up on living, even despite this terrible truth. That isn't Chomsky, though. That's Woody Allen.

[@samueldavidrucker7514]

A very brilliant modern expression of Ecclesiastes

[@xXTiberiusXx]

I liked where he was going with the meaninglessness of everything, from small to large scale. And I immediately got that feeling of momentary inspiration, suddenly remembered why it is so important to me to have love in my life, to have music, to go on living - it's all in my head, it's all in my heart

[@alexgramm5170]

Most people even here in the United States Including myself just have to work hard to have shoes and clothes and heat and food ,all the things just to go forward into the next day, i not a lot of time for existential problems that seems to be the luxury of the wealthy.

[@g.macgregor5416]

Solomon said Vanity vanity all is vanity. Meaning all is empty, meaning this earthly life, but just like the Old Testament is the school teacher to the New Testament, we’re given a clear choice to believe or not to believe in God. and God will honor our choice.

[@romanlandau5713]

Dear Woody, life is a gift. One should not complain. One should be thankfull and do good. I am thankfull to be able to enjoy your films and the music of J. Hendrix. Less so Beethoven. Keep going.

[@Indienads]

It's not nihilism. He even says at the end of the vid that the important thing is to affirm life, even in its tougher moments.

[@davegibbs6423]

It is nihilistic, because there is no future in his view. It all ends. That is nihilism.

[@alvarc3675]

Stoicism

[@davidcawrowl3865]

I think we are due for the 100-year flush, right about now.

[@ricco2024]

David cawrowl oh !

[@redmed10]

It's not really a flush. It's more like a ship that slowly has its parts replaced bit by bit over the years and eventually every part is replaced even though it looks like the same ship.

[@WmThomasSherman]

Just as you get what you pay for, you end up what you believe.

[@GeorgeThomas-os1fu]

Woody gets it. What he's saying is deep and unless you kinda get it, you won't know what he's talking about. In summary, he's saying "just be nice to each other".

[@phuzbrain]

All life is sorrowful... Follow your Bliss

[@nathanielhellerstein5871]

The question is not, is there life after death. The question is, is there life before death?

[@CalumnMcAulay]

there has been talk recently (by some great thinkers and inventors) suggesting that the inevitable fate of the universe (and us) is not one of doom and gloom predetermined by dumb celestial forces that govern the cosmos but rather is determined by the exponentially ever growing intelligence that is starting to shape us and our world

[@DavidLS1]

It doesn't happen all at once. For example, I find comfort in the fact that some of my elementary school teachers are now dead. Make me sit in the corner, will you Mrs. Stoddard? Now who's laughing?

[@220volt74]

Woody for a motivational speaker!

[@vincentbugalia3858]

As a drug induced experience once taught me, we are all totally forgotten, as if we never existed at all. Even those who are remembered will be forgotten.

[@bernaldelcastillo1768]

Woody is a philosopher and a great writer-director of cinematography.

[@atgunchev]

I think the meaning of life is happiness. When I am happy I never question the meaning of life. I am just happy and that's it, it's enjoyable. One can only search for what is missing. So when I search for the meaning of life it means I am missing happiness, therefore looking for it. Look at small children. They are just happy. They enjoy life and don't question its meaning, because they have it. They are not on a search for it. I mean children that have the luck to live a normal life, because that's not the case with all of them. Those with bad lifes probably question the meaning of life too. So this is my simple conclusion. The meaning of life is happiness. And although happiness is impossible to be defined as each person finds it in their own special way, I think we all know what it is and it's kinda the same with everyone. Just that happiness :)

[@atgunchev]

Alex Delarge Thank you for the heads up on Epicurus. Just checked him out and my interest was definitely drawn. Off to look for a documentary on him. Thanks again.

[@robotsrule5051]

Children are happy because of naivety. The more you learn and are aware of the human condition..and the more empathy you have for the world at large, the more increasingly difficult to becomes retain happiness. Woody said in another interview that pleasures or happiness are like small Oasis in a vast gloom ridden desert. I often say this to Christians about heaven: if there is a heaven based on the notion of being a Christian and you get there but your loved ones don't make it.. How do you retain bliss knowing your loved ones are in hell? Does God give you a lobotomy? They can never answer this question of course.

[@2000Betelgeuse]

Nah we are here for the reason bacteria is.....just as an accident attempting to replicate eternally.....no one cares if people are happy or not.....it doesn’t have any long lasting concecuence

[@robbieintokyo]

Exactly. I teach young people every day. And I see it every day. Happiness in the smallest things. There's a saying here in Japan, translated roughly: 'Young girls will laugh at a pencil falling off a desk'. It's not a negative statement or judgement at all. It simply means they find humor and fun in everything, even the smallest thing. By the way, Japanese women have the longest lifespan for humans. Cheers from Tokyo!

[@truegangsteroflove]

I'm not the biggest Woody Allen fan in the world, but this really makes me respect him. He speaks of our common predicament as intelligently and succinctly as I have ever heard. I especially like the way he talks at 3:28 about a fake Heaven and Hell nonsense. Seeing him talk like this makes it even more poignant, because he has the size and body English of a small person - very small. You don't see big guys coming up with stuff like this.

[@ozobborozzo398]

You respect a guy who married his own daughter... that says a lot about you

[@truegangsteroflove]

@@ozobborozzo398 Heh. The web is full of guys like you, jumping at any chance to talk trash. It took you nine years to find this comment. That's a lot of not having a life. As for Woody Allen, I'm glad I'm not him, but everyone who is alive has the opportunity to have a better side to themselves, and to hopefully have something to offer humanity. Even people who scour the Web for opportunities to trash talk.

[@KingJorman]

@@ozobborozzo398 she is the adopted daughter of actress Mia Farrow and musician André Previn

[@Ausgar-yc1yl]

​@@ozobborozzo398He did NOT marry his daughter, she is the daughter of Andre Previn. Try again.

[@jmm1817]

​@@ozobborozzo398no he didn't bozo how about a little research

[@pninnabokov3734]

"Nothing lasts forever, but the earth and sky - It slips away - and all your money won't another minute buy ..." (Dust in the Wind- Kansas)

[@Wolf.88]

I love Woody Allen. And I loved "Magic In the Moonlight".

[@tomgardner8825]

Nietsche said that the only valid philosophical question is whether or not to go on living i agree.

[@padssit]

Le sens de la vie et le rôle de l'Artiste. Brillant, réjouissant.

[@58landman]

What a cheery guy.

[@szebike]

This is perfect.

[@KidFresh71]

Huge Woody Allen fan, who grew up with a Jewish-Italian mom - double whammy- along with a healthy (unhealthy?) dose of personal existential dread. So what makes life worth living? Love. The Beatles got it right. The love you take is equal to the love you make.

[@alexandrostsamopoulos2044]

"it is the artist's job not to succumb to despair, but to find an antidote to the emptiness of existence"

[@peachin74]

Very interesting and genuine thought

[@onelovemon1784]

All gone. Everybody gone. New group cycles through. All replacements. Then they're gone. Next cycle. Absolutely right. People don't want to believe that. Just like the animal world...as we are all the same.

[@BlantonDelbert]

That is my favorite quote from Shakespeare. I memorized Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow and recite in in certain situations. Woody Allen is a genius to me who coveyed the ideas of existentialism and made fun of these thoughts of The Absurd, Camus.

[@billharris1847]

I wish woody Allen and William F Buckley would have been together more often. Their interviews of each other are phenomenal

[@zamiadams4343]

The history of humanity, explained perfectly.

[@angrytamilbaldman6107]

In under 4 mins, he gave the gist of what philosophy talk abt. U find ur meaning in a meaningless world. Genius.

[@paulcooper5748]

My thoughts exactly.

[@garundip.mcgrundy8311]

He is an existentialist by physiological inheritance... in philosophy he is a post-modernist: there is no truth but that which "...one can name or claim as his own." After Foucault, all meaning is a "social construct." The better question is, "After post-modernism, what?" But, I still like Woody-Allen spectacles and noses for sale at the local grocery store. On sale now, in the toy department!

[@garundip.mcgrundy8311]

An interesting question. Everyone is a philosopher, even that guy behind you in the grocery line (if you are middle class and still shop your own groceries). Woody Allen, however, does not originate philosophy. He only reports on what he has read, making it seem his own. He's a follower, not a doer. He doesn't "do" philosophy. But, in his time (which is now quite played out), everyone followed Woody. Mainly for laughs. He is truly a pathetic character.

[@Maarttttt]

Garundi P. McGrundy I think you should communicate better instead of trying to sound smart.

[@Maarttttt]

Your messages literally read as nonsense. Don't want to be rude but it's frustrating.

[@garundip.mcgrundy8311]

Lookie here, post-modernism is not productive to philosophy. After post-modernism what? That's an important question for anyone interested in thinking.

[@yowzephyr]

It seems to me that once you fully realize the terrible truth, as Woody Allen does, the only answer is escape and denial. The artist can provide the escape. It doesn't require highfalutin artists to do that. Punch & Judy, Rachel Ryan, American Idol, whatever. But where do we find the needed denial? Denial is provided by religion, but bright and sharp individuals such as Woody require a more convincing form of denial than that. The other, more intelligent form of denial is to simply put the terrible truth out of one's mind. Get involved in a project. Get involved in a romance. Get involved in helping others. These things require goals and timelines. They are the sound and fury Shakespeare wrote about. But they are disciplined lines of sound and fury. Disciplined lines of sound and fury with long term goals that provide the beautiful and needed edifice of denial. No, it isn't all destruction and folly. I deny that. There is a castle here before me. And it calls to me. There is so much time ahead and so much to do! Can the artist help us think like that? Well, maybe, sort of. A good artist can inspire us to pursue projects. A good artist can give us a taste for romance. A good artist can move us to work to help others. Thing is now days there are artists who like to rub the hopelessness and futility of everything in our faces! Actually Woody has done that. But maybe we need to understand the true hopelessness of everything in order to understand what the best forms of escape and denial really are.

[@schechter01]

yowzephyr Very nice. It is rare to find an answer of such conviction that is also well thought out.

[@antoniatejedabarros]

My favorite existentialists: Sartre, Viktor Frankl, Camus, Ortega, and Woody Allen!

[@Cr0c0Dundee]

Thank you for the comment. There was also another friend of mine that mentioned that confusion.

[@Dallas-Nyberg]

Well said.... He is one smart cookie....

[@williamfitzpatrick6369]

I'm with Woody. As a famous person named Bill once said, it's "Much ado about nothing."

[@Nicitor313]

How true!

[@matycee]

it's simple. doesn't matter, the "why?" of it all...you're here. Face it. The only real thing you have to decide is weather your glass is half full or half empty. done. Then live your life respectively.

[@mrandersong1]

For real. Live for the chemicals ur brain creates when u accomplish something. Live for a better relationship with self.. Life is long and hard and ultimately pointless... it’s a roller coaster ride but I can say I would rather have lived this rollercoaster ride then to have never experienced it

[@antoniatejedabarros]

We love you, Woody!

[@ebenizisiktikmi]

He admits his nihilist materialist atheist view. Many of us battle with this view

[@wildmansamurai3663]

he's right

[@ebenizisiktikmi]

***** whtf are you saying?

[@wildmansamurai3663]

umut barat I'm saying that Woody Allen is correct.

[@ebenizisiktikmi]

***** according to whom? according to which measure? are you stupid?

[@wildmansamurai3663]

umut barat "according to whom? according to which measure? are you stupid?" No, it's called common sense.. There's no gods and no afterlife.. Atheism is reality. Deal with it.. Oh and you're the stupid one here.

[@PinkVanilly]

this is so true.

[@lamranikarim]

Woody Allen is the best comedian ever, he got a unique sense of Humor. I wonder if he would have expressed his opinion like this at the begining of his career!!!!

[@Truthseeker1515]

So true....

[@MarcusSchmalzlockus]

"How then is he not a fool who is puffed up with such things or plagued about them and makes himself miserable? for they vex him only for a time, and a short time." (Marcus Aurelius)

[@homeostasis360]

We have to entertain ourselves in any way we know how

[@daynaannsvekla]

Loooooove That Man!

[@czechking]

+Dyhna Venne Me too.

[@jfq7223]

I discovered Scoop in 2006 and loved it!

[@PoetlaureateNFDL]

Great insights on life. The big picture is that everything is transitory. Don't take yourself too seriously.

[@TalynStormcrow]

The beauty of all things is only the greater for the bitter realisation of passing.

[@kookiemonster64]

Interesting!!!

[@prunktanner]

THE beginning of a movie with Woody as a student, projecting this very end. His mother goes on "do your homework, what business is this of yours"

[@1060michaelg]

Note to self; Scratch notion of having Woody make toast at my father's 85th--

[@tubularbill]

So true every 100 years a new set of people...

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

When Max introduces Rob as "this is my food taster." LOL

[@michaelbruns449]

Death renders life a temporary meaningless illusion and those of us unable to continue lying to themselves commit suicide.

[@rockstarrist]

This is exactly what I said to one of my friends the other day. I can't believe it. I am only 23 though.

[@yonyonson3102]

And now you're 30

[@lifeisabadjoke5750]

Scary how time passes 🧐

[@wildmansamurai3663]

He's right.