[ben_w]

> - Bowie could not write joyful music because his world view made it impossible for him to have joy.

> [Marcus Aurelius, Christianity, Inner Light stuff]

Been a while since I've seen someone suggest an outwardly healthy adult might be incapable of one of the standard human emotions.

Anhedonia is a thing, but it's rare and associated with clinical depression.

Given your choice of quote, would it be fair to suggest that you believe that only Christians can truly experience joy?

[flanked-evergl]

I don't think you can be joyful if you think the universe means nothing, or at least nothing but what you yourself impose on it.

If we are to be truly joyful, we must believe that there is some eternal joy in the nature of things. Bowie did not believe this.

[ben_w]

I can't tell if that's "yes because …" or "no actually I mean …"; but in either case it is droll to witness someone disregarding a human artist the way many disregard AI.

[flanked-evergl]

Bowie disregarded everything but himself. It's not difficult to disregard this outlook on the world, because it is not even an outlook on the world, it's more akin to a denial of the world.

"The man who destroys himself creates the universe. To the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sun is really a sun; to the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sea is really a sea. When he looks at all the faces in the street, he does not only realize that men are alive, he realizes with a dramatic pleasure that they are not dead."

Yet, Bowie could not ever quite make a convincing case that he believed other people are not dead, or at least that their existence was anything more significant than their non-existence because for him, all significance came from him and him alone.

[Applejinx]

Well, then he gave up cocaine and had lots of happy years of further creativity. I think you're mistaking the Thin White Duke for the guy who survived portraying the Thin White Duke. I guess he's throwing darts in haters' eyes, too :)