/lit/ - Literature

Read the mystics.

>>19592600
NOW SHE’S A LITTLE BOY IN SPAIN

in what ways it similar to the eastern philosophies/religions (vedas,buddhism,tao)
and what way is it different?

I have been laughed at for comparing Christianity to Buddhism and Hinduism, and i think it is due to the fact that most westerners are unaware of the deeper mystic tradition that Christianity has. In some ways i can't blame them, because the Christian mystic tradition is not written as plain as the eastern traditions. the Christian tradition is written in mundane language that necessitates an informed reader to fully comprehend the symbolic structures.

I have recently been viewing the videos of Jonathan Pageau, and i must say that they have been extremely eyeopening. for anyone interested in Christina symbolism i suggest you check out his youtube channel.

but here i want to highlight Saint John Of The Cross, Ascent Of Mount Carmel
here is the full audiobook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuzuzsqtPMk

and here is a playlist of the chapters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgSIMR9SPWY&list=PLTJHc2m7bz83uSEqkV5FDcioGuwq1Ekdh

for those who want to browse.

is anyone else interested in Christina mysticism, and anyone specifically at this time looking at Saint John of the Cross?

>>12130379
saym

Out here
Barely see my breath
Surrounded
By jealousy and death
I can't be reached
Only had one call
Dragged underneath
Separate from you all
You all

This time
Lost my own return
In spite of
Everything I've learned
I hid my tracks
Spit out all my air
Slipped into cracks
Stripped of all my cares
My cares

I'm so tired
Sheep are counting me
No more struggle
No more energy
No more patient
You can write that down
It's all too crazy
I'm not sticking round

any books on how to be a real human being and engage to the greatest extent possible with reality?

>be dating girl
>my life goes to shit largely due to some bad choices on my end and me having sex all the time but also letting some very bad people into my life
>gf breaks and is super reasonable about it, wants me to get in touch if i can get my life together
>i get histrionic and call her a bitch and say that i regret dating her
>freak out and send her a bunch of needy messages
>she blocks me on social media
>i break contact with all our mutual friends
>yr later, life is in much better shape and keeps getting better and better
>feel guilty for treating the most reasonable girl i've met badly

what do

We are told that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. In Plato we are convinced that no man deliberately does that which is bad for him, and in Augustine we are convinced that the nature of man's sins tells us that he is looking for God, albeit in the wrong places. For instance, what does a man say about his beloved? She completes me, she is my better half, I am lucky to have her (because I am a filthy sinner and she is grace incarnate). The nature of man's love (not his sexual instinct) is that it seeks to become worthy of the beloved. His beloved then, must represent something angelic, something superior to him, and by loving this thing and serving this thing, he is attempting to redeem himself. What this proves is that the extent to which a man loves is the extent to which he recognizes his own baseness, his own inferiority.

However, without getting too much into it, woman is not God, and she is quite imperfect and petty (la donna e mobile); and so a man who relies on this creature for his salvation will fall prey to her wrath, because she is not God nor will she attempt to be God (or the Mother Mary or Christ). She is not even capable of this; this is too great a responsibility for her. The weight of a man who loves deeply comes crashing down upon a woman, and if he does not provide her with what she needs (which has nothing to do with his love, but with her nature) she will grow bitter and the relationship will fail. It is a poor lot indeed, for the man who looks to woman to be the gatekeeper for virtue, because she will not live up to it.

So sinners are looking to complete themselves in their sins. Just as man looks to woman to complete him and make him whole. This is why he loves, because he is divided. Once he recognizes this, though, then he can turn to God to heal his division, and God heals him by gently atrophying the bonds of the world, thereby encouraging the man to stop looking to material, fleeting things for fulfillment, and instead to look within where he finds triumphant goodness and love for the whole world and so forth.

This is what separates wild animals, creatures of instinct, from the potentially free man of good will, who, according to Kant is the crown of nature.

Has God ever spoken to you?

Pilgrim Farewells say, kith and kindred,
I am bound for lands far aside,
Unknowing where I may outride,
Of what myself might leave there out,
But of my path, I ne'er shall doubt.

Lay up near, kith and kindred,
How hard it is to leave behind,
Brother to brother dearly affined,
Yet careful are we of comfort's bite,
Companions sole in harrow and spite.

Fearful yet, kith and kindred,
For the times of trial that lie ahead,
For my worldly form to be beat and bled,
Though my bones will ache, my eyes aflame,
Of the wondrous path, I shall proclaim.

Shed no tears, kith and kindred,
Better sweet memories left by and by,
Yester summer's tones dreamt nigh,
Lest time reap his ravenous due,
And our bountiful now will come to rue.

How I'll long, kith and kindred
For Canaan's burnished mountains steep,
For Jordan's fragrant waters deep,
For Jerusalem's tall walls of gold,
For Firmament fires to behold!

Draw asunder, kith and kindred
And let our distance grow ever more,
For our journeys great, our voices roar,
Yet none to hear our songs of joy,
A lonely road, our feet employ.

Thank you, kith and kindred,
All this wretched form can give,
Neverending love, I hope you forgive;
A pilgrim’s heart is meager pay,
But it's this meager love that guides his way.

>>9448496
First, let the soul strive to work in its own despite, and desire all to do so. Secondly, let it
strive to speak in its own despite and desire all to do so. Third, let it strive to think humbly
of itself, in its own despite, and desire all to do so.

To conclude these counsels and rules, it will be fitting to set down here those lines which
are written in the Ascent of the Mount, which is the figure that is at the beginning of this
book; the which lines are instructions for ascending to it, and thus reaching the summit of
union. For, although it is true that that which is there spoken of is spiritual and interior,
there is reference likewise to the spirit of imperfection according to sensual and exterior
things, as may be seen by the two roads which are on either side of the path of perfection.
It is in this way and according to this sense that we shall understand them here; that is to
say, according to that which is sensual. Afterwards, in the second part of this night, they
will be understood according to that which is spiritual.

The lines are these:

In order to arrive at having pleasure in everything,
Desire to have pleasure in nothing.

In order to arrive at possessing everything,
Desire to possess nothing.

In order to arrive at being everything,
Desire to be nothing.

In order to arrive at knowing everything,
Desire to know nothing.

In order to arrive at that wherein thou hast no pleasure,
Thou must go by a way wherein thou hast no pleasure.

In order to arrive at that which thou knowest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou knowest not.

In order to arrive at that which thou possessest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou possessest not.

In order to arrive at that which thou art not,
Thou must go through that which thou art not.

-

When thy mind dwells upon anything:
Thou art ceasing to cast thyself upon the All. For, in order to pass from
the all to the All, Thou hast to deny thyself wholly in all. And, when
thou comest to possess it wholly, Thou must possess it without desiring
anything. For, if thou wilt have anything in having all, Thou hast not
thy treasure purely in God.

In this detachment the spiritual soul finds its quiet and repose; for, since it covets nothing,
nothing wearies it when it is lifted up, and nothing oppresses it when it is cast down, because
it is in the centre of its humility; but when it covets anything, at that very moment it becomes
wearied.