/lit/ - Literature

>>22831182
>>“Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive,” she once wrote, “and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life.”
Okay but I'd actually be interested to hear this. Did she have a method? A system, even? What is the correlation between sexual taste and philosophy, and what is the meaning of that correlation? So many fascinating questions...

>>22764347
>>22764368
>>22764417
I am seeing a lot of assertions and names and alleged Guenon quotes (I'll take your word for it), but I don't actually see a clear definition of counter-initiation and proof how Crowley fit the bill. Actually Crowley's Satanic imagery, while degenerate and extremely edgy, is not really that far out there compared to other left hand path practices. I would not fixate so much on the imagery but rather focus on the content. In terms of content, whether you call it pseudo tradition or counter tradition, the ultimate effect of Theosophy and its offspring is to yoke spiritual enthusiasm to the causes of matter, quantity and baseless abstraction. This, I think, is good enough to be called the exact opposite of qualitative spiritual truth.

>>21843847
When I was 12 I got the clear understanding that all the daily make-work I was doing was pointless because all influence is finite. Nothing I can make will last forever, the influence I'll have on others throughout my life will peter out in a matter of decades at best. Even being outrageously optimistic, nobody older than a few thousand years is remembered at all, and any given individual's influence is diluted by the growing population every day. I realized I could save a lot of time and trouble by killing myself. It seemed like a really good idea. I told my parents I wanted to talk to a therapist or something because I was really depressed and wanted to kill myself. They told me I didn't feel that way and it was just a phase, and no I couldn't talk to anyone about it.

Now I'm still alive, and I'm still 80% sure I was right and should have killed myself. I'm well-educated and a financial success, but I'm immensely unhappy and I don't really want anything out of life. It's definitely gotten better than it was when I was an adolescent, but it's not good, and I'm not particularly glad I have it. But having gotten past the worst part, it really seems like a waste and a hassle to off myself. It's perplexing to have self-righteously held on to how much I want to die, but also be so determined not to. I'm like some kind of ghoulish curio only I know or care about. A joke only I get.

Skeletonposting anon here.
I just got done reading On Matter and a couple of other chapters. I am glad I took some notes, because it was a wild ride. Apparently, matter is simultaneously simple, one, infinite and incorporeal! And a kind of celestial version of matter even exists in the realm of the intelligible! This, Plotinus designated intelligible matter. I never would have dreamt up the idea, but I think I more or less understand it now and it makes sense, so that's good. Reading this (and Plotinus in general) is quite gruelling though, it's taking me much longer to get through a single page than usual.
>The Forms
I also saw some clarification of what the forms actually are, specifically, that which imbues an essence into a given thing - this includes even abstract notions and seemingly materialistic notions like a Form of Quantity. So long as there is an imparted nature (or something to participate in), it seems we are speaking of a form at play.
>Souls and Guardians
Some of the stuff on these topics were really confusing. Plotinus expressed himself in such a strange way that I have no idea if he was claiming that the vegetative part of our souls really *are* parts of our souls, or if they are actually a part of the Universal Soul only, or somehow simultaneously parts of both.
The Guardian stuff was so obscure I could reliably make out around maybe 1/3 of it - Iamblichus seemed to be much more straightforward on this topic. I am not really sure what the implications of the chapter are on the topic of transmigration either. I would try to elaborate but honestly it was just very obscure in general, with reference to the Guardian himself being a part of the soul, but also of leading the soul to its judgement, joining and guarding other souls, etc. And apparently these Guardians are specific faculties, with there being a difference between reason and intelligence (and presumably between the types of intelligences and their dignity as well). I am sure I misunderstood a lot of things here but I doubt I will figure them out just by reading Plotinus.
>The One and Henosis
The picture on transmigration is looking bleaker than ever, but at least my doubts about henosis have been totally vanquished. A static existence seemed somewhat unpalatable to me, but Plotinus makes it quite clear in an inspiring way that the One, whilst lacking life and consciousness, in a way possesses both super-life and super-consciousness, since it is the ultimate source of both life and consciousness AND cannot be merely reduced to them either. In other words, at least as far as henosis is concerned, it is an unambiguous good and supremely desirable.
>>21332178
What I mean is that when I was slogging through Laws, what kept me going was the idea that, if I am done with it as soon as possible, I will get to stuff I find interesting again. If I had read all that I found interesting first, I would have probably only grudgingly and very slowly finished the rest of the dialogues.

>>21243601
How is anything I said untermensch-like?

Well, I couldn't escape my fate and will soon be a high school teacher. Anybody have any good recommendations for short stories for my future classes?
I'm thinking "The Hanged Man" by Dick and maybe "An Honest Thief" by Dostoyevsky. Anybody have anything they think they would've liked to have been exposed to in highschool?

Are there any books to help me cope with having wasted my adolescence and my youth?

>>19943023
>>19945283
Unironically such a good line though. Everybody that hears the song seizes upon it. It's brilliant. Rest of it is just meme content. I like the dual contrast of it, partly aided by the globglogabgalab's appearance itself. You're faced with a disgusting blob that is singing about high culture and a love of learning. Likewise, "yeast" conjures a simultaneous duplicitous image of, on the one hand, a leavening or rising agent, something that makes you (or your thoughts and minds) better and greater, but on the other hand you're also made to think of this fermenting fungus engaged in decay and decomposition in all its damp, dank disgustingness, releasing weird chemicals as waste. It's this contrast which is just so fittingly associated with this fucking character that genuinely gets me. Unironically brilliant.

>>18634712
>>18634715
I haven't posted here in months but I this is good enough I feel I have to step in here. Anon, if you're still around, don't pay any attention to one guy crapping all over your work. It's almost definitely pure jealousy on his part. I am unironically published (one novel traditionally published, and 8 short stories in various decent journals). You said you were almost ready to submit this one to journals yourself which suggests you're published/savvy enough to know not to care about a literal who on 4chan, but just in case.

In the future I strongly recommend you refrain from posting, though, because the same crabs will still dominate these threads and look to tear down anything they're threatened by. Best of luck - I hit you up on reddit to read the rest.

>>18073230
I think it's different strokes for different folks. Nobody is going to be the same. Tolstoy and Dosto are hailed as geniuses but I find them dull. Same with Proust. I love simple, straightforward stories. For that reason I like For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Farewell to Arms. Steinbeck is about as complicated as I like it. My girlfriend loves deep character studies, philosophical fiction, ornate sentences. Okay, fair enough.

Both have a big market. It's pointless saying one is 'better' than the other. Better at what? Are extracts like

>>18073179
>>18072780
>>18070874

Better at being beautiful, evocative, aesthetically pleasing? Yeah. Are they better at telling a story, grabbing and maintaining the attention of a casual reader? No. There are more of those sorts of readers than there are aesthetes. These sorts of novels will receive higher critical acclaim, while simpler writing will make more money. Graham Greene's 'fun' novels made him a lot more money and gained him more renown than his 'serious' novels did. Yet his serious novels were acclaimed and are better remembered today.

These are literally books, after all. There are more important things in life. Having a preference is fine but claiming one style is innately superior to another is meaningless.

>>17950576
That dessert looks so good. Those drinks, even. Just flavour. Man, being chronically ill sucks, especially when it concerns the digestive tract. Obviously anyone who suffers with debilitating illness long-term will feel (and perhaps not wrongly) that their particular suffering is, in their case, worse than another. But what I would give to be able to eat without horrible pain and nausea. I haven't had alcohol in years, no chocolate or cake in months and months. Just plain boiled eggs, plain unseasoned steak, plain fish, occasional oatcakes. I really think sometimes I'd give the use of a leg. Or a hand, maybe. Just to be able to eat, drink and be normal. I'm in bed as we speak. Truly, the best things in life are the smallest, the ones most taken for granted in health. Health is everything. Why does God let me suffer in this way? I unironically believe in Him and try to love a good life. If another person had injured me I could rationalise it as a byproduct of the existence of free will. But chronic illness? I cannot, however I try, reconcile that with my knowledge (for it is knowledge) of my loving, benevolent God. I am sure that there will be a time when I understand its purpose, perhaps in the world to come. But for now - I wish I could eat!

>>17913932
Fiction or story focused non-fiction? Yeah, I'll drop shit at 3/4ths of the way through if it becomes tedious. I just recently did that with Shogun cause he spent like 30 pages on the main character's retarded romance.
History books and the like? No, I'll put them down and come back to them later, but if I pick up a book on the Mandan people's I'm gonna fucking read it because I consider that valuable knowlage.

>>17873929
Assuming a good course at a good uni, you should be taught the Trivium, not simply grammar/logic/rhetoric as subjects in themselves, but as they were classically intended, with grammar comprising the effective reception of information, logic comprising the ability to critically analyse that information, and rhetoric comprising the formulation of your own ideas in response.

By the end of your degree you should have a good understanding of the development of English Literature, some knowledge of its roots in classical drama, the course it took through the medieval, renaissance, enlightenment and long eighteenth century up to modernism and the present day.

The ability to critically analyse information from a wide range of sources, drawing together disparate elements to form a lucid, cogent argument, and a refined capacity for original thought produce some of the most versatile graduates.

FWIW, I am studying for a masters so I don't really count, but my acquaintances from undergrad are now:

>Journalist
>Newspaper Editor
>Civil Servant (UK)
>High School English Teacher
>Law conversion course to become a solicitor
>Completing an MFA in creative writing
>Graduate management consultant
>Graduate insurance something or other
>Copywriter with an ad agency
>Corporate speechwriter

I'm just delaying the inevitable because I love the subject, but after my masters I'll probably apply to civil service and a few other graduate schemes. In the UK, at least, most graduate schemes are open to any degree discipline above a certain grade.

Happy to answer any questions if you're interested, I assume you are considering doing a Literature degree. At times it was boring and shit but the same can be true of any degree, and the best parts were really very good.

What is life, if not all toil and no reward? Where do I find satisfaction?

>>16809759
All applies to me too except I'm a total degenerate. I'm horny as all fuck, but something compels me to be alone.
It's strange and I'm a bundle of contradictions. I don't know what the fuck I am.
>People seem to like me, but I wish I was invisible so no one would talk to me.
Amen. Doesn't help that I became attractive after high school and I get attention now. I used to wish I was good looking so girls would notice me more, but it's a case of be careful what you wish for.
I just want to be left alone, but I hate feeling lonely. It's weird.

I think I go through cycles of romanticism and pessimism. First something or someone fires up my soul and gives me the illusory sense that life is actually worth it. Everything is then butterflies and flowers until inevitably reality hits me in the face. Then I'm back being my usual brooding self for months until someone deceives me again, only to fall back down harder than before.

I thought about her yesterday
When it happened I realized it had been weeks since I last thought of her
I felt like crying

>>16458369
>global warming will kill any chance of this future happening
Technocapital is already rapidly adapting to global warming
It cannot be killed

I have nothing to look forward to and yet I go forward full speed, by instinct. I don't know where I'm going to land.

European drunk, yes.
American drunk, no.

European drunk is someone who became an alcoholic gradually. They drank daily and increased frequency and eventually found themselves an alcoholic.

American drunk are scum that would binge drink for the effect. And got drunk week after week and couldn't cope and started drinking to ease the hangover. They have more exicitotoxicity and are objectively brain damaged. They also seek to recreate their drunkenness and will binge still.

What are some good right wing books?

I'm thinking that in a few years, once I'm done with my project, I will simply walk into a forest and meditate under a tree until I die out of starvation. When the project is done, I will have no other reason to live, and existence will become more of a burden. What better way is there to purify the soul and honorably depart from the world?

>>16311803
Ah! There is a quarrel in heaven on me. The archangel Michael and Squire Satan are making their case, the high Spirit is sitting on his throne, amused, deciding my fate. What will it be?

>Which city do you reside in
Lahti
>How do you describe it
dismal and putrid shithole full of druggies
>Do you like it here
no, but i don't like it anywhere