/lit/ - Literature

The Bible

not joking

or the Buddhist book... whatever it's called

>>1672398
no thanks, I'm not interested in that particular book

any more suggestions?

>>1672403
that's a shame, considering it contains the moral guidelines for all that is good in the world

but i guess that isn't important or anything

>>1672401
There is no holy book in buddhism...

Bhagavad Gita isn't buddhism if that's what you had in mind,,,

>>1672405

>Hurrdurr derpaderp

>>1672405
morals based on fantasies / religions aren't really any sort of good morals... I was expecting a bit more serious recommendations... sigh /lit/

>>1672409

Kant's categorical imperative system of morality has its roots in Biblical teaching. "Do unto others..."

>>1672407
>>1672409
enjoy living without morals

There was something in The Brothers Karamazov that went...Christians have virtue, which comes from following Christianity. Atheists lack that virtue, allowing them to be bad people.

>morality

Sure is slaves in here

>>1672414
look, it's better to lvie without bible morality and live with common sense rules than to live by the bibles teachings...

I expected a bit more out of /lit/... I hope someone finally delivers...

>>1672423
now, now... let us be rational... we need morals...

>>1672414

I hope that's a troll picture. For your sake.
I also hope what you just said was trolling. For your sake.

>>1672425
you're right

loving each other is bad

>>1672413
the do unto others rule is a very lacking one indeed...

>>1672428

Just kidding of course we do.
I imagine you don't want some individualist egoist bullshit, correct?

>>1672432
That's what you said. I'm just saying humans are much older than any sort of religion and christianity is one of them, people had morals before christianity and before "a" religion in general... they just put their perception of what is wrong and what is good in religions and it differs a lot between them...

>>1672438
humanity did not have morals before The Bible was written. I assume you've never read it so i excuse your ignorance

>>1672414

Christians don't have virtue. What they have is a false sense of moral superiority derived from the belief that God holds them in higher standing than others. If you honestly believe that Christians are, in general, better than other people, I truly feel for you.
Yes, I feel for you. In my full capacity as a God-hating, egoistical asshole.

>>1672435
egoist is bad, you lose as an egoist although commercials and the modern world would very much like you to think otherwise (they gain from that sort of brainwashing)

i would reccommend the short stories in the book of genesis.Adam and Eve,Cain and Abel,Abraham and Issac,the great flood,the tower to heaven.Can't go wrong with any of them if u want to learn good morals.btw,you don't dont have to take the stories as fact.Just read and learn.But if thats not your direction you can read up on altruistic philosophy.(which really doesn't exist)

>>1672442
OK, and that's why we don't need trolls... please leave this thread

Depending on what you really fancy, try some stoic or Epicurean doctrine (especially Marcus Aurelius or Seneca, or Lucretius respectively). It's moral without being overly religious (though there is an inevitable religious underpinning there, especially in the former.

In that same vein, try reading some Cicero, such as On The Good Life.

Rumi's poetry is excellent. While religious stuff might not be what you're after, you might like it. It's pretty enlightening stuff.

>people had morals before christianity and before "a" religion in general
I would hardly go that far.People were savages before religion.What stops a person from doing evil things besides the fear of being persecuted for it?Religion created fear.Therefore religion=society

>>1672452
ok, I might check them out... thanks for the recommendations!

As OP of this thread I would suggest all the bible freaks to hit the:

<-

arrow on their internet browsers and to never come back to this thread again... thank you for your attention!

>>1672455
what stops you from being evil towards other people is your own biology... you can kill an other species and not suffer much damage from it but if you kill a man your psyche isn't going to respond the same way as killing an animal... that's what's stopping you from being evil... your emotions, your psyche and your biological reactions... people don't need to fear a diety to be moral... more of the time humans are here on earth is spent on "being savages" as you described but maybe those pre-historic people had a better feeling of morals than modern people do?

>>1672465
>most of the time that humans were on earth was spend in times of "being savage"...

>672457
OP you are just a troll who wanted to start an argument.You never read a book in your life.There are parts of religion that teach good morals.You don't have to give yourself to god or take anything as fact to learn a lesson or two.If you don't think so then you are just as ignorant as the folks who think they are going to spend eternity sitting in gods lap.

>1672465
Your getting into a whole different subject if you believe that humans inherently know that killing another human is wrong.

>>1672474
I wanted book recommendations. I forgot religious freaks browse /lit/... I thought normal people are the majority here and wasn't expecting "The Bible" as an answer... I don't want to read allegories on doing good or bad... I want to read books dealing with the roots of morality or taking morality a bit more serious than religious books

The Little Prince.

It's childish but it's the book I always go to when I feel myself becoming too morbid or cynical.

>>1672482
Most animals do. Most animals "know" not to kill their own kind. They surely don't gain that knowledge out of "learning." M-o-s-t people know that too, why should we be different / special? How then did people know not to kill other people before language even existed?

>>1672486
That's an interesting way to get out of the cynical state!

But I need something more serious...

Goddamit... I said no religious crap and now it seems no one is responding... are you serious /lit/?

OK, fine... stories can do too... just recommend anything

It's a comic but Watchmen. Particular the miracle speech if you just want to skip ahead. (and it has nothing to do with religion)

>>1672513
where exactly is that speech you're referring to? Which volume?

If others would like to recommend comic books, that's fine by me...

>>1672486
I would second this, though you have probably already read it. The Little Prince is a fantastic piece of literature.

>>1672518
I already did. More than once, of course... I don't think reading it now would have any impact, I'm searching for other interesting books.

wow... /lit/ suprises me... I thought there would be many people dealing with their own morality on this board / site

>>1672423
and there's only one idiot ITT that quasi-met my expectations

>>1672413
>Kant's categorical imperative system of morality has its roots in Biblical teaching. "Do unto others..."

"Do unto others" isn't unique to the Bible.

>>1672533
"Do unto others" is a very flawed rule / concept

there have got to be better ones...

@OP

read start with existentialism, postmodernism and they maybe some eastern religion if you are into that...

Books: Eckhart Tolle - Power of Now / A new Earth

Conversations with God.

Frich Fromm - Art of Being

Viktor Frankl - (his concentration camp book, cant remember the name)

Make your own shit OP and run with it till you motherfucking die. Be good or be evil, moral or amoral. Just own it and stay true to it and to yourself forever.

I love you, OP.

>>1672537
There's: "Do not unto others as you would not have others do unto you"

OP: get out and talk to people instead.

>>1672549
why?

OP here...

>>1672551
book authors have more insight on morals than most people do...

of course I had the "Do not unto others..." rule in mind, that's just a typo there... I realy find that rule lacking and disturbing...

also @bible readers.

the bible has not said anything new or fantastic before its time or since, your belief in it is simply a preference, not truth.

(cept for that shit about only one god and I dont have to blood sacrifice for this god anymore... if this was 3000 B.C. that would be a motherfucking mind blower!)

>>1672516
Watchmen is a single volume. The miracle speech is Dr. Manhattan's climax, so it happens late in the book. I don't have the book on hand so I can't refer you to the page, but here's the spoilery information. Dr. Manhattan comes to the epiphany that Laurie's existence is a miracle, in that the odds of someone exactly like her existing is infinitesimal. It's a celebration of humanity as something unique and beautiful despite its many flaws because each one of us will only ever occur once and when we go we will never exist again. This is a poor explanation because it requires some prior understanding of Dr. Manhattan's psyche (he becomes completely detached from the concerns of humanity) to really feel the blow, but it's somewhat relevant. In fact the entire comic deals with morality and value, so you might just want to read it all through.

>>1672563
>miracles

Do not unto others=ying yang principle=karma=humanism= 42 principles of Ma'at=Tao te Ching.

its a universal rule, nigga

>>1672554
Because you deserve it.

I pull a lot from Confucius and Buddhism myself. Actually, I find that reading philosophy, even philosophy that I ultimately reject or see major flaws in, grounds me to this place where the search for moral truth is cause enough for living.

You said no religion, but some sects of Buddhism are much more pure philosophy than religion. There's the central myth of the Buddha, but Buddhist truth is not supernatural. It feels more like a philosophical and psychological self inspection than anything, which is why I prefer it.

>>1672569
I deserve it? I do not comprehend... Why?

>>1672571
Buddhism is ok but it's kinda childplay...

I wonder if there's any serious book about the "human drives for good & evil"... I wonder if anyone is going to recommend me finally some scientific / psychology essay

why do we even consider categorising things into good and evil? where the fuck did that concept ever come from?

>>1672576
Because I feel like you do. Unless you've willingly and passionately committed an act of violence against another person, you're likely a good person who deserves it like everyone else.

Just because you see no good doesn't mean it's not there.

>>1672581
Well if you want something basic there's this
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/459

>>1672589
I did. So, I do not deserve it. I guess, I'm not like "everyone" else...

I kinda hope so... I kinda really do...

les miserables.

>>1672590

WOW... this might be what I'm really looking for... It seems really interesting, thank you so much for posting this... I'm gonna go watch it

>>1672560
You don't go talk to other people to hear their philosophical musings on what is good and bad, but because the people around you are the good and the bad of the world, their actions and their behaviour, is the good and the bad.

If you want a book to tell you what is good or bad, there's a whole selection of religious prescriptions, but I suggest you just have a good think on it instead.

>>1672591
Did you kill someone or something? Because that's pretty much what I meant. As long as you don't destroy the life of another person who didn't wish the same of you, you're fine by me. And is there a problem with being treated like everyone else? Do you want to be treated like something less than human?

>>1672591
get over yourself. Everybody fucks up, loses control etc. All you can do is try to learn from it and not make the same mistake twice.

>>1672598
I did not kill anyone but I destroyed [part of those] people lives because I felt abused by them... I should have taken more responsibility for my power... But all I did is use it for evil

>>1672601
>>1672597

you seem like a interesting individual... what books do you like to read? What are your favourite books?

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