/lit/ - Literature

Infinite Jest

>>17851527

>>17851527
Why is the egg on top of the bread instead of inside it? Tasty looking sandwich regardless.

>>17851564
It's called a Croque Madame, it's french, so they do everything backwards

>>17851527
>Isn't there an alternative?
No, even if you made a new thing to please yourself in this arena, it would be reducible to option A or option B.

The condition of Ignorance is so wretched, that notwithstanding she is neither fair, good, nor wise, yet she thinks she has no need of any kind of amendment or improvement. So that the ignorant, not imagining themselves in need, neither seek nor desire that which they think they want not.
—Plato, Symposium

The Governance of China by Xi Jinping

It will give you hope for a better sort of society.

>>17851674
ok fag

>>17851527
Existentialism
Roman Stoicism
Epicureanism

The only way that it's possible to feel as if existence is meaningless is if you stop doing things that are "thrilling" or isolate yourself.

You are biologically programmed to seek praise, enjoy a laugh, have sex, etc. It is true that there is no meaning to any of it, but once you get back in the swing of doing even little things like making a good quip in a conversation with a friend or breaking a personal record running/lifting weights, you will naturally want to pursue these things further.

Your life has the potential to be a work of art in itself if you allow it. You will rarely find even a 'nihilist' who would fail to care if someone torched the Mona Lisa. If nothing matters, why care? Because you cannot help but care if you allow yourself to care. It's a high wire act in some ways, and you will have moments of doubt, but if you pursue difficult things and work hard to make progress on those things, they cannot help but lend your life meaning. When you say "why bother" you're just giving in to something that can only make your life worse. It's better to live the 'lie' of enjoying things and pursuing them - non-religious philosophy will never advance beyond this, so you need to embrace it.

Empirical phenomenological neoplatonism

>>17851757
That's more of an argument for hedonism than a rejection of nihilism.

>>17851757
>It is true that there is no meaning to any of it
What might be the meaning to it, if there were any?
Why can't we say that the meaning of X is to give happiness to people?

>>17851527
>religious bullshit!

still relying on being an athiest to make you feel like a big smart man in 2021?

>>17851817
You sound like the insecure one here

>>17851825
>You sound like the insecure one here

>>17851527

>>17851835
kek

>>17851564
I don't know what the origins of it are, but they do it in diners around here, and I like to do it at home. I like to let the runny egg run down the sandwich, it's tasty.

Why is /lit/ full of religious larpers now? I remember this board being very different before 2016-2017

>>17851786
>>17851786
It could be, but the argument is based on the idea that pursuing difficult things and succeeding in them is what delivers "meaning", which is what most people want out of life. Hedonism tends to dissipate ability, skill, social capital, etc. I was on a morphine drip in the hospital once, and while it's true that I've never felt that good physically, I don't cherish that memory in the same way that I cherish memories of going for a run with my friends or helping my grandmother cook breakfast. A person cannot help but feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from doing pro-social, difficult, or self-improving things. The mechanism to feel "meaning" exists in you whether you activate it with a religious feeling or just by exploiting your natural desire to be better, to achieve, to earn praise, to be a light in other people's lives, etc.

The hardware is already there and cannot be dismantled - you just have to not put a barrier up by falling for the delusion that your phenomenological experiences must be inextricably linked to some concept of cosmological or absolute meaning.

If you try earnestly to become a hedonist, in the sense that you're using the word, you'll find very quickly that it is not fun and delivers only fleeting pleasures that more often than not make your cringe later on.

>>17851866
4chan is place where counterculture comes because it is censored on other platforms like reddit, simple as.

>>17851906
>being religious because it's "counterculture"
I swear people didn't use to larp this hard, not like this

>>17851886
>you just have to not put a barrier up by falling for the delusion that your phenomenological experiences must be inextricably linked to some concept of cosmological or absolute meaning.
This is what I struggle with.

>>17851918
i never said that, being religious is counterculture.

>>17851928
Personally, the easiest way to get around what you're feeling is to find someone who genuinely needs help and help them. Do you have in your life a grandmother, a sick relative, a child who needs help in school? Cliches becomes cliche for a reason, but once you see the difference that even a simple thing like cooking an invalid a nice dinner can do for someone in need, it's very hard to not feel compelled to continue to help them. A Christian might do these things because, on some level, he hopes to be rewarded by it, but the reason that philosophy endures is that helping people makes you feel good. It's as simple as that. The "absolute meaning" of it being "good to help people because it pleases God" only makes sense to people *because* it fits in with what the hardware of their minds tells them.

Any absolute meaning is itself derived from phenomenological/psychological realities. Exploit the simple reality of the construction of your mind and do the things that give others' meaning. They are human like you are, so you will to a great extent experience the same sense of meaning that they do when you do the same sort of things, even if you have no "philosophical" reason to do them. You mind will hardly let you feel otherwise.

>>17851527
>please recommend me books that don't give me the answer because i dont like it

>>17851995
You don't have the answer you pretentious faggot.

>>17852000
God exists. That's the answer.

>>17852018
lol

>>17851984
I understand the feeling of reward that comes with performing certain actions, but I don't think it completely replaces the underlying impression of aimlessness. It's not like I lead an unproductive life, and I know perfectly well what you're talking about when you refer to a sense of accomplishment that can't just be reduced to the mere pursuit of sensory gratification. So far though, I've found it doesn't manage to drive away uncertainty, but the common solution (religion) didn't do anything for me either even though I went through a period of sincere openness.
Maybe my OP was dishonest and what I'm really asking for is a way to come to terms with not knowing, rather than seeking meaning itself.

>>17851527
>meaning of existence
There is no intrinsic meaning for existence, meaning is something you give to existence, not something it gives to you.

>>17852082
>There is no intrinsic meaning for existence
What's the basis for this claim? I'm not being facetious but existentialism has always seemed pretty arbitrary in assuming a lack of meaning instead of suspending judgment

>>17852090
>What's the basis for this claim?
What basis is there for meaning?

>>17851817
It's a simple statement of fact
Atheism was a label used by christcucks to rational people, there is no need to use it anymore, since believing that something made up is made up is just simple common sense

>>17852101
I think it means something so it does.

>>17852186
>I think it means
So there is meaning, because you think it exists. Well i think unicorns exist, so I guess they do.

>>17851835
>10 years
lmao

>>17852032
he's right you know

>>17852269
Nah

>>17852277
yah

Any philosophy that is life affirming and doesn't depend on other worlds or an afterlife. Life embracing even if it's a constant tragedy.

Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning."

He was a psychologist who was survived Auschwitz. He got to observe, first-hand, how people gain meaning even during the worst of times, and how a lack of meaning can affect you. He also develops a model of therapy for fostering meaning in your life.

First half of the book consists of observations from Auschwitz, while the second half lays out his theory.

Sorry, but you're going to have to read Denial of Death and cope.

>>17852445
It's pretty mediocre

yeah it's called optimism and positive psychology., not saying it's free from quackery but it's a good place to start if you want to try and enjoy life

>>17852755
I second this. And I'll recommend Martin Seligman's "Learned Optimism."

Seligman is a giant in the field. He discovered that animals can learn helplessness if they can't control their suffering for prolonged periods. When the cause of their suffering disappears, they still would rather lie down and die than risk getting excited. Seligman offers a method of reversal.

Read Hogg